Wepecket Island is a mere dot on the map off the coast of Massachusetts.

But thanks to Jack Radcliffe, its name may soon be as familiar as that of folk music labels Rounder and Shanachie.

In 2004, Mr. Radcliffe founded Wepecket Island Records to initiate a folk music revival, inspired by sailing trips he and his wife took to the island on their 22-foot boat, Doreen.

"We're both in the environmental movement -- I serve on the Conservation Commission here in the city [of New Bedford, Mass.]," he says. "The island is home to endangered species of shorebirds, and the label is preserving traditional American music, which is also an endangered species."

Mr. Radcliffe's history stretches back to the '60s, when he was known as Ragtime Jack, when he toured, recorded an album for Prestige and formed the '70s band New Viper Revue.

"We flourished for a few years, but there came a time when many of us had families, which wasn't compatible with being out on the road."

He also has a connection to Pittsburgh, having attended graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh for ancient Greek language. Fast-forwarding 30 years, with his kids having flown the coop, he decided to restart his music career "alongside a whole cadre of older folkies who had suddenly decided that the baby boom wasn't over, and it was time to get back out there."

But he considered the problem of oversaturation that happens when everyone puts out his own self-released album. "They're just one of 10,000 people. So I called some of my friends, like [blues musician] Andy Cohen and [booking agent] Dale Robin Goodman and asked to buy a quantity of their records. Then I'd be able to have a catalog with a couple records of mine. At the same time, the studio I was working with was owned by a guy involved with MoveOn.org for John Kerry."

Coincidentally, in 1960, future presidential candidate Kerry had been the bass player in Radcliffe's prep school rock band, The Electras. "We did 500 copies of a self-released LP, one of which sold during the height of his campaign for $2,500," he recalls. "So I re-released it as a CD. I was on tour through the Midwest states where Kerry was stumping and sold upwards of 100,000 copies of that CD. That was the tail that wagged the dog -- The Electras' music has nothing to do with what I'm doing now, but it provided the financing for the label. At that point, I went out looking for other artists."

It wasn't hard to find some. He started with old friend Ms. Goodman, whose voice has a Joan Baez-ish quality. "She's from this trio of three women called Mom's Home Cookin', but she's by far the leading talent. ... She was the showcase selection at the Folk Alliance convention this year, where the jury was comprised entirely of folk music deejays."

He added 70-year-old folksinger Jim McGrath, a veteran of the mid-'60s New Haven folk scene who had played with Pete Seeger. "He has this gorgeous Irish baritone and is one of the strongest songwriters I know," says Mr. Radcliffe.

Jackson, Miss., bluesman Sherman Lee Dillion is one of the more unusual Wepecket Island characters. "He ran for governor of Mississippi in 2004 on the Green Party ticket, and he started Earth Day in his home state -- you can imagine that was an uphill battle. All his children have been in family bands -- at one time they were big in the mid-South area and known as the Dillonaires."

The youngster of the bunch is Michigan clawhammer banjoist and nylon-string guitarist Andru Bemis, who has a fascination with old-time music like an Appalachian woodsman on a lo-fi 78. Mr. Bemis appeals to the sentiment of young folk fans who discovered the genre through modern crossover artists such as the Avett Brothers. "People think of him in terms of bellowing and stomping," Mr. Radcliffe says, "but I found out that he's also a gifted violinist, which is a welcome addition."

Mr. Radcliffe and the others join forces in the label showcase known as the Rolling Roots Revue, stopping tonight at Calliope's Simmons Hall venue. "Everyone will get up for a short set, then invite the next person to come up and sit in, so there's a smooth transition."

With the first introductory set closed by a tune that all artists play together, the show moves into its next phase -- bringing audience members with a recognizable instrument up for a closing jam.

"Of course, if you do play an unrecognizable instrument, we'll want to take you along on tour to find out more about it," he adds jokingly.

"But we want people not to just go to a show, but to actually be part of one. Pete Seeger said that singing together isn't just fun and joyful -- it's transformational, leaving you bigger and better than you would've been otherwise. That's something we need back in this country, instead of this plastic, same-mold culture imposed on us by television. Whether we find that [folk alternative] to be attractive and a better way to live by accident, by peer pressure or by sheer experience doesn't matter, because what we share is an abiding interest in our own culture."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.