Guitar enthusiasts should take note of RIFF L’Assomption for next year. Just a 45-minute drive northeast of Montreal, the three-day festival celebrates guitar “in all its forms,” with a lineup spanning fingerstyle, folk, blues, rock and contemporary acoustic music. It is truly a guitar nerd’s festival.
From Aug. 13–15, RIFF took over downtown L’Assomption with free outdoor concerts and restaurant patio shows, an intimate ticketed concert, a luthier expo and a masterclass. The first edition under the new RIFF banner featured Antoine Dufour, Jesse Cook, Sean Hall, Hunter Van Larkins, Amber Russell, Calum Graham, Kim Churchill and more.
This year marked a major expansion of the former L’Assomption Guitar Festival, or Les Soirées de la guitare, organized by guitarist Antoine Dufour and his team in previous years. Dufour says the City of L’Assomption’s involvement brought greater marketing and promotion, more participation from local businesses and additional resources for the artists. For Antoine, who lived in L’Assomption for many years, seeing friends and family gathered on the same street where he watched his son grow up was “extremely rewarding.”
RIFF opened Thursday, Aug. 13 with a free outdoor showcase at Place Karl-Tremblay featuring Rémi Côté, William Déraspe, Amber Russell, Jérémie Groleau, Jean-François Godbout and Vince Vertefeuille. Friday evening, the same six guitarists spread out along L’Assomption’s downtown strip for free 5 à 7 shows on three restaurant patios: Jérémie and Jean-François at Maître Edgar, Amber and Vince at Le Coup Monté, and William and Rémi at Le Fermentor.
We settled in at Maître Edgar on the terrasse across from the historic Collège de L’Assomption, enjoying a few appetizers and a cocktail while Jean-François and Jérémie played. Jean-François moved through fingerstyle pieces spanning a range of styles, while Jérémie’s energetic picking evoked the classic North American fingerstyle tradition of Chet Atkins. Both sets were a treat.
With the restaurants, theatre and outdoor stage all within a block or two, the atmosphere was casual and close-knit. Musicians stuck around to watch each other’s sets and mingled over drinks and meals. Despite the small-town feel, RIFF drew serious guitar fans from much farther afield, including people we met who had travelled from Ontario and Calgary to see some of their favourite players.
By 7 p.m., the lawn at Place Karl-Tremblay beside Théâtre Hector-Charland was packed for a free performance by Juno Award-winning Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook, joined by Québec-based flamenco guitarist Caroline Planté and percussionist Miguel Medina. We bopped to the world beats and enjoyed the delightful interplay between the two guitarists. It was a relaxed, all-ages crowd: rows of lawn chairs filled the square, kids played at the back, and a family area offered games and bubbles. As the sun went down and the clouds turned pink behind the stage, Jesse’s rhythmic music had people dancing — although, in what would become something of a theme for the weekend, much of that dancing happened without anyone actually leaving their seats.
Jesse closed with a new song and told the crowd he and Caroline would be back in L’Assomption in September. Their Sept. 26 show at Théâtre Hector-Charland is part of Jesse’s fall tour.
Friday night’s ticketed show at L’Ange Cornu featured three acts with ties to CandyRat Records, a label long associated with contemporary fingerstyle guitar: Antoine Dufour, Washington-based Sean Hall and Australian duo Hunter Van Larkins.
Antoine opened with groove, percussion and ringing harmonics before Sean took the stage. Sean’s energetic pieces combined body percussion with delicate, ringing melodies and a huge dynamic range. Between songs, he occasionally explained the unusual capos, tunings and techniques he was using — details this guitar-loving crowd was well equipped to appreciate. He and Antoine also played together, with Sean creating what felt like an entire rhythm section underneath Antoine’s chiming melodies.
Hunter Van Larkins closed the night with a great set, moving from sweet, cinematic passages and Celtic influences into tapping, harmonics and some unexpectedly heavy passages. Antoine joined them for a complex trio as well. By that point I had largely given up trying to understand how everyone was making so many sounds with so few guitars.
During one of many inevitable tuning breaks, the duo turned the downtime into some crowd work.
“How do you say ‘hurry up’ in French?”
“Dépêche-toi!” came the answer.
“What’s the rude way?”
“Enwèye!” someone called back.
Across from us sat an older couple. The gentleman sat with his arms crossed, looking thoroughly unimpressed — except that he rocked steadily to the music the entire time. Beside him, his companion smiled with her chin in her hand. Around the room, heads bobbed. RIFF turned out to be something of a festival of seated dancing. This was a crowd that listened closely but rarely sat still.
Saturday brought us to the free luthier expo in the lobby of Théâtre Hector-Charland, where nine featured luthiers displayed handmade instruments and talked with visitors about their craft. You could see the guitars up close and even try them yourself. Familiar faces from Friday circulated through the room, and one exhibitor described the guitar community as feeling like a large extended family.
Among the exhibitors was Jérémie Groleau, winner of the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Award for Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year, who was previewing The Fingerpicker’s Vault, an online school for acoustic fingerstyle guitar launching Sept. 7.
Saturday’s masterclass with Sean Hall gave 14 participants a hands-on look at his approach to fingerstyle guitar. He shared alternate tunings and walked participants through techniques from three of his songs, which we then tried ourselves. He generously answered questions, shared personal experiences and even walked us through his pedalboard. As a nice surprise, we left with a swag bag of strings and guitar accessories courtesy of Ernie Ball.
We finished our RIFF weekend back at Place Karl-Tremblay for another free outdoor show. Antoine Dufour teamed up with California guitarist Adrian Bellue — his signature bandana dangling from his guitar — for a seriously fun, heavy duet. We were sorry to miss the rest of Saturday’s free lineup, which included Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition winner Calum Graham, Australian guitarist Owen Van Larkins and Australian folk-blues artist and one-man band Kim Churchill, who closed the festival with a free 8 p.m. show.
After helping build the event that grew into RIFF and hosting throughout the weekend, Antoine is already looking ahead. He’d love to see more space for festival-goers and even a campsite so visitors can make a weekend of it. Ideas being explored for future editions include a guitar competition with prizes.
“There are lots of plans going forward,” he said, “and I know there will be more improvements and exciting additions with each year.”
For guitar fans coming from elsewhere in Canada, it’s worth the trip — even if your French is rusty. L’Assomption is a charming town accustomed to English-speaking visitors, and the shared love of guitar makes for a welcoming crowd.
I know I won’t miss it!
