I don’t know about you, but somehow folk music seems at its most evocative in the fall season.
Thank goodness there is new music from the Canadian folk scene coming out every day to listen to – from your rainy-day drive to work to when you’re cozied up under a blanket reading a book.
Here’s a few of the amazing new songs coming out, and there’s plenty more where this came from, so more coming soon!
Take a few minutes to give these all a listen and let us know what you think!
Indian City – ‘Good People’
Indian City’s new single “Good People” was released on Truth and Reconciliation Day, and features the familiar vocals of Kelly Bado, Julian Taylor and Gabrielle Fontaine, daughter of Indian City founding member Vince Fontaine, who passed away last year. This beautiful track has a pay-it-forward, call to action message which urges us to put aside our differences in the name of helping each other and being “good people.”
Rhonda Head – ‘Music is the Medicine’
Released in early September, “Music is the Medicine” comes off of Rhonda Head’s September album Waniska, which means to rise up or awaken in the Cree language. “Music is the Medicine” embodies this idea of rising up, with Rhonda’s harmonies all bouncing along on a rhythmic drum beat. The fourteen-time international award-winning artists single is most certainly, “for the people.”
Abigail Lapell – ‘Oyfn Pripitchek’
Abigail Lapell’s rendition of the yiddish folk tune “Oyfn Pripitchek” (“On The Hearth”) is raw and hauntingly heartfelt. Abigail’s voice is accompanied only by Spanish guitar and tells the story of a rabbi teaching children the Hebrew alphabet. It is a cautiously optimistic song rooted in the power of tradition, a theme which is explored deeper on Abigail’s new album Lullabies, which is set to debut November 17.
Allison Russell – ‘Take Me To Church’
Four time Grammy-nominated and Juno-winning artist Allison Russell continues to be a force in the folk scene with her Spotify Singles release: a cover of Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.” She is accompanied by the Resistance Revival Chorus choir to bring a hearty gospel spin on Hozier’s chart topping song from a decade prior. The Spotify Singles format allowed Allison to release at the same time a rendition of “Stay Right Here” off of her album The Returner, which came out in early September.
