Alan Doyle at the Brockville Arts Centre
It was a lovely old soft seat theatre in eastern Ontario with a history stretching back to 1858 that was the venue for this superb concert by Newfoundland’s Alan Doyle. For 20 years, Alan was at the heart of the ...
The Bombadils in ‘condo-cert’ – a review of a special ...
The Bombadils, a Halifax-based folk duo, are ramping up their music career following a short hiatus to spend time with their new baby. Kicking off their activities this fall was a short Ontario tour, the highlight of which was a ...
Folk Music Ontario conference travelogue: Saturday, Sept. 29
Noon – My showcase-watching for the day kicks off at the Coax Records showcase, Coax being the record label belonging to Rae Spoon. Rae’s got an impressive roster of established acts, such as the boundary-pushing Geoff Berner and the award-winning ...
Folk Music Ontario conference travelogue: Friday, Sept. 28
8:45 a.m. – I arrive at the Hilton near the Toronto Airport already exhausted after getting up at 4 a.m. to catch my plane. The hotel can’t check me in until after noon, but there’s a breakfast buffet for conference-goers ...
John Mellencamp just launched a massive Canadian tour. Mersereau ...
John Mellencamp’s taking a bit of a victory lap across Canada this fall, a lengthy, coast-to-coast trek over six weeks, with a generous 24 shows from Halifax to Abbotsford, B.C. It’s an extension of his Sad Clowns & Hillbillies tour from 2017, ...
Ottawa CityFolk, Sept. 12-16
Last week was hot – sweltering, muggy, sweating-just-standing-there hot. We both donned t-shirts and shorts to prepare for the steamy days ahead. And boy, did this year’s CityFolk Festival in downtown Ottawa deliver great music. Wednesday, Sept. 12 On Wednesday ...
Emilyn Stam and Filippo Gambetta – Sept. 12 at Hugh’s ...
The highly accomplished pianist and fiddler Emilyn Stam has done it yet again, but this time, in partnership with Filippo Gambetta, the exceptionally talented diatonic accordionist from Genoa, Italy. Wednesday night, we had the absolute privilege of hearing these two ...
Big Branch Festival Kickoff – Sept. 6, the Tranzac, Toronto
Well, Toronto fiddler and pianist Emilyn Stam has done it again. Not only did she produce a completely sold-out weekend for the first Big Branch Bal Folk Festival, but she brought two simply wonderful bands from France for the event. ...
The Small World Music Festival – Day 1 (Friday)
The 17th edition of the Small World Music Festival, an essentially free event expressing the variety and caliber of global music artists, was held this past weekend over three days at Toronto’s Harbourfront Center. In the beginning, there was no ...
The Sutton Fiddle Festival: a recap by Elizabeth Szekeres
The fifth annual Sutton Fiddle Festival took place once more, Aug. 16-19, 2018, in the charming bilingual village of Sutton in the southern mountains of Québec, not far from the Vermont border. This small festival just keeps on getting better ...