Folks, I am one proud Moose today, let me tell you. I am surrounded by the most amazing team of roots-loving writers I could ever ask for – and right now, those writers are either at folk and blues festivals across the country writing up reviews and interviews as we speak, or they’re gearing up to cover those festivals later this month.
Look, I know you don’t have enough money to take two months off work and travel across Canada to visit all the great folk and blues festivals out there. That’s why we here at Roots Music Canada want to bring the festivals to you by bringing you coverage of festivals from coast to coast to coast.
And this incredible group of wonderful, generous, music loving humans is making it happen this month.
Will you please give them a warm round of applause? I’m down on my moose knees with gratitude.
Zoë Buscho – Winnipeg Folk Festival
My name is Zoë, and I am about to start my final year at the University of Manitoba. Although I grew up in Minnesota, I have never felt more at home than I do in Manitoba. When I am not out and about in Winnipeg, I enjoy hiking and camping in the Manitoban wilderness. This will be my first time covering a music festival like Folk Fest, and I am looking forward to working with Roots Music Canada to help share the festival with music lovers all across Canada!”
Brooklyn Connolly – Stan Rogers Folk Festival, Canso, NS
Brooklyn is a 19-year old journalism student going into her second year at university majoring in both film and journalism. She is a proud East Coaster with an endless love for the beach, local music and, of course, fish n’ chips. You can often find her with her head in a book, heavily inspired by Gloria Steinman and George Orwell. Social activism is a topic she feels passionately about, and she hopes to someday leave a positive impact on this world.
Christophe Elie – Ottawa Bluesfest
Christophe Elie is an activist singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, Canada. Christophe has released two albums through the years, and he recently toured parts of Canada and the US. His most recent album, Bridging Borders, is a collection of 11 songs that explore both the beauty and challenge of those intersections of culture, religion, history, language and geography. Christophe has a blog, he has written for Tour Bus Entertainment, and he has most recently begun writing for RootMusic.ca. For more info visit http://www.chriselie.com
Richard Flohil – Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia, ON
Richard Flohil needs no introduction, but the moose is going to introduce him anyway. Richard was born in the UK in 1934, came to Canada in 1957, and played a big role in creating the roots scene we have today. Richard’s promoted shows by Muddy Waters, Ry Cooder, Miles Davis, Stephane Grappelli, B.B. King, and countless others. His publicity company, founded in 1970, has done work for Nana Mouskouri, Ian Tyson, k.d. lang, Loreena McKennitt, Serena Ryder and probably hundreds of others. And he won the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals’ Estelle Klein Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Richard also started his career as a journalist and has written for and edited industry publications that actually pay real money, so the moose is humbled and honoured that he’s agreed to write about Mariposa for us. Thanks, Richard!
Josh Forbes – Calgary Folk Festival
Josh Forbes performs regularly around the Calgary open mic scene and recently won both the March and June Ink Spot Collective Poetry Slams. A story-teller at heart, he was born in Calgary, Alta., but raised in and lived his most formative years in a small mining community in the Yukon Territory. In 1998 he returned to Calgary where he resides today. Raised with a healthy dose of classic country and folk in the form of George Jones and Ian Tyson by his father, along with classic rock like Buddy Holly and Fats Domino by his mother, Josh Forbes grew up loving all forms of music.
Deborah Holland – Vancouver Folk Music Festival and Dawson City Music Festival
Although Deborah Holland has had a long career in the music business as a singer-songwriter-artist, she has never lost her passion for discovering and championing new music. Since moving to Canada in 2010 (and soon to be sworn in as a citizen!) she has expanded her musical library with many (and mostly unknown to the mainstream world) great Canadian musicians, singers, songwriters and producers. She has recently begun writing reviews of some of these artists she considers required listening for any lover of great music.
Elizabeth Szekeres – Memoires et Racines and the Sutton Fiddle Festival
Elizabeth has worn many hats over her career: urban planner, Montessori school administrator, mother of four amazing offspring, and writer. It seems to her that writing was really what she was put on this planet to do, and she was delighted when Heather put out her call for writers for Roots Music Canada. Elizabeth has been a huge fan of traditional music for many years and co-wrote several very successful songs about quirky bits of Canadian history with various members of the band Tanglefoot, who she met on an island in Georgian Bay 25 years ago. Today, she relishes being able to attend music camps and folk festivals, especially in Quebec, and can’t wait for the next new band to come to her attention
Broose Tulloch – Winnipeg Folk Festival
Award-winning journalist Broose Tulloch is the host of Beer for Breakfast, a popular Winnipeg radio program, and has extensively covered, exhumed, and experienced the local music and arts scene for the past 20 years. Founder of Winnipeg’s Independent Music Awards, The Brewnos, he has a keen ear for up-and-coming artists and a reverence for the trailblazers. The former Winnipeg Sun music journalist and Stylus magazine columnist has also contributed regularly to The Uniter, Manitoba Style, ChartAttack, and a host of others. He eats, sleeps, and breathes his mantra of “be good, have fun, stay motivated.”
