11:14 a.m. – Our stage host at the Creekside Stage opens the morning by telling us that she’s from Duluth, MN, she apologizes for their president, and she just had a weepy moment because a random festival-goer made her an honorary Canadian with whatever power was invested in him to do so. Everybody applauds because this is a peace and love sort of crowd.
And with that Tennyson King launches into his first number, a love song that makes me stop typing this, listen intently and feel a little weepy.
There are three artists on this workshop stage, which Tennyson has dubbed “Whatever,” because it doesn’t have a name or a theme.
The other two are Willem James Cowan and a local electric guitar instrumentalist name Gord Ahl, who was apparently just asked to join the workshop yesterday as a last-minute replacement for the Brothers Wilde.
Tennyson is the artist I came to see because I’ve been following his extremely unique career pretty much since he started, which is around the time I relaunched Roots Music Canada.
When he first started out, he was performing a mixture of singer-songwriter material and pop music, sometimes with electronic embellishment. Some of it was great, but it was clear that Tennyson hadn’t yet settled into a sound.
More recently though, he’s evolved into performing contemporary folk that fuses English and Chinese lyrics and incorporates traditional instruments from his Chinese heritage.
It’s a very different kind of east-meets-west fusion than the kind that acts like Silk Road Music and Orchid Ensemble pioneered in the 90s, which was rooted in Chinese folk and classical music and integrated western classical, jazz, and global sounds.
Tennyson’s music uses Chinese instruments and language to enhance music that is still largely rooted in North American folk and pop styles. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard from other artists before, and it feels very of the moment.
The sound of his ruan and Lina Cao’s guzheng is gorgeous.
It has clearly been making an impression on audiences because Tennyson is practically living on the road these days, he told me last night, and that intense performance schedule has turned him into a first-rate performer who appears confident and at ease on stage, telling stories, cracking jokes and getting the audience to sing along.
“Thanks Gord,” he says after the guitarist finishes up his first number.
“I feel like I just took a bunch of acid and went back to the 60s.”
Honestly, Gord Ahl is smokin’ – playing covers of Clapton’s version of “Hideaway” and Herb Alpert’s “Tijuana Taxi,” among other things, and earning huge rounds of applause.
I’m half expecting someone to tell me he was once a sideman for Stevie Ray Vaughan and chose to retire into obscurity in northern Ontario.
I’d believe it.
1:21 p.m. – After a tour of the artisan tables, I’ve settled into a spot under a tree to listen to the Local Lovin’ workshop, which, as the name suggests, is a local artists showcase.
It’s expertly hosted by award-winning local artist Shy-Anne Hovorka, a pillar of the northern Ontario music community, who gets everyone playing along on her cover of the Tragically Hip’s “Bobcaygeon.”
My main reason for being here is to get a closer look at Luke Warm and the Cold Ones because this is their last appearance at this year’s festival.
The band is fronted by Greg Chomut, an art teacher at Dennis Franklin Chromarty High School and a 2025 nominee for MusicCounts Teacher of the Year. It has a unique sound that merges folk and Americana with influences from punk rock and the dark modern rock of an act like Live or even slow-burning metal tracks like Metallica’s “The Unforgiven.”
I could spend all weekend listening to them and having fun trying to identify the musical references and get a better feel for what they do. I’m sad I didn’t make it here on time on Friday to see their full set.
2:40 p.m. – As I arrive at the Words Matter workshop, there is a definite covers theme going on. English-Canadian protest singer Martin Kerr is singing Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” after which Josh Ritchie, son of Tanglefoot’s Rob Ritchie (I previously wrote he was Steve’s son. My bad), launches into “The Letter” with Tanglefoot jamming along.
That earns a standing ovation from the crowd.
A short while later, the one local artist on the stage, Isaac Matthews, pays tribute to Glen Hansard by performing “Say it to Me Now.”
And can I just say, what a voice this man has!
Martin Kerr devotes much of his portion of the workshops to the protest songs he’s known for – one about anti-immigrant sentiment, another about genocide.
Josh is funny and upbeat and is joined on his songs by his dad’s band, of which he is now also a member.
Isaac holds his own in formidable company with a stirring song about regrets.
And Tanglefoot does what Tanglefoot does to the delight of the massive crowd that seems to be following them around the festival site.
There’s a sweet moment when Steve Ritchie tells the story of a family who named their daughter “Emmeline” after the fiddle-playing lighthouse keeper in their song of the same name. They then introduce the audience to the now-adult Emmeline, who is sitting in the crowd.
Martin Kerr closes the workshop with his love song, “You’re Amazing” and has the audience singing the chorus to each other, to the sound guy, to complete strangers.
It ends with a rousing standing ovation for a workshop that really was amazing.
I stick around for the first round of songs by the participants in the Upwardly Mobile workshop – whose title appears to have been an invitation to the participates to interpret it as they see fit.
It is hosted by award-winning folk success story Abigail Lapell and features Cassidy Houston, Shy-Anne Hovorka and a slightly quirky artists I am unfamiliar with named Mimi Dominique.
The highlight of this round, hands down, is a new song by Shy-Anne that is due out in a couple of months, she tells us. It was as intense as the thunder she was singing about and saw her extend her voice into operatic highs. Cannot wait for that to come out.
In setting up the song, Shy-Anne references the storm clouds heading toward us and I hope they’ll pass us by.
No such luck. At 5:30 the sky opens and the rains come down.
At this point, I have fortunately decamped to a covered patio with wifi to file this first report of the day.
I’ll fill you in on the main stage later.
