Pete’s Posse – Ya Know, Ya Never Know
It’s epic. Not only do we have a two disc set from the Posse here, but a newly minted Canadian too. Dyed in the wool Vermonter Tristan Henderson, married his Québecoise sweetheart and moved to Montreal last year (yes they ...
Grosse Isle – Le Bonhomme Sept Heures / The Bonesetter
Québec and Ireland have a long and intertwined cultural relationship that goes back centuries. In 1847, at the height of the great potato famine of 1845 to 1852, 441 ships sailed for Québec, and many on board were sick ...
Nicolas Boulerice – Maison de Pierres
It is said that English is a very technical language, and that in contrast, French is much more poetic. You hear this nature of the language very clearly on this new recording in the perfect and atmospheric singing of Nicolas ...
Alexis Chartrand and Colin Savoie-Levac – Le Tranino
Two of the finest young players in Québec’s traditional music scene got together in a studio one weekend last September and jammed, improvising arrangements while their friend recorded them. The result is a simply superb collection of tunes from the ...
Nathan Smith – Let It Rest, Let It Rise
Lovely and listenable. That’s my first reaction to this fantastic new CD from Toronto fiddler Nathan Smith. It’s a first studio album from Nathan, who grew up in northern Ontario, in North Bay, where he had French Canadian, classical, bluegrass, ...
Emilyn Stam and John David Williams – Honeywood
Of course, you’d like a trip to Europe, but there’s a pandemic on, tethering our wanderlust to places here at home. But we can conjure our wanderings in other ways, listening to this lovely music being one. This beautiful album, ...
I know it’s nice out, but you do NOT want ...
Festival Mémoire et Racines, the biggest and most loved folk festival in Québec, is, of course, not happening this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s sad, but inevitable, given that we all must physically distance ourselves. Live music with ...
Together Apart: Tony Oxford’s tribute to essential workers
I met singer and guitarist Tony Oxford on the docks in St. John’s, NL a couple of years ago. We were about to spend two weeks together on an expedition ship circumnavigating Newfoundland. Tony was one of the musicians in ...
Festival des Festivals Trad En Direct – Mar. 28 on ...
What a fun day to be surfing Facebook Live! An online folk festival was taking place all day and into the wee hours of the evening, featuring some of the most venerated and talented members of the Québecois folklore community, ...
Nathan Rogers – multiple performances on Facebook Live
This is just for a few laughs, he explained (no fundraising involved), but Nathan Rogers’ own peculiar brand of FUNraising just might be keeping some of us at least half sane in this era of self-isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. ...