It was pouring rain on Saturday morning.
Under the protection of a large tent, we sat sheltered to hear David Sereda.
He’s a local talent here in Owen Sound, singing soulfully with his beautiful tenor voice and accompanied here by vocalist Coco Love Alcorn and Tyler Wagner on bass.
David encouraged the audience to sing along with his beautiful songs. There was one about rain. The rain of love, the mercy rain, running through the rain.
There was a song about Cassandra and Cordelia, about the truth and not being believed. Expressing your feelings was another theme.
David sang about the difference between lust and love. And then we were a choir. What a pleasure to be directed by David Sereda.
This afternoon workshop took place in the Down by the Bay tent, everyone crammed in, sheltering from the constant Summersoak rain.
Archie Fisher, Garnet Rogers, Lennie Gallant, Daniel Schmidt and David Francey were on stage, taking turns to sing their interpretation of the theme “Great North Road.”
It seemed appropriate that Garnet sang “Summer’s End,” describing days growing shorter, nights closing in, gold and purple flowers, the cry of wild geese, firelight and the light beyond the hills. So appropriate here in the late August of central Ontario.
Lennie Gallant remarked how honoured he was to share the stage with Archie Fisher. He spoke of how songs are gifts, and how they sometimes appear through a favourite guitar.
“There Must Be Another Song,” he said, came to him through his ancient Martin guitar.
As the rain poured down outside the tent, Daniel Schmidt, Youth Discoveries winner, played his original composition “Whitehorse,” keeping with the theme Great North Road.
This young man, only 16 years old, continues to impress.
David Francey was up next. He needed no introduction. David sang his own tribute to John Prine, “This Morning.” Prine died of COVID19 in April of 2020. He was a revered singer-songwriter whose passing was mourned by many. David’s song explored grief: imagining Prine singing in a bar up in heaven where the angels go.
Archie Fisher sang a song about combining sorrow and alcohol, a common theme in Scottish songs.
The stage was really male-centric for this workshop. David Francey’s young lady fiddler was the only female. She played as beautifully as David sang his carefully-crafted lyrics.
Summersoak
A huge thunderstorm arrived just before Meteor Heist and Men Without Pants arrived on stage.
A tornado was reported to have touched down in Ayr, two hours’ drive away.
Lightning was detected near the Kelso Beach Summerfolk site, so management shut down the concert. We felt lucky to be under cover.
The bands attempted to play an acoustic set together anyway, and two extra acoustic guitars were offered by audience members.
This valiant group of young musicians did their best, but management felt it was an unnecessary risk given the possibility of a lightning strike to the tent. We were asked to clear out.
The SummerSoak festival continued with late afternoon cancellations. The Meteor Heist/Men Without Pants workshop was cancelled outright; Vinta’s BalFolk workshop was also cancelled outright, as was the Songs from a Hat workshop.
The Kids’ Parade with TallBeats stilt walking drum ensemble was postponed until Sunday afternoon.
The final show of the afternoon, the Guitar Heroes workshop, went on late. Ego Spank’s guitarist, Murray Pulver, brought his whole band. Terra Lightfoot and Lloyd Spiegel rounded out the stage, each bringing their exceptionally amazing guitar skills.
Lloyd is an award-winning blues guitarist from Australia. Ego Spank does alternative rock, and Terra plays bloody awesome blues AND rock and roll.
Terra’s rocking blues piece written around a prison program, “These Four Walls,” became a live fest for the blues when Murray and Ego Spank joined in.
More musical cross-pollination happened during Ego Spank’s next piece when they gave Terra and Lloyd time to solo. Pretty soon we had a full-fledged blues session on that stage.
Well, the rain finally stopped, and the Tall Beats children’s parade happened after all. Dozens of children and their parents joined in for the fun, starting at the children’s village and ending in the amphitheatre.
The amphitheatre’s evening show began with music from Brazil. Tio Chorinho with Flavia Nascimento took the stage with fun and rhythms to spare. Mandolin, guitar, ukelele and accordion bopped to some fantastic beats. The percussionist has some talent and plays on multiple instruments.
While the band played, a young toddler dressed in rain gear played in puddles on the tarps left on the lawn in front of the stage. The band had everyone singing in Portugese before long. Such fun!
Siobhan Bodrug from Toronto is another of the young musicians selected by the Summerfolk Youth Discoveries program. She has a really powerful voice. Combine that with her impressive songwriting abilities and you see why she was one of the Y D showcase winners.
Finally, the clouds over Summerfolk parted to reveal some patches of blue. (Just enough blue to patch a Dutchman’s trousers, so the song says!) It looked like the rest of Saturday night would be rain free. No longer SummerSoak at Summerfolk. Well, at least for this night.
Next up on the Saturday night main stage was The Fretless with guest Madeleine Roger.
Imagine your favourite fiddle tunes arranged for a string quartet and you get a sense of what the four musicians from The Fretless do.
There are two violins, two violas and a cello. Fiddles and violas seem to get passed around, depending on who wants to play what and on which tune. Tight as a well-tuned drum, they are. Eminently listenable.
The Fretless has now branched out from its previously strictly instrumental sound.
“Open House” is the name of the band’s last album. It was recorded during the pandemic, and the band welcomed a variety of vocalists. One of those was Madeleine Roger who joined the band tonight for several songs, including one they all wrote together about their collective love for Scotland.
Everything The Fretless touches is the fruit of these four virtuosos, and tonight’s concert showed immense flexibility and creativity. “Glasswing” is the title of the band’s next CD. It comes out in September. We can’t wait to hear it.
The next Tweener was Leonard and Matthew, two young men who also were recognized by the Summerfolk Youth Discoveries program.
Leonard sings while Matthew plays guitar. Their first song was catchy, “A Good Night for Driving.” The second dealt with the complicated teenage years. The third, “Nostalgia,” talks about fond memories. Heavy stuff for young people, but they do justice to their subjects. Powerful guitar playing and powerful vocal work gives them all the credibility they need.
We stumbled across Bryden Gwiss’ concert on our way to something else. We were entranced by the drumming and dancing, Indigenous songs and rhythms. Bryden sang with Niibishens Trudeau, who wore a traditional ribbon skirt and beaded jewellery. Albert Plant III, a dancer, wore full regalia with two immense circles of eagle feathers on his back, and two individual feathers on his head. He also wore an elaborate beaded belt and breast decorations, fur boots and trim, and many other coloured feathers. As he danced, everything moved.
Bryden explained the round dance traditions and invited everyone up. Albert led a small round dance with audience members, and then Niibishens joined him to lead a couples variation.
The concert was a riot of colour and rhythm, showing what a new generation of Indigenous music makers can do. It was new but paid great respect to the ancient traditions at the same time.
After seeing Bryden Gwiss and his band earlier today, we were very interested in hearing his main stage performance.
The band performed their own Indigenous-centred arrangement of Dolly Parton’s song “Jolene,” which drew lots of attention when they first performed it 13 years ago. This is “Jolene” like you’ve never heard it before – stunningly haunting with drumming and wordless choruses.
Albert Plant III was welcomed to the stage to dance his fancy dances in a highly coloured costume, with many eagle and other feathers, ribbons and beading.
Bryden’s work brings new takes on traditional music, and he’s been recognized with a Juno nomination and several other awards.
Second last on the Saturday night main amphitheatre stage was Diyet and the Love Soldiers, who have come all the way from Yukon Territory. A bit country, a bit Indigenous, a bit folk, this trio combines lots of influences to create this happy sounding, exciting music.
These songs are true life stories based in Diyet’s experiences.
Diyet is the trio’s bass player. Her two “love soldiers” play pedal steel and guitars/drums.
She played a lovely song, “We Won’t Forget to Live Outside,” based on sharing the Arctic summer light with a musician friend from Greenland.
Bob Hamilton on pedal steel guitar/mandolin gives this band a fantastic sound. And there’s a driving beat that makes this music incredibly catchy. That’s Robert van Lieshout – he provides rhythm guitar, percussion and drums, mostly at the same time! (He makes good use of his feet.)
We loved this music. Can’t wait to hear them again somewhere soon.
The final Tweener for Saturday night Summerfolk was Shawna Caspi. She’s a veteran performer and has a delightful voice that’s been heard at Summerfolk many times before. Her heartfelt song about little victories was really well received on account of the rain finally giving way to clear skies for the finale of Saturday night.
For 28 years, Élage Diouf has been living and making music in Canada. He’s a legendary percussionist and moved from Senegal all those years ago to pursue a career as a musician. Nowadays, he also has his hand in singing and songwriting, so he’s a triple threat. Living in Montréal, Élage has a strong community of French speaking musicians. His concert was beautiful. Five musicians playing with a very solid connection, all anchored by Élage’s djembe. Nice party!
Then the rain came in again. Back to Summersoak! And so ended Summerfolk Saturday night.
