Another absolutely beautiful day on site at the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival. My hotel room is about a 15-minute walk right through the middle of town to the front gate. Goderich is a beautiful example of small-town Ontario, the centre of which is laid out like a wheel and spoke with a gorgeous old courthouse in the middle.
Right on the “wheel” is Cait’s Café, which on this Saturday morning is quite the hub of activity. I greatly enjoyed my chocolate croissant and Americano before making my way over to the festival.
Just inside the main entrance as I arrived the workshop “Spotlight on Portage” was in full swing.
Although they are billed as multi-instrumentalists and surely are, the emphasis with Portage is on fiddle music at the highest level, which was a great way to start the day.
Next at this very stage, the “Greeting Stage,” was Scottish folk music icon Archie Fisher along with Abagail Pryde of the group Heron Valley. Archie was a major draw for me, since I’ve followed his career for a long time and have a collection of vinyl and CDs to show for it. His signature open tunings are so much a part of his sound, and one can still marvel at how he retunes his guitar as he is telling a story. It was so nice to hear him sing the old tunes like “Borderlands,” and “The Final Trawl.” Abagail Pryde is a part of the next generation of Scottish traditional musicians, which is clearly in good hands.
Next it was over to catch a bit of Rory Makem’s performance. As a side note, as I arrived on site Friday evening, I mentioned that I had of course located the main stage and the three workshop stages but failed to notice that there is another performance stage on site called the Kevin & Regina Daily Stage. It’s under a big top and typically provides a venue for single acts to perform a full set, as opposed to what happens at the three workshop stages where performers from various acts are put together to create special magic.
For anyone who grew up on Clancy Brothers records, it would be natural to seek out Rory Maken on site, Tommy Makem’s son, as he works a lot of the old material into his act. He sang “Gentle Annie,” a song is father wrote for his mother. There was a rousing sing-a-long for “The Old Orange Flute,” combined with Rory’s great talent telling a tale. It was, as they say, like a warm bath.
Then it was back over to the “Greeting Stage” for the last bit of an a cappella workshop with members from Pressgang Mutiny and Windborne. Somewhat oddly, I’ve noticed that sea shanty singing has become something of a thing on social media, which is a large part of what these groups do. I guess it’s hard to know what’s going to be popular, but it’s a powerful thing with a dozen strong voice across the stage singing work songs and the like from days gone by.
I finally got over to see RUNA, which I had missed at the mainstage the night before. They were doing their turn at the aforementioned performance stage and tearing it up beautifully. The are affectionally called the house band of the festival because festival director Cheryl Prasker is a percussionist with the group. I gather they perform here often. Their bio says they push the boundaries of Irish Folk into Americana and roots music, and they do. If you love that very percussive Celtic music vibe, as I do, they are for you, which does not mean they can’t slow it down for some fantastic slower tunes with lovely vocals.
I will say that I also caught a bit more of Matt and Shannon Heaton at the performance stage after seeing them on the main stage on Friday. I love Shannon’s flute playing.
And then I wandered over at one point to the where there was some fine session music happening at the West Stage. For those unfamiliar with the Irish session scene, the players play from fairly well recognized sets of tunes and can jump in and play together without much of a bother.
The evening mainstage show kicked off at 6:45 with Apolline, an Australian-based group who are this year’s Robinson Emerging Artist finalists. They are a trio that performs with fiddle, cello, and bass showcasing a mix of styles and influences.
The group O’Jizo from Japan also performed at the evening concert. They were winners of the Robinson Emerging Artist Showcase in 2022. As you might imagine, this trio of instrumentalists plays traditional Irish music with a unique twist. At one point Shannon Heaton came up to play flute with them. The message was clear that Irish music belongs to the world and is a wonderful way to bring people together.
Also on Saturday night, Canadian fiddle champions Jane Cory and Kyle Burghout took their turn on the main stage with their creative arrangements and lush twin fiddle harmonies.
A main attraction for many at the festival was the Saturday night performance of Archie Fisher with well-known Canadian singer- songwriter Garnet Rogers. The two have performed together often over many years and have a unique chemistry and sense of humour on stage.
Finishing the evening on Saturday was Irish singer-songwriter Karan Casey, a founding member of Solas and the Scottish group Heron Valley. I will be honest and say I was headed back to my hotel room by then but will catch both of them on Sunday afternoon at the Kevin & Regina Daily Stage and report back. I’m sure they were splendid.
