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This is the first year we have offered personal sponsorship opportunities for individuals and groups.

Personal Sponsorship Packages

One Time – Click on the items below to donate.

[add_to_cart item=”$10 Monthly” showprice=”no” text=”One time $25.00 Donation” ]

[add_to_cart item=”WF50-001″ showprice=”no” text=”One Time $50.00 Donation” ]

[add_to_cart item=”WF100-001″ showprice=”no” text=”One Time $100.00 Donation” ]

[add_to_cart item=”WF250-001″ showprice=”no” text=”One Time $250.00 Donation” ]

[add_to_cart item=”WF500-001″ showprice=”no” text=”One Time $500.00 Donation” ]

Monthly Recurring

Can be cancelled at any time

[add_to_cart item=”$10 Monthly” showprice=”no” text=”Donate $10.00 Monthly”]

[add_to_cart item=”$20 Monthly” showprice=”no” text=”Donate $20.00 Monthly” ]

It’s a simple formula. If you enjoy the music, then help to support the festival.

Your support of Winterfolk will help us to continue to present quality roots and blues music on an ongoing basis, and as well provide paid performance opportunities for artists. The majority of our budget goes to performing artists, most of whom are local talent. You donation goes directly into the roots community and for the enrichment of the art form for all to enjoy. More About Winterfolk

All Personal Sponsors Receive

• ‘I Support Roots Music in Toronto’ badges – so you will not be asked for a donation at the door.
• Name recognition on our website, with thanks.

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In a recent flashback moment, as I was pondering about the upcoming Winterfolk XI, and how it grew from a simple 'dream'. But then I realized that Winterfolk was spawned as the result of an unthinking and spontaneous response, and the 'dream' part didn’t come till later.

I’ve learned that all things are connected, and more so everything happens in its own time at exactly the right moment. Well, eleven years later I still emit a minor chortle whenever I recollect how it all began. I’ve told this story before – Im not proud –  and I certainly think it is a fitting opening to my new blog.

Winterfolk was born from a random impulse. I had a ‘Eureka’ moment was like a lightning strike in a storm, a flash in the midst of what seemed like a personal disaster.

It was 2002 and I was invited to audition for the Mariposa festival, so with high hopes, I did the drive to Orillia with my sister Bonnie and Tony Quarrington.

I had just released my first album a few years earlier and I was pretty new to the music business, and was looking for prestigious performance opportunities – same as everyone else. I had applied to about 200 festivals the old fashioned way – prior to EPK’s or electronic submissions – and had about 200 rejections.

I felt certain that we had a pretty good shot at this one.  Here were only nine people competing for six spots, so I really thought we couldn’t miss. But when they sluggishly announced the winners – I didn’t hear my name called. It was literally my 200^th rejection by a festival – perfect timing.

Suddenly it hit me: ‘Eureka’ if I wanted to play a festival, maybe I was going to have to start one! There were a bunch of other artists in the room where we were auditioning so I started walking around the room asking them “Do you want to play at my festival?” (I didn’t have a name for it yet, obviously) and I just started telling people they were hired to play!

A few months later I realized I had made a commitment to a few artists sans any same method of pre thought, and ‘what do I do now?’

It was a knee jerk reaction really. I didn’t have anything worked out at all. But that’s probably why it actually happened, because now I was committed to it and realized opportunity was knocking – I sensed something vital and new was on the verge of creation.

I’m sure Winterfolk was started for all the wrong reasons, but has survived and grown for the right reasons. Sometimes life is an adventure, and you just have to turn off your brain, tune into your instincts, and just follow where they take you. That’s what I did. So that’s the story of Winterfolk.

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Anyone who attended the 2012 landmark tenth anniversary edition of Toronto’s Winterfolk Roots and Blues Festival on February 16-20, 2012 knew they were part of a vibrant local roots community that has grown constantly during the last decade.

Winterfolk’s move – from several Danforth outdoor venues, to the Delta Chelsea Hotel – was of paramount assistance in helping to transport Toronto’s roots population a step closer to mainstream. For the first time all shows were staged in a single building, enhancing the experience for performers and audience alike, and making travel between shows easy, quick, and warm. The tenth festival saw newcomers among the 257 artists mix with about 100 alumni from Winterfolks past back to 2003.

Most performances were filled to capacity – not only with appreciative folkies and regular attendees – but this year the festival attracted a sizable contingent of curious fresh new faces who got their indoctrination and introduction to the local roots music scene at Winterfolk.

Working in collaboration with the Folk Alliance International, Winterfolk XI dates are planned for February 14-18, 2013 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel, then following immediately at the same venue, The International Folk Alliance Conference will run from February 20-24. Though diverse and individual in nature, the two events working together will share resources, showcases, artists, publicity and much more.

Toronto will surely become a folk music paradise in February of 2013. Details posted soon. www.winterfolk.com www.folkalliance.org

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The Association of Artists for a Better World and The Delta Hotel have joined forces to help raise funds for Earth Day Canada.

Enjoy an evening of great music featuring Mose Scarlett, Wendell Ferguson, The Guitar Boys of Alderon (Brian Gladstone and Noah Zacharin with Tony Quarrington), Sue and Dwight, Sebastian Agnello, Andy Griffiths, HOTCHA!, and others.

Earth Day Director of Communications Keith Treffry, will drop in to say a few words.

Suggested Donation: $10 or more

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Our Albums Receive Airplay Around the World. 

• Our CD's have been played globally, often in rotation for months at a time.
• We typically get over 100 requests from radio for play copies – often in advance of the actual release!
• There are likely more stations playing our tracks. If you know any spins not listed below, please email the details. [email protected]
• The list below has been compiled from playlists received, or artists send us updates where their songs are played.  The list below is sorted alphabetically by country.
  

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By Melinda Drake • March 7, 2012

Mark Denington may be a renovator by trade but he is a blues guitarist at heart. The Beach contractor spends his days taping drywall and nailing trim, but at night he sits down with his six-string Martin guitar and sings the blues.

When Denington was growing up in Birch Cliff Heights, there was always music in the house.

“My dad was a musician,” said Denington. “He played guitar and drums, so I grew up listening to my dad play guitar and sing and entertain people.”

When he was a student at Birchmount Park Collegiate, Denington played guitar in rock bands.

Then life took over. He got married, had a son. He became a teacher in 1970. There was no time for making music. But he never abandoned it. In the mid 1970s, he enrolled in a guitar course at Centennial College. There, he learned how to fingerpick. After the course ended, Denington was keen to keep going. He found a private guitar teacher who introduced him to ‘acoustic blues,’ a genre of music played by African American musicians during the 1920s and 30s. Called ‘race records,’ the music was both recorded by and marketed to African Americans.

“I fell in love with the raw energy of it. That’s the best way I can describe it,” he said. “It’s something you have to hear and experience. I just gravitated to it.”

But over the next 30 years, life again got in the way and Denington had to put aside the guitar and pick up the drills and hammers. He got remarried,  and he and his wife Mary bought a house in the Beach that was falling apart. He quit teaching because he wanted to devote more time to renovating. He had always loved to work with his hands and decided to try contracting as a new career. But his musical hobby was never far from hand.

“About five years ago I was jamming with some guys I knew, but it was more of a pop/rock thing,” said Denington. “But that got me playing my guitar again and realizing how much I enjoyed it. So I thought, I want to get back into my real love which is old blues.”

These days, Denington can be found on any given evening playing and singing at an open mic night in cafes throughout the city. Recently he performed at Winterfolk, a premier folk roots festival in Toronto.

Denington credits local folk music legend Mose Scarlett with giving him the confidence to perform in front of an audience.

As fate would have it, Denington one day opened the pages of Beach Metro News and saw Scarlett’s ad offering guitar lessons.

“I gave him a call and I was really unsure of the whole thing,” said Denington. “I talked to him a while and said, maybe I’m a little old for this. But he was more than happy to help me get back into learning the music I loved. The stuff I’d learned 30 years ago, I just picked it up 30 years later.”

Denington’s first solo performance was at the Bain Co-op's Lazy Cat Cafe. He was nervous, but determined. He played tried-and-true tunes by James Taylor and Elton John, safe songs that he knew well and had been playing for years.

“I didn’t feel comfortable playing the blues yet,” he said.

But the performances went well and after a while, he was asked to be the feature performer. This gave him the impetus to seek out more open mics and begin to sing and play the music he loved most.

“My first high point was at Sarah’s (on Danforth Avenue) when Dan MacLean Jr., the host, asked me to be part of a showcase called The Best of Sarah’s Acoustic Afternoon at Winterfolk,” he said. He got to play three songs, all acoustic blues. He appeared again just recently at this year’s Winterfolk. And last fall, Denington took part in a fundraiser for the Friends of Glen Davis Ravine, held at the Delta Chelsea Hotel.

“It’s nice when you get an opportunity to play somewhere, like Winterfolk or the benefit, where there’s an audience who’s never heard you play before, because then you really get an honest reaction,” he said. “I feel I’ve been successful if I’ve entertained the audience.”

For their 25th wedding anniversary, Mary told him to go buy a new guitar. It was to replace a vintage 1928 Martin he had sold years before, when times were lean. His new guitar is now a cherished possession.

Denington is loving every minute of his musical hobby, but he has no plans to give up his day job.

“I’m not interested in whether I make money,” he said. “I’m doing it because I love the music.”

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Reprinted from Gazeta Dziennik Polonii w Kanadzie, March 2012 Winterfolk 2012

Jack De Keyzer

Danny Marks

HOTCHA!

Lenka Lichtenberg

Bob Ryder

Translation – original text below

Last weekend  in Toronto, the  tenth Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival. The four stages were in located in the Delta Chelsea Hotel in the center of the city, and music occurred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, more than 100 artists.

With a large number of artists, both the level and style of the music presented was highly entertaining. But since the majority of performances admission was free, viewers are able to choose any of the things they liked most. And there was plenty to choose from.

Jack De Keyzer, seven times nominated best blues artist in Canada, did not disappoint the audience, which filled the Monarch Pub. By the second track, they danced rhythmically on every available piece of floor. On the border of the stage, the energetic blues rock and roll can not be ignored, especially when it is well presented.

Few of blues performers were better known more than Danny Marks, who presents a weekly program on Jazz FM. The festival became known not only as an expert and presenter of music, but above all as a performer. Danny made a great connection with the audience, so that each of us had the feeling that we’re meeting old friends and talk about the music that we all like, and this conversation is interspersed with illustrations playd on Live.

As for the real folk and roots festival, of course, do not run too old folk music, or at least that sounded like the old. HOTCHA! The duet played old songs not only quickly , but at even pace with great precision, a sense of rhythm and vocal artistry.

Lenka Lichtenberg presented a truly Canadian sound and the mix of music combined all sorts of styles. Until shiver passed on the back when I listened to her performance with lovely lullabies sung in Romany, iddish, Russian and English. Typically a combination of klezmer clarinet playing of backing the Arab-sounding drums and electric cello travels took listeners on a musical yet imaginative ride.  

Traditional country music presented including The Wanted, and Sarah Green joined the team. Both groups are admittedly amateur (in The Wanted play including lawyers), but presented a level not inferior to many professional performers.

One of the main objectives of Winterfolk is not only a collection of well-known artists but also to find and present talent. The youngest performer in this group was (Robert Kniat – Kniat son Tom, our webmaster). We invite you to listen to and their own assessment of the fifteen Robert was able to handle. His performance was very well received by the audience, and positively commented by a much more experienced artists.

At a time when the music industry is undergoing tremendous changes, such as Winterfolk festivals play an increasingly important function: help artists and audience contact. It’s not a festival but a real music festival and a source of joy for many of those who take part in it.

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Music, conversation and laughter filled the air on February 16^th as the tenth annual Winterfolk Festival kicked off its official launch party at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, Ontario.  Presented by not-for-profit organization, The Association of Artist for a Better World, and running from February 17^th to the 19^th, volunteers, media and artists were treated to a night of music at the hotel’s Monarch Pub.   Attracting close to 7000 people per year, the event is free and is run solely by the support of volunteers, granting agencies, and a series of fundraising events throughout the year.

Since its inaugural year in 2002, founder Brian Gladstone, a musician himself and one who has a large passion for music and its power to change the world, has seen his Winterfolk Festival vision evolve from an event he begged musicians to join, to a festival that has musicians begging him to participate in.  With a mission to “entertain, educate, enlighten, engage, and encourage [the] community about various folk music styles”, Gladstone and his team set out to create a stage that could give emerging young artists the privilege and opportunity to use their words and music to change the world for the better. Deeming himself a child of the 60’s, when folk and roots music was more mainstream than it is today, Gladstone realized the power of music and how it was a catalyst for social justice around the world.

Although new challenges arise constantly, the process of organizing Winterfolk has become more streamlined as each year has passed. With a core team of six organizers (consisting of a festival director, publicist, volunteer coordinator and an artistic committee), organizing generally starts 6 months before the festival start date. After a venue and theme is established (this year being “Alumni”) the team starts to plan. For the past nine years, Winterfolk situated itself within certain areas of Toronto where several establishments were being used throughout the weekend. The festival was held around the Danforth and Broadview area for the last six years, and it was a win-win situation for both the businesses in the area and the festival itself. There was an increase in revenue for the restaurants and bars during the industries generally slow winter season, and it brought awareness to the event. However, with that said, Gladstone felt the festival was outgrowing this kind of set-up so organizers tried an entirely different route and set up a meeting with the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto for its tenth year. This particular choice in venue allowed the festival to stay in one spot for the weekend, and it provided a more credible, mainstream feel to the event. Around 65 volunteers helped to fuel the event this year, taking charge in such areas as monitoring the sound boards, stage managing, selling CD’s, collecting money, and running the instrument check-in.

After establishing a theme for the festival, organizers start to gather the talent. Auditions are held throughout the Greater Toronto Area where to date they have evaluated over 1500 artists in the ten years. There are four sets of live auditions that see only two people get selected per audition (with over 1000 people applying this year). Organizers look for people who create buzz, generate publicity and are established within the folk/roots music community. Artists from Australia, England, Yukon, BC, New Jersey and California have come to play at this event over the years, proving how successful this event has become. In addition to the live auditions, Gladstone gathers artists from his open stage nights at The Monarch Pub, and publicist Beverly Kreller gathers artists she deals with through her company, Speak Music. Jazz FM radio-host Laura Fernandez, who also helps organize the event, selects musicians from the hundreds of CD’s she receives throughout the year. 

Additionally, Gladstone receives and accepts over 500 online or email submissions, and MySpace music links from various artists around the city, and many music organizations and establishments that promote music around the GTA, such as the Seneca music program and The Moonshine Café in Oakville, ON, are offered stages at the festival to “increase their public visibility and membership, offer exposure for their events” and meet their musical goals. When the auditioning process is completed, 150 artists are selected and each musician gets paid. Funds to pay the artists and to run this event are raised through fundraising conducted throughout the year and grants and sponsorship provided by organizations such as SoCan Foundation, Long & McQuade, Canadian Heritage, Trillium Foundation and Toronto Arts Council.

As another fundraising activity, CD compilations are created through many song submissions organizers receive from various musicians and are sold throughout the world. Benefit concerts are held, and monetary contributions from artists around the globe are collected. As well, Gladstone receives close to 300 tracks each year from artists that pay to have their songs considered for the CD compilations.

To market this event and to increase exposure, many marketing tools are used.  Gladstone touched base with many roots and folk radio stations around the area, such as Jazz FM 91, and HOWL CIUT 89.9, and ensured the artists they chose for the event were featured on the radio programs through interviews conducted and songs played.  NOW Magazine did a big feature on the festival, and media outlets such as Eye Magazine, The Toronto Star, and Globe & Mail included Winterfolk in their publications. Close to 1000 posters and 5000 postcards were created and distributed around the GTA, and 50,000 festival programs were handed out prior to the festival and at the door. Direct emails were sent out to the contacts in their extensive database, and the utilization of Twitter, Facebook, and their website proved to be successful mediums to create buzz about the event.

To learn more about the Winterfolk Festival please visit https://abetterworld.ca/.

SPONSORS/VENUE:

Long & McQuade – http://www.long-mcquade.com/
Delta Chelsea – www.deltachelsea.com
Socan – http://www.socan.ca/
Toronto Arts Council – http://www.torontoartscouncil.org/
Trillium Foundation – http://www.trilliumfoundation.org/
Canadian Heritage – http://www.pch.gc.ca/
Jazz FM 91 – http://www.jazz.fm/
Seneca College – http://www.senecac.on.ca/

DATE: February 16-19, 2012
AUTHOR: Lianne Gravitis
PHOTO CREDITS: Victoria Ilgacs

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 Winterfolk X is now Located at the Delta Chelsea Hotel

 All stages are  indoors, under one roof, featuring quiet listening rooms

Winterfolk is a Free Family Festival

• Al Lerman Considered to be one of the top harp players in the country, singer/songwriter Al Lerman is a journeyman musician who plays with sizzle and a whole lot of soul. His harmonica and saxophone playing have garnered him several Maple Blues Award nominations.
• Alastair Artingstall It has been said of Alastair ( even if mostly by himself ), that unrequited love, a total lack of regard for normal guitar technique and the joy that comes from the slippery nature of the English language, collide in a beautiful car crash.
• Ariana Gillis With Ariana, there is an intense, driving force behind her folk/pop sound, and a deeper story behind every song. A favourite of lyricist Bernie Taupin.
• A Yellow Field A fledgling band based out of Waterloo, Ontario, filled with harmonizing indie-grass songsters playing catchy tunes
• Brian Blain Originally from the hills of rural Quebec, now based in Toronto, Brian "Colorblind" Blain has been performing his unique brand of slow-cooked, solid-groove folk blues for more than 40 years – soulful, thoughtful, always entertaining.
• Brian Gladstone Brian’s particular way of seeing things through irony and old time approach reminds one of great artists as John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt. He is their own true son and continues their great sounds. (Suso Ondo Radio, Italy)
• Crabtree & Mills Crabtree & Mills are a vibrant duo featuring great songwriting, passionate vocals, close harmonies and dazzling guitar work
• D'Arcy Wickham An exceptional facility with all styles of guitar picking has highlighted decades of performing experience, and was recognized by an OCFF "Songs From the Heart" award in 2007 for his song "Feather Fingers”
• Dan McVeigh Dan McVeigh is a country artist and songwriter promoting his current CD “Drove” which has garnered great reviews and Dan’s new CD “Resolutions” will be released later this year.
• Danny Marks "Toronto's Own" Danny Marks is an outstanding guitarist & bandleader whose musical abilities and on-stage sense of humour have made him a favourite with live audiences.
• David David Essig BC musician David Essig is a founding member of Canada's roots music scene, a great songwriter and guitarist who always enjoys coming back to perform in Ontario – especially at Winterfolk.
• David Gillis “He demonstrates many facets of his extraordinary talent as a guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer.” ~ Diane Wells (Radio Host, CFMU 93.3FM) Diane Wells
• Gary Kendall Gary Kendall is one Canada’s best known blues bassists, laying down a solid bottom end and providing a positive vibe to any musical journey he takes.
• Grainne Grainne (pronounced Grawn-ya) is a singer-songwriter "reminiscent of Lucinda Williams and a slightly rebellious Mary Chapin Carpenter", who puts a positive spin on her catchy "hook-laden" songs about life, loss, love and socio-political and environmental issues.
• Greg Quill Perplexing, provocative, and challenging original songs, combined with a deep respect for the origins of the traditional music of his native land, are trademarks of this pioneer of Australian roots music.
• HOTCHA! High-energy hillbilly swing duo blends old-time Western, bluegrass, early swing and country gospel delivered with the energy of a runaway train. Soaring vocals, lively accordion, gritty guitar, wailing harmonica and big-beat bodhran.
• Howard Gladstone "Howard Gladstone balances thoughtful and passionate lyrics with calming, soulful and diverse tunes that compel you to take a deep breath, and simply take the time to enjoy some good music" – CHRY Radio York
• Ian Reid Ian has a uniquely engaging and entertaining stage presence and an ability to connect with his audiences; he loves to augment his voice, guitar, and ukulele with quirky anecdotes from home and abroad.
• Jack De Keyzer A 2-time Juno and seven-time Maple Blues award-winning artist, blues guitarist, singer, song writer and producer, Jack is "the finest blues guitarist in Canada,” said the late Jeff Healey. "If Jack de Keyzer was from Chicago, New York or LA, he'd be famous" says Bob Dylan
• Jaron Freeman Fox & the Opposite of Everything The Opposite of Everything played seven folk and Jazz festivals across the country in their first year of touring, recently returned from they're first winter tour out to Montreal, and will be heading down to Showcase in Memphis, Tennessee in February 2012
• Jay Aymar With guitar in hand and his fifth indie CD to his name, touring folk troubadour Jay Aymar has been winning fans across Canada with his well crafted songs about everyday people living everyday lives.
• John Jackson John will set you up by belting out four comedy songs in a row and then break your heart with a tender ballad… his real forte. “Everything is just an excuse for a slide guitar solo.”
• Jory Nash Jory Nash is an award-winning singer-songwriter and storyteller who blends elements of folk, jazz, blues, pop & soul into an original stew of sound.
• Laura Fernandez Born in Madrid, Spain, and now based in Toronto, Laura is a singer, songwriter, pianist, music producer, painter, radio host/producer and award-winning illustrator and designer,.
• Lenka Lichtenberg The Prague-born, Toronto-based composer, singer and bandleader, performs with her latest project Fray. The band features Yiddish and English-based world music and they she has garnered several awards and nominations including one for a 2011 CFMA.
• Lynn Miles From Ottawa, ON, Lynn Miles is Canada's to Emmylou Harris, having written beautiful, straightforward folk-country songs for years, honing her craft over eight albums.
• Lynne Hanson Some call it country, some call it roots-and-blues, and others call it rough-around- the-edges folk. Lynne Hanson calls her musical style by her own name: "porch music with a little Texas red dirt."
• Maneli Jamal Maneli Jamal is a solo acoustic guitarist who's percussive / tapping style can make more music on its own than three other guitarists can produce in a collaborative effort. And after witnessing a performance, you’ll find yourself trying to figure out if all that sound is really being produced by two hands.
• Margaret Stowe Toronto guitarist Margaret Stowe has eclectic taste. Her original jazz-based music can better be categorized as “other”, as it encompasses a multi-genre world of influence. She embraces elements of world music, folk, blues, funk and beyond, but always with a jazz sensibility and perspective.
• Marie Lynn Hammond Marie-Lynn Hammond, bilingual co-founder of the seminal Canadian folk group Stringband, is a brilliant singer-songwriter known for dynamic live performances and intricate lyrics that range from wickedly funny to hauntingly personal.
• Max Woolaver Band Max Woolaver was born in a clamshell at low tide and has been searching for the ocean ever since.
• Mr. Rick Mr. Rick performs traditional style Americana with big honest vocals and fingerstyle guitar.
• Mr. Rick & The Biscuits Mr. Rick and The Biscuits, with their vintage but original sound
• Inspired by the classic eras of Western swing, country, Tin Pan Alley, folk and Blues have been performing clubs and festivals for over 15 years.
• Noah Zacharin "Like Bruce Cockburn, Ry Cooder, and Bonnie Raitt, Noah Zacharin possesses a virtuoso command of the guitar…world-wise songwriting." (Minor 7th) He performs frequently in Toronto. Though he prefers to stay home with his cat he occasionally performs out of town as well.
• Phillip Brown Former member of the Canadian Armed Forces and Afghanistan war vet, now a dynamic performer.
• Phonogarde Lean-ass folk blues, county fight in city shoes, Detroit sounds many joys, friends forever sweetest noise.
• Richard Henderson Richard Henderson is one of few solo lap steel guitarists. His music is forged in the gritty traditions of blues, country and rock ‘n roll. And it rocks!
• Rick Taylor Considered to be one of Canada finest finger-style guitarist, Rick Taylor has returned to his home province of Ontario after 23 years in Vancouver.
• Roger Scannura & Ritmo Flamenco Canada's premier flamenco guitarist. "…a gifted composer whose music is as beautiful as it is haunting."-The Globe and Mail "Rarely is Flamenco guitar played so eloquently with just the right amount of passion and grace."-20th Century Guitar Magazine
• Russell Leon Russell Leon is a based Toronto indie folk pop acoustic electronic rock musician who uses rhythm and rhyme to help the melodies sing stories.
• Same Latitude as Rome Same Latitude As Rome is a collective of multi talented musicians and songwriters based in Essex County, geographically, the same latitude as Rome, and hence the band's name!
• Steve Raiken Veteran Toronto singer/songwriter Steve Raiken is highly regarded for his superb guitar playing, beautiful songwriting and entertaining shows.
• Sue and Dwight Sue and Dwight are a folk roots duo with a vocal style rich in harmonies, and songs that weave stories of life in small towns, city streets and African villages with themes of peace, courage, and social justice.
• The Alistair Christl Trio The Alistair Christl Trio is a powerhouse rockabilly band that combines the energy of the genre with modern songwriting sensibilities.
• The Boxcar Boys A New Orleans street band featuring clarinet, sousaphone, fiddle, accordion, and trombone, The Boxcar Boys deliver a happy hodgepodge of vintage-jazz, klezmer, gypsy, and folk music and they are always a fun-time!
• The Guitar Boys of Alderon Superbly talented guitar player, s Roots/Folk/Country picking icons Brian Gladstone, Noah Zacharin and Rick Zolkower combine to perform as the new “power-Roots” trio The Guitar Boys of Alderon. At no time do their fingers leave their hands.
• The Lady Racers The Lady Racers are a Kingston-based trio who focus on songwriting and collaboration with their sometimes melancholy and always stunning harmonies.
• The Lemon Bucket Orkestra Toronto's only Balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk super-band is quickly gaining a reputation as the city's most dynamic folk party band.
• The Wanted The Wanted blends early country music, rockabilly and blues into an eclectic, raucous, musical style that can best be described as "The Carter Family meets Chuck Berry".
• Tia McGraff Port Dover based, Tia McGraff is an international touring recording artist/songwriter who will be joined on stage by husband/guitarist Tommy Parham. T'n'T are a dynamic duo, bringing to the stage a collection of their handwritten, heart wrenching, songs.
• Tony Quarrington A veteran guitarist appearing on hundreds of albums, including the Juno-winning HEARTSTRINGS by Willie P. Bennett, has more recently emerged as a thoughtful and compelling songwriter.
• Whiskey Jack Now in their 34th year, the five-piece band play a hybrid of bluegrass, country, folk and swing seasoned with a sprinkle of their dynamic vocals and sizzling musicianship.

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Road veteran Jay Aymar was one of many acts showcased this past weekend at Winterfolk’s 10th anniversary festival in Toronto, held for the first time at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. Jay’s keen eye makes this post, from the performer’s perspective, a charming capsule of the weekend. There’s more where that came from on his excellent blog, Jay Aymar – Road Stories.

I walk through the big glass revolving door and am met with two small children having their faces painted by a friendly looking teenage girl. They appear happily innocent as they stand beside their proud parents awaiting the next activity. Their parents, of Japanese origin, wait and watch closely as they fight off the requests for ‘more popcorn’ from the big bright red machine pumping out corn and wafting this scent into the lobby. I enjoy this smell of popcorn in the context of a movie theatre on a Saturday night or during an afternoon stroll through an amusement park. It’s Saturday morning and I’m still trying to dust off the Friday night shenanigans and find a cup of tar to improve my chances.

As I sit waiting for my band mates to arrive, the Japanese father smiles and walks toward me. Knowing I have my ‘Artist’ badge firmly pinned into lapel, I reassure myself that this will be a friendly inquiry as to what stage I will be performing on and at what time. “Excuse me? Elevators?” I notice how he struggles with every syllable and annunciates each word slowly yet perfectly. Never one to let these moments pass, I respond “I believe they are over there” pointing as if truly knowing. “So where are you from?” “Japan – on vacation” he replies. “Arrived today!” Without further notice, he walks his wife and two rainbow painted children down the hallway. The neon green luggage rolls along with them as they disappear through the maze of hotel guests checking in for the weekend.

Suddenly my band mates arrive and we are asked to join two sound technicians for a noon-hour sound check. We all feel it. The blood is yet to be pumping through our musical veins. It’s bright – the ambient noise is everywhere – we collectively retreat into our own headspace to bear down for the ride ahead. We realize the obstacles and intuitively know this is a time for silence and quiet acceptance. We will patiently wait out the sound check, perform the show and likely go our separate ways soon afterwards. This is, of course, what happens.

I am listed in the festival program as performing at 1:00pm in the Market Garden Stage and here I am. “The Market Garden…The Market Garden…” I repeat to myself. The words have me reflecting on Joni ‘s Woodstock and before you know it, I’m thinking about the two children having their faces painted…the popcorn machine…the one brightly decorated woman dancing around the lobby as if at a Grateful Dead concert.

From this stage, as we set up our instruments, I see the metal sign arching over the Starbucks coffee station ‘Market Garden’ and I’m beginning to see how this show might unfold. Three hotel servers huddle around a wet bar, setting up throngs of plastic water and juice bottles for sale. Morning hotel guests suddenly inhabit the cafeteria to enjoy their double-half-caf-decaf espresso latte – cookie combo while perusing the latest METRO issue. The clickety-clack of luggage wheels, rolling toward the elevator …the occasional blender grinding in the distance…the clanging of forks and knives being polished and repositioned…the wailing of children running out of beeping elevator doors.

Suddenly, the emcee of this stage greets me to run through the pending introduction. I quickly revise his intro to ensure he states that although I’ve been living in Toronto for twenty years, I was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, ON not Saint Catherine’s as might be suggested. (There is a significant difference I’ll have you know!) The crowd momentarily stops to watch with anticipation and we break into a heart-felt rendition of ‘All I Know’. My bass player, acknowledging the potential damaging psychological effects of our task at hand kindly states during the musical intro “I love this song Jay”.

”Thanks buddy” I reply.

As the songs drift by, we effortlessly perform them as we have so many times before. We are waking up in the third song and by the fifth song, we are in stride. I look out to the crowd and more friendly faces have shuffled in. Time evaporates. We are given the ‘five minute sign’ from stage left and end with a slow but fitting song – Passing Through. I look off to the right of the Market Garden wrought-iron fencing and see the Japanese family with their faces pressed through the bars watching intensely. Through the bricks, mortar and iron fencing as though symbolizing some cultural divide, I feel the crumbling of nations. I hear their applause and give them a wave.

As strange as it is, we are at a folk festival in the heart of winter in the core of Toronto and although seemingly absurd it appears this organic music is working within this context. Glorious nations are linking and prejudices are evaporating. The Japanese family enthusiastically waves back. Perhaps we’ve have found our way back to the garden (albeit one with five dollar croissants!)

After the set, I square up with my band mates and head off for a solo performance down the hall to the right in the Monarch Pub. It’s a song circle where four songwriters will rotate their musings – usually to a theme. This one is focused on story-telling in a song. Perfect! Right up my narritave alley. I generally don’t do well walking around during my off-stage time. (I remember Carolyn Mark referring to this feeling as off-stage fright! Perfect).

I find a quiet plush chair in the back corner to await my time to join the pending song circle. It is quieter in here. It’s dimly lit and folks are here for the music. As the song circle unfolds, I am surprised to find some familiar faces in the audience. Some have come in from Port Hope, Ottawa and even Buffalo, NY. Strangely enough they’ve been to my shows. As we near the end, I’m listening to another’s song gazing out toward the sea of shadowy faces and in the distance I see the Japanese family, standing outside of the pub, watching and waving. I casually gesture a quiet head nod back and try as I might to refocus on the words of my fellow storyteller singing her song. Then, once more, as if in a split second – it’s over.

Where are my car keys? I have to get to the parking lot to pay the attendant? I need to get my guitars out of the cold? Where is there a bank machine? How do I get back to the Don Valley Parking Lot? As I’m hurrying out of the hotel toward my car, I feel a friendly tap on my shoulder. The father of the Japanese family says “Thank you!” They collectively bow. I offer a hand shake to all of them. “Thank YOU!” I reply. We part ways as though we’re two foreign diplomats who’ve done a solid days work of nation building. Folk music –working its magic at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. Where else but in the centre of the universe.

You better believe it – I’ll remember them well at the Chelsea Hotel.

Related Images:

A very impressive list of performers has been announced, including such OTB favourites as LYNN MILES, HOTCHA, NOAH ZACHARIN, LAURA FERNANDEZ, JACK DEKEYZER, JAY AYMAR, LYNNE HANSON, BRIAN BLAIN, TONY QUARRINGTON, DAVID ESSIG, ALISTAIR CHRISTL, and GRAINNE. For more information and complete schedule visit www.winterfolk.com

by Kerry Doole

Related Images:

by: norm nelson 

Guests and vistors at the downtown Delta Chelsea Hotel might be forgiven over the Family Day weekend for thinking a summer folk festival has broken out. And they won’t be too far off the mark with Winterfolk – Toronto’s unique winter roots music festival now in its 10th year – literally taking over the hotel.

Conveniently located a block or two from either the College or Dundas subway stops on the Yonge Line, the music festival runs Friday night and continues throughout Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 17 to 19). It’s a mostly free festival, with just a couple of ticketed shows – and even those events won’t set you back much ($10 at the door, $8 in advance).

The new format – it was held in several adjacent Danforth Avenue venues the past several years – is just about as weather proof as you can get. Once you tromp into the venue from the nearby subway, you don’t have to worry about rain, snow, cold or wind. It’s guaranteed t-shirt weather inside the hotel. Venues will be set up in four spots throughout the hotel – including their main night club (Monarch’s Pub) and restaurant (Market Garden) on the main floor, each with room for about 200 people, as well as the 100-seat Community Club located on the third floor and the more intimate Listening Room located in Deck 27 on the 27th floor.

As for the artists, if you’re familiar with Toronto’s vibrant roots scene, you will be pleased to recognize many familar names and acts. In fact this year’s theme is bringing back several of the artists who helped kick off the very first Winterfolk 10 years ago. If you’re not quite so familiar with the roots scene, you won’t find a better opportunity to check it out – at least in Toronto. And chances are you’ll be able to find a style to suit your tastes, whether it leans to pop, blues, jazz, folk, gospel or every kind of amalgam possible. There are few rules in roots music.

Whether you’re a longtime fan or just checking out the scene for the first time, you might want to navigate to the festival website to see what artists or workshops might interest you and to create your own itinerary. The complete festival schedule has also been published in the Feb. 10 issue of one of our publications, The City Centre Mirror which is delivered throughout midtown, which is handy to carry around during the event. Or you might want to throw caution to the wind, just show up, wander the four venues – and be surprised.

I’m not even going to list all the artists and groups, and all the workshops, here, because:
a) they’re all conveniently listed on the festival website, complete with bios;
b) and because I’m going to reprint, in my very next blog, a press release from the festival which has it pretty nicely summed up.

Typical for a festival, you can find the artists or groups sometimes in solo performances, sometimes sharing the stage for special themed concerts (such as ‘Songs that Tell Stories’ with Howard Gladstone, to name one) and sometimes in workshops (such as ‘Not Just Another Guitar Worksop’ with Alastair Artingstall, Margaret Stowe and Maneli Jamal). But again that’s why, for festival veterans and newcomers alike, it’s probably best to check out the festival schedule.

As for myself, I see that I have CDs from three of the acts which I actually apologize for, as my goal is always to greatly increase the number of local live acts and recordings I get around to, but as most folks can relate to, we could all use a few more hours in the day, another day in the week, another month in the year.

I really, really enjoyed the three CDs by Brian Gladstone, Hotcha and Phillip Brown, as I recall. Actually just that trio, for me, would be a heck of a show – and therein lies my problem, which I must confess drives my family nuts. And it’s that if I like something I keep going back to it, hence why I’ve sipped the same brand of orange salada tea from the exact same tea cup just about every night for a decade and why I eat the same veggie subs with the exact same ingredients for lunch day after a day – okay, too much info. Anyway, as my family likes to remind me, if you try something else, you might like it, too. But, gosh, i’d surely like to hear that trio, and another act that I’ve been meaning to listen to for ages now, who are from around my east Toronto neighbourhood – Whiskey Jack.
Any way, I’ll leave you with links to my pevious blogs on the above trio’s CDs that I liked so much (and which I will reacquaint myself prior to Winterfolk). In an upcoming blog, I will investigate on YouTube some of the other artists playing at Winterfolk – which, of course, is something that fans who plan on attending the festival can also do.

* the following link will actually take you to a blog about Brown appearing at the 2010 Winterfolk, and the link includes three YouTube songs you have to check out!
* this link takes you to my review of Brian Gladstone’s A Time for New Beginnings (which he released in 2009 and I reviewed in 2009). This link will take you to his website where you’ll also find a selection of his music. His A Day in the Park, done live, is an excellent example of why I love his CD – not just great finger picking, but a great song in its own rite.
* this link will take you to my story on Hotcha’s debut CD, Dust Bowl Roots: Songs for the New Depression, inspired by the iconic depression of the 1930s. This link will take you to Hotcha’s facebook site where there’s five songs queued up for you.

Related Images:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PLEASE RETAIN FOR LISTINGS

ALUMNI HEAD WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL X – FEB 17-19, 2012

– ARTISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 10^TH ANNIVERSARY!

WHO: ALUMNI: Danny Marks, David Gillis, Jack DeKeyzer, Jory Nash, Laura Fernandez, Mr. Rick & The Biscuits, Noah Zacharin, Tony Quarrington, Brian Gladstone PLUS: Lynn Miles, Ariana Gillis, Lynne Hanson, Jay Aymar, Gary Kendall, David Essig, HOTCHA!, Grainne, Jaron Freeman Fox & the Opposite of Everything, The Lemon Bucket Orkestra, The Boxcar Boys, The Wanted, Roger Scannura & Ritmo Flamenco, Rick Taylor and many more!      

WHAT: Winterfolk X Blues and Roots Festival

WHERE: The Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard St W  Toronto, ON / 416-595-1975

WHEN: February 17-19, 2012

TICKETS: Free! (Some ticketed events in the “Listening Room”)

WEBSITES: www.winterfolk.com  / www.deltachelsea.com

TORONTO – TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012 – The Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival is proud to announce the stellar lineup for the upcoming TENTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL which will take place from February 17-19, 2012 at Toronto's entertainment hotel the Delta Chelsea. Performances will fill Monarchs Pub, the Market Garden Stage and various other stages, all within the hotel. In this 10^th year, the festival will feature alumni from the first year including Danny Marks, David Gillis, Jack DeKeyzer, Jory Nash, Laura Fernandez, Mr. Rick & The Biscuits, Noah Zacharin, Tony Quarrington and founder Brian Gladstone. Returning artists and newcomers include Lynn Miles, Ariana Gillis, Lynne Hanson, Jay Aymar, Gary Kendall, David Essig and more! For more information and complete schedule please visit www.winterfolk.com

From its humble roots (initially the festival was staged at a few clubs in the Spadina and College area and drew about 500 people), it moved to the Danforth and grew in concept, scope, appeal and artistic value. It rapidly drew attention from artists, media, venues and audiences as well as all facets of the blues and roots communities in Toronto. Winterfolk’s success in part, came from providing much-needed commerce and revenue to area merchants during a typically slow retail time. Presented annually in February, Winterfolk fills a gap in the calendars of festival- goers, artists and the community.

Winterfolk, now celebrates its 10^th year by featuring those artists that were there from its inception and those returning to join the festivities. Singer/storyteller Jory Nash was one of the first-year musicians along with sultry Latin singer Laura Fernandez, mesmerizing singer-songwriter Noah Zacharin, guitar genius Tony Quarrington, original alt-country power trio Mr. Rick & The Biscuits, award-winning fingerstyle guitar champ David Gillis and  outstanding blues faves Danny Marks and Jack DeKeyzer. Returning artists include “Bernie Taupin fave” Ariana Gillis, shoot from the hipster Jay Aymar, bluesmen Gary Kendall (Downchild), Al Lerman (Fathead), the legendary David Essig, and award-winning Rick Taylor.

Juno and Canadian Folk Music Award winner Lynn Miles will showcase on the Market Garden stage as well as present workshops in the special “Listening Room” on the 27^th floor. Another award-winning Lynn (Lynn Hanson) will bring her ”porch music with a little Texas red dirt” to the festival stages.

Many of this year’s lineup have played the festival in previous years such as roots music pioneers Crabtree & Mills, “colour blind” Brian Blain, known for his successful campfire jam sessions at various festivals, powerhouse roots/pop songstress Grainne, John Jackson of Kensington Market and Perth County Conspiracy fame, dynamic vintage hillbilly swing duo HOTCHA!, five-piece veterans of Tommy Hunter fame Whiskey Jack, earnest folk duo Sue & Dwight, driving guitar-picker Phillip Brown, preacher to the choir, the Reverend Max Woolaver Band and roots/folk/country picking icons The Guitar Boys of Alderon.

Winterfolk prides itself on helping to boost the careers of newcomers and this year is no exception. Audiences will be stunned by the extreme talent and high energy of emerging bands like frenzied fiddler Jaron Freeman Fox & the Opposite of Everything, gypsy/Balkan/klezmer street-folk revolutionaries The Lemon Bucket Orkestra, wild gypsy, old-jazz, klezmer, folk troupe The Boxcar Boys, “Emmylou Harris meets unplugged vintage rock ‘n roll” band The Wanted, harmony queens from Kingston The Lady Racers and rockabilly sensation The Swinging Chandeliers.

ARTIST LINEUP: (For complete bios & websites please visit www.winterfolk.com )

Al Lerman

Alastai Artingstall

Ariana Gillis

A Yellow Field

Brian Blain

Brian Gladstone

Crabtree & Mills

D'Arcy Wickham

Dan McVeigh

Danny Marks

David Essig

David Gillis

Gary Kendall

Grainne

Greg Quill

HOTCHA!

Howard Gladstone

Ian Reid

Jack DeKeyzer

Jaron Freeman Fox & the Opposite of Everything

Jay Aymar    

John Jackson

Jory Nash

Laura Fernandez

Lynn Miles

Lynne Hanson

Maneli Jamal

Marie Lynn Hammond

Max Woolaver Band

Michael Fitzpatrick

Moonshine Café

Mr. Rick

Mr. Rick & The Biscuits

Noah Zacharin

Phillip Brown

Phonogarde

Richard Henderson

Rick Donaldson

Rick Taylor

Roger Scannura & Ritmo Flamenco

Russell Leon

Same Latidude as Rome

Steve Raiken

Sue and Dwight

The Boxcar Boys

The Guitar Boys of Alderon

The Lady Racers

The Lemon Bucket Orkestra

The Swinging Chandeliers

The Wanted

Tia McGraff

Tony Quarrington

Whiskey Jack

PLUS Community Stages: Best of Acoustic Tuesdays at the Delta, Pete Otis Presents, Sunday afternoons at Sarah’s Cafe & Bar, Moonshine Café, SPEAK Music Presents, Seneca College Independent Music Program, Songwriters Unite, Jim Priebe Presents Stouffville Artists and NSAI.

**Please stay tuned for more updates and info on the various stages and workshops being held during this special 10th anniversary event!

.

****************************************************************************************************************************************    

Toronto’s Winterfolk X festival will present a fun, jam-packed, free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban blues and roots festival. The new venue will present all kinds of fresh opportunities and the hotel’s management and staff are thoroughly supportive and excited about the recent collaboration. The hotel’s involvement in Toronto’s music scene is ever-growing and they have regular music events scheduled every night of the week in Monarchs Pub, so many in the music community are already familiar with the great vibe happening there.

“I SUPPORT ROOTS MUSIC IN TORONTO” special 10^th anniversary badges will also be available again at the festival by donation and they’ll be large enough for artists to autograph them!

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!

We’re always looking for good volunteers to help out. For eight hours of service over the Winterfolk weekend, volunteers receive access to all shows and artist hospitality lounge, including an invitation to a private party with the artists and more! For more info and to sign up, please visit www.winterfolk.com   

                                                                                    -30-

For more information, photos, mp3s, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller

SPEAK Music
www.speak-music.com

[email protected]

416.922.3620

Related Images:

The Winterfolk music festival is planting new roots for its 10th annual weekend in February, moving from the Danforth to the Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.

The three-day roots music festival will run Feb. 17 to 19 at Monarchs Pub, the Market Garden Stage and various other stages all within the hotel which is located at 33 Gerrard St. W.

"The new venue will present all kinds of fresh opportunities and the hotel's management and staff are thoroughly supportive and excited about the recent collaboration," said a Winterfolk media release.

"The hotel's involvement in Toronto's music scene is ever-growing and they have regular music events scheduled every night of the week in Monarchs Pub, so many in the music community are already familiar with the great vibe happening there."

The festival, brainchild of local roots player Brian Gladstone, was based for the last seven years out of a handful of venues on the Danforth, between Broadview and Chester subway stations.

More info on the festival at https://abetterworld.ca

Related Images:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PLEASE RETAIN FOR LISTINGS

Jim Priebe and Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival Present…

A Winterfolk Sneak Preview

STOUFFVILLE TALENT HEATS UP WINTERFOLK SHOWCASE

– SATURDAY, JAN 21 @ 8:00 PM – PASTAGGIO ITALIAN EATERY IN STOUFFVILLE, ON

WHO: Grainne, Marie Lynn Hammond, Laura Fernandez, HOTCHA!, Guitar Boys of Alderon, Cris Cuddy Acoustic Unit, Poor Tom, Erwin Shack and Tom Pullin w/ MC Jim Priebe

WHAT: Winterfolk X Sneak Preview

 WHERE: Pastaggio Italian Eatery (2^nd floor), 6211 Main Street, Stouffville, ON /  905.642.5617  

WHEN: Saturday, January 21 –  Doors @ 7:30 pm / Music starts @ 8:00 pm

(all funds go towards support of artists at Winterfolk X)

Related Images:

Stoufville strumming. The Chris Cuddy band will rock the second annual Winterfolk Jan. 21.

For years, he was the guy who rung up your libation purchases at Main Street’s LCBO.

But Jan. 21, Cris Cuddy will only be serving up his special brand of music as his band — the Cris Cuddy Acoustic Unit — takes part in the second annual Stouffville Winterfolk Sneak Preview. “Stouffville’s a great town. It’s been good to me in most ways,” Mr. Cuddy said.

The Cris Cuddy Acoustic Unit is made of Mr. Cuddy, Pierre Bordeleau and Andrew Heathcoate. Together, they play Mr. Cuddy’s music, in particular, songs from his latest CD Diamond Shine. “What we’re doing now sparkles. It’s different and more exciting than many of the ventures I’ve done before. … They’re exceptional guys, exceptional musicians,” Mr. Cuddy said.

“They’ve established quite a name for themselves,” said Jim Priebe, founder and organizer of the Stouffville sneak preview.
 

Also performing during the showcase will be Grainne, the Boys of Alderon, Poor Tom and Stouffville’s Marie-Lynn Hammond and Erwin Shack. “He’s such a wonderful guitar player,” said Beverly Kreller, publicist and artistic service volunteer for Winterfolk. This is Mr. Shack’s second appearance at the local showcase.

“There’s quite a healthy music community in Stouffville. … Support this and you’ll get some really good entertainment,” Mr. Shack said.
 

The Stouffville showcase previews some of the entertainers who will take part in Toronto’s annual Winterfolk event.
 

The showcase will be at Pastaggio, 6211 Main St. Admission is $8 in advance and $10 at door. For tickets, go to abetterworld.ca
 

Related Images:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PLEASE RETAIN FOR LISTINGS

Jim Priebe and Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival Present…

A Winterfolk Sneak Preview

STOUFFVILLE TALENT HEATS UP WINTERFOLK SHOWCASE

– SATURDAY, JAN 21 @ 8:00 PM – PASTAGGIO ITALIAN EATERY IN STOUFFVILLE, ON

WHO: Grainne, Marie Lynn Hammond, Laura Fernandez, HOTCHA!, Guitar Boys of Alderon, Cris Cuddy Acoustic Unit, Poor Tom, Erwin Shack and Tom Pullin w/ MC Jim Priebe

WHAT: Winterfolk X Sneak Preview

WHERE: Pastaggio Italian Eatery (2^nd floor), 6211 Main Street, Stouffville, ON /  905.642.5617  

WHEN: Saturday, January 21 –  Doors @ 7:30 pm / Music starts @ 8:00 pm

TICKETS: $8.00 adv. By visiting www.winterfolk.com  / $10 at the door

(all funds go towards support of artists at Winterfolk X)

WEBSITES: http://www.winterfolk.com  / http://www.pastaggioitalianeatery.com

TORONTO – THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011 – For the second year in a row, Stouffville radio personality Jim Priebe and the Winterfolk Festival proudly present a sneak preview of what’s in store at this year’s TENTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Some of the best local artists from Stouffville and surrounding area will perform at Pastaggio Italian Eatery, Saturday, January 21 @ 8:00 pm. The venue is near the GO station for easy access. For more information and updates please visit http://www.winterfolk.com  

Toronto’s Winterfolk X festival – which runs from February 17 – 19, 2012, at a brand new location, The Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto – will present a night of local entertainment as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban blues and roots festival. To add to this sneak preview, co-presenter and host Jim Priebe will also be organizing a local Stouffville artist showcase at the festival in February. Please stay tuned for more information and details on that in the coming weeks.

This preview concert will highlight some of the upcoming festival performers including veteran singer-songwriter Marie-Lynn Hammond, Grainne (originally from the area and now in Peterborough), sultry Latin songstress Laura Fernandez, vintage swing duo HOTCHA!, and expert guitar-pickers Erwin Schack  as well as The Guitar Boys of Alderon plus more!

ARTIST LINEUP:

CRIS CUDDY ACOUSTIC UNIT

http://www.criscuddy.com/

POOR TOM

http://www.poortom.ca/

LAURA FERNANDEZ

http://laurafernandezmusic.com/

TOM PULLIN

http://www.tompullin.com/fr_home.cfm

ERWIN SHACK

http://www.reverbnation.com/erwinschack

GRAINNE

http://www.grainne.ca/

HOTCHA!

http://www.HOTCHA.ca     

MARIE-LYNN HAMMOND

http://www.marielynnhammond.com/

GUITAR BOYS OF ALDERON

http://www.briangladstone.ca / http://www.tonyquarrington.com/index.htm  /  http://noahsong.com

MORE ABOUT WINTERFOLK

Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. www.abetterworld.ca  

“I SUPPORT ROOTS MUSIC IN TORONTO” badges will also be available again at the festival by donation and they’ll be large enough for artists to autograph them!

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!

We’re always looking for good volunteers to help out. For eight hours of service over the Winterfolk weekend, volunteers receive access to all shows and artist hospitality lounge, including an invitation to a private party with the artists and more! For more info and to sign up, please visit www.winterfolk.com  

                                                                                    -30-

For more information, photos, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller

SPEAK Music
www.speak-music.com

[email protected]

416.922.3620

Related Images:

 The Winterfolk music festival is planting new roots for its 10th annual weekend in February, moving from the Danforth to the Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.

The three-day roots music festival will run Feb. 17 to 19 at Monarchs Pub, the Market Garden Stage and various other stages all within the hotel which is located at 33 Gerrard St. W.

"The new venue will present all kinds of fresh opportunities and the hotel's management and staff are thoroughly supportive and excited about the recent collaboration," said a Winterfolk media release.

"The hotel's involvement in Toronto's music scene is ever-growing and they have regular music events scheduled every night of the week in Monarchs Pub, so many in the music community are already familiar with the great vibe happening there."

The festival, brainchild of local roots player Brian Gladstone, was based for the last seven years out of a handful of venues on the Danforth, between Broadview and Chester subway stations.

More info on the festival at https://abetterworld.ca

<< Picture – Winterfolk moving downtown from Danforth. Paul Cross performs during the 2011 Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival at the Black Swan. The festival has moved from venues along The Danforth to the Delta Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto. Staff file photo/NICK PERRY

Related Images:

As always the bill will include artists from Folk-related genres as diverse as Country, Celtic, Blues, and Jazz and tonight you can get a taste of what will be offered with a preview show at the cozy and very music-friendly Moonshine Café in Oakville (137 Kerr St.). The 8:30 p.m. show is also a fundraiser with a $10 cover that will be used exclusively towards paying artists at the festival.
John Jackson -pic: Gary 17

Here’s the lineup: 8:30 John Jackson; 8:55 Bob Ryder; 9:20 The Wanted; 9:45: Richard Henderson; 10:10 HOTCHA!; 10:55 Brian Gladstone; 11:20 Phonogarde; 11:45 The Reverend Max Woolaver Band. For more info about these artists and about Winterfolk X in general, visit www.abetterworld.ca . -Gary 17

Reprinted from TO Moon Magazine

Related Images:

WINTERFOLK X PREVIEW SHOW

– SNEAK PREVIEW / BENEFIT @ THE MOONSHINE CAFÉ IN OAKVILLE, SAT. DEC 10 @ 8:30 PM

WHO: The Reverend Max Woolaver, The Wanted, HOTCHA!, Phonogarde, Brian Gladstone, Richard Henderson, Bob Ryder and John Jackson

WHAT: Winterfolk X Preview Show & Benefit

WHERE: Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St, Oakville / 905-844-2655

WHEN: Saturday, December 10 @ 8:30 pm

TICKETS: $10 (all funds go towards support of artists of Winterfolk X)

WEBSITES: www.winterfolk.com  / www.moonshinecafe.com

TORONTO – THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011 – Don’t miss the chance to get a sneak preview of what’s in store at this year’s TENTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Some of the finest folk, roots and blues artists  will take the stage at the Moonshine Café, Oakville’s most happening musical venue, December 10^th @ 8:30 pm.. For more information and updates please visit www.abetterworld.ca     

Toronto’s Winterfolk X festival – which runs from February 17 – 19, 2012, will present a fun, jam-packed night of music as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban blues and roots festival.

The Moonshine Café preview concert will highlight some of the upcoming festival performers including new emerging youth performer Bob Ryder; country band The Wanted; blues/slide men Phonogarde and Richard Henderson, also a core member of the Wanted; vintage swing duo HOTCHA!, will showcase some of their fine tunes of the 1920s and ‘30s, while singer-songwriters Brian Gladstone, John Jackson and The Reverend Max Woolaver will feature stellar guitar licks alongside superb songcrafting.

MOONSHINE CAFÉ LINEUP:

John Jackson www.johnjackson.ca

Bob Ryder www.bobrydermusic.com

The Wanted www.myspace.com/thewantedlive  

Richard Henderson www.myspace.com/richardhendersonsteelguitar

HOTCHA! www.HOTCHA.ca

Brian Gladstone www.BrianGladstone.ca   

Phonogarde www.phonogarde.com

The Reverend Max Woolaver www.myspace.com/reverendmaxwoolaver

MORE ABOUT WINTERFOLK

Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. www.abetterworld.ca  

“I SUPPORT ROOTS MUSIC IN TORONTO” badges will also be available again at the festival by donation and they’ll be large enough for artists to autograph them!

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!

We’re always looking for good volunteers to help out. For eight hours of service over the Winterfolk weekend, volunteers receive access to all shows and artist hospitality lounge, including an invitation to a private party with the artists and more! For more info and to sign up, please visit www.winterfolk.com   

                                                                                    -30-

For more information, photos, mp3s, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller

SPEAK Music
www.speak-music.com

[email protected]

416.922.3620

Related Images:

SHOWCASE @ THE MOONSHINE CAFÉ IN OAKVILLE

Toronto’s Winterfolk X Blues and Roots Festival – which runs from February 17 -19, 2012 – will  present a fun-packed night of music as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urb an festival.

The events will showcase some of the finest musicians performing at the festival this year, including HOTCHA! , Brian Gladstone, John Jackson, Richard Henderson, The Wanted, Bob Rider, and more.

WINTERFOLK X – SNEAK PREVIEW – FUNDRAISER @ THE MOONSHINE CAFÉ IN OAKVILLE, Dec 10, 2012

WHO: HOTCHA! , Brian Gladstone, John Jackson, Richard Henderson, The Wanted, Bob Rider, and more.

WHAT: Winterfolk X Preview Shows

WHERE: Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St, Oakville / 905-844-2655

WHEN: Saturday Dec 10, 2011 – Doors @ 8pm, music @ 9:00 pm

TICKETS: $10 per night, or PWYC (all funds go towards support of artists of Winterfolk X)

WEBSITES: www.winterfolk.com / www.moonshinecafe.com

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The Association of Artists for A Better World and Friends of the Glen Davis Ravine Present A Benefit Concert

Conserving Toronto's Green – Save Glen Davis Ravine 

November 1, 2011 – Delta Chelsea Hotel

The Association of Artists for a Better World  and Friends of the Glen Davis Ravine have  joined forces to help raise funds to support the efforts to save Glen Davis Ravine. 

The concert on Tuesday,  November 1, 2011, will include many concerned local artists,  who will be donating their time and talent in the hopes of saving this valuable inner city green belt from developers. <<< Join Facebook Group

Artists

Players Wanted – Artists are welcome to drop by and play some tunes – especially those living the the Beaches area. A concert planned for Tuesday, November 1, 2011 will include dynamic singer-songwriter HOTCHA!, Wild T (Tony Springer), Tony Quarrington, Brian Gladstone, John Jackson, Brian Blain, Laura Hubert , Kwabena Kwabena, Mark Denington, Sue and Dwight, and many more artists who will donate their time and talent in the hopes of raising funds and bring public attention to save the ravine.

Gallery

About

WHO: Friends of Glen Davis Ravine , a registered non profit organization

WHAT: A Benefit Concert to raise funds for the cause, and to increase public visibility.

WHERE: Monarchs Pub, Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard St. West, Toronto, ON

WHEN: Tuesday, November 1, 2011

TIME:  7:30 – 10:30

TICKETS: Donations accepted at the door (suggested $10 or more) accepted on entry.

PLAYERS WELCOME: Artists are invited to drop in and sign up to play a few tunes.  We ask that artists be well practiced, and stage ready for a downtown Toronto lounge. A house guitar is available. 

GLEN DAVIS RAVINE BENEFIT SCHEDULE – TUES., NOV. 1, 2011

7:00 Roger Zuraw

7:10

7:20 Steve Raiken

7:30

7:40 Bela Ray

7:50 Dan McLean Jr.

8:00 Maria Kasstan    

8:15 Mark Denington

8:30 Friends of Glen Davis Ravine Introduction and Welcome

8:40 John Jackson

8:55 Sue and Dwight

9:10 Frieda Nagel

9:20 HOTCHA!

9:35 Kim Doolittle

9:45 Tony Quarrington

10:00 Brian Gladstone

10:15 SURPRISE GUEST!

10:30 Laura Hubert

10:45 Kwabena Kwabena (TBC)

11:00 Brian Blain

Theme Song Download

Background

Friends of Glen Davis Ravine is a community organization formed by local residents in response to a condominium proposal at 580-592 Kingston Road which threatens to irremediably damage this small, City-designated ravine (which happens to be an undisturbed part of the shoreline of ancient Lake Iroquois) and have major negative consequences for the entire Glen Davis neighbourhood. The development could also have a negative impact on a far greater area, and set a dangerous precedent for encroachment into other small ravines and green spaces throughout Toronto under the guise of urban "intensification".

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Hi Everyone,

We would like to congratulate the winners of the 2nd round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at The Moonshine Cafe – Oakville, ON

WINNERS:

JAY AYMAR www.jayaymar.com

A YELLOW FIELD www.ayellowfield.com  

Jay Aymar and A Yellow Field will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-19, 2012.

Come to the festival and check them out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

ANDREW/VICTORIA www.andrewvictoria.com

MILKY WHITES & THE BLUESMEN www.milkywhitesbluesmen.com

DAVID LUM www.davidlum.com  

RICHARD GARVEY www.richardgarvey.ca

Many thanks to the many talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to John & Jane Marlatt at the Moonshine Cafe and thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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The Association of Artists for A Better World and Friends of the Glen Davis Ravine Present A Benefit Concert

 Conserving Toronto's Green – Save Glen Davis Ravine

November 1, 2011 – Delta Chelsea Hotel

The Association of Artists for a Better World  and Friends of the Glen Davis Ravine have  joined forces to help raise funds to support the efforts to save Glen Davis Ravine.  The concert on Tuesday,  November 1, 2011, will include many concerned local artists,  who will be donating their time and talent in the hopes of saving this valuable inner city green belt from developers.

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Artists will once again audition live at select venues in various Ontario cities. There is no cost to audition to Winterfolk and two artists will be hired at each of the venues listed. Artist selection will be based on a combination of voting by the audience and the Winterfolk jury/representatives at each event. Artists will be encouraged to bring their fans friends to cheer them on.

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The Association of Artists for a Better World, is a non-profit organization devoted to improving our planet through artistic expression. The most real music and best messages emanate live from the stage and cannot be reproduced in the studio, regardless of the electronic effects and digital wizardry. The Association of Artists for a Better World is currently looking for 8 Sonicbids artists for its 12th compilation CD and inaugural volume of “Live From the Stage”.

Selected artists will receive:

Inclusion on their website, press releases, and all CD related publicity and promotion as applicable
Every time the CD is played or reviewed, industry and media people will hear your music and your name

10 CDs for their own sale and promotion Distribution and International Sales will handled through CD Baby, and cataloged in their international album data base
‘Live From The Stage’ will be distributed for airplay to about 200 radio stations (By request only) in our global pipeline located throughout North America, Europe, and Australia, including Internet stations; and review copies distributed to selected major publications and music journalists.

Although there are no guarantees, it is reasonable to expect the CD to get airplay around the world, and reviewed in music publications and Ezines. It is also reasonable to expect you will get requests for your CDs from interested DJs and journalists who like your tune. It is customary for DJs / stations to send play lists directly to artists. All of their previous CDs have received world-wide airplay and global acclaim!

How to Apply:

ONLINE: Artists can apply for auditions online through Sonicbids . ( If you don’t have a Sonicbids account, you can open a free account when submiting to this opoortunity). 

BY MAIL:  Send track to The Association of Artists For A Better World, 182-4936 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M2N-6S3, and mark the envelope with ‘Live From The Stage Submission’, accompanied with $15.00.

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This year, Winterfolk will hire about 120 artists. 

The artistic selection process will be similar to previous years, and below is a description of how we select our artists. See also – How Winterfolk Selects Artists , What Winterfolk Offers Artists

2 in Toronto, 2 in Oakville – 8 Artists will be hired from Auditions

Artists can again audition live at select venues in various Ontario cities. There is no cost to audition to Winterfolk and two artists will be hired at each of the venues listed. Artist selection will be based on a combination of voting by the audience and the Winterfolk jury/representatives at each event. Artists will be encouraged to bring their fans friends to cheer them on.

Artists will once again audition live at select venues in various Ontario cities. There is no cost to audition to Winterfolk and two artists will be hired at each of the venues listed. Artist selection will be based on a combination of voting by the audience and the Winterfolk jury/representatives at each event. Artists will be encouraged to bring their fans friends to cheer them on.

 How to Apply to Audition 

Simply email url of your website, myspace, etc. to [email protected]  – Please ensure it has your gig schedule, media, press kit, music samples, etc.

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Fighting Against Famine – A Benefit Concert for African Drought Relief

THE ASSOCIATION OF ARTISTS FOR A BETTER WORLD (AABW) and THE DELTA HOTEL joined forces to help raise funds for this urgent cause for African Drought Relief. The concert on Tuesday, August 16 included local artists who donated their time and talent in the hopes of bringing aid to the starving population in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa.

 Artists

Concerned artists donated their time and talent to put on a stellar performance – especially those who waited several hours to play – Brent Titcombe, David Celia, Laura Fernandez, Tony Springer, John Jackson, Tony Quarrington, Sue and Dwight, Mr. Rick, Peter Wildman, Howard Gladstone, Shrimp Daddy, Brian Pickard, Bruse Palait, Brian Blain, Ginger St. James, Steve Raiken,Chris Bennett, Roger Zuraw, Glen Hornblast, Bela Ray,  Clayton Doley, Zuviri, Carlin Toif, Nick Scarf, Brian Gladstone, and more.

Volunteers

 Thanks to the voluteers for a great job including John Jackson on Sound, Vicki, Linda Speigel, Suzanne D'Alvise, Christine Nossier

About

WHERE: Monarchs Pub, Delta Chelsea Hotel, 33 Gerrard St. West, Toronto, ON

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 @ 6:30 pm – Open mic artist sign up / 7:00 pm start

TICKETS: Donations (suggested $10 or more) accepted on entry, tax receipts issued.

Slide Show

A Special Presentation by Geoff Stewart For The Delta Hotel      

Background

Natural disasters seem to be plaguing the planet globally and nowhere have the affects been felt more than in Africa where acute malnutrition is a leading cause of death in certain areas. AABW and the Delta Hotel are determined to raise significant funds through this upcoming concert and the Government of Canada will generously match the donations of Canadians until September 16, 2011. Money raised will go to support the work of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement who have a strong presence in the region, and will be helping people recover their livelihoods as well as providing immediate emergency relief.

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All of our albums have received worldwide radio play, generated positive press, and made a difference in the world.

We put artists in touch with issues, and connect their words to the world. 

Proceeds from CD sales on most titles are sent to various charities such as Earth Day Canada, and more.

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Our CD's have been played globally, often in rotation for months at a time.

We typically get over 100 requests from radio for play copies – often in advance of the actual release! 

Tracks from A Better World CD's have been charted in many countries, with a few tunes in the top 10 ! 

New Markets are opened for many participating artists, which have resulted in performing and touring opportunities.

You can make a difference to your career, as well as to the planet.

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Becoming more aware –of ourselves and of what’s around us– however, is most certainly indispensable to making our efforts effective and the nine songs on this international complication disc all share the quality of contributing to our understanding. While each is uniquely distinct in tone and lyrical focus, they all draw our attention to matters of substance, whether that be the plight of the victims of environmental disasters, the need to become spiritually centred or the challenges of working with one another.

Toronto Folk duo HOTCHA! decries the fate of an abandoned mining town on “Mines Went Down”. Erica James beautifully exhorts us to “Stand Strong” in the face of opposition and disbelief. Janet Bates utilizes an eerie, nearly medieval approach in hypnotically telling the story of a dispossessed waitress in “Prisoner Of New Orleans”. Brian Gladstone ardently urges us to remember that unpopular species need protection too in his “Save The Wolverine”, which also features his masterful picking style. The Kathryn Mostow Band reminds us that even a small group and small acts can change the world in “I Give Thanks”, Larry Brewer prescribes a “Brand New Revolution” with alt-Pop urgency and Susie and Phil remind us to “Have Fun While You’re Still Alive” in a playful bopping toe-tapper.

Whether uplifting, cautionary, informative or reassuring, the songs on this album provide food for thought delivered in an appetizing way.
 

 . 

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That tradition continues and on this album a disparate collection of artists that ranges from a veteran member of the New Christie Minstrels to young alt Folk tyros demonstrate that it’s not going away any time soon.

There are many memorable tunes here that stretch the boundaries of Roots-based music, marrying it with humour, Pop and jugband styles among others. Among the gems is William Florian of the New Christie Minstrels urging that it’s “Time For A Change” in a lilting Pop ditty that shows his 60s roots. Street-folk sensation Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party delivers a sarcastic send up of religious fanatics in “It’s Good To Have Faith In The Lord”. In the ethereal and haunting “Let That Rich Man Pay For A Change” Janet Bates points a finger at the insensitivity of the wealthy. Damien Coen brings a playful turkey-straw sound to bear as he excoriates the hypocrisy of patriotism “In The USA”. Molly Hamilton employs shattering irony in the upbeat but pointed “Make A Wonderful Day” and The Monkey Bunch employ a marching band approach to telling us “Don’t Let Your Cars Idle”.

The wide range of styles and subject matter of this compilation of ten thought-provoking and musically entertaining tunes from around the world will educate and provoke you, while also offering much tuneful delight.

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If laughter is the best medicine you’ll want to take a lot of repeat doses of this rootsy international collection of alternately amusing, cute, hilarious, and even ridiculous songs by ten different artists.

You’ll likely giggle during a jamboree ditty from acclaimed picker and humourist Wendell Ferguson that extolls the “educational” value of the sights and sounds of a barnyard. You may chuckle knowingly along with a sarcastic pop paean from Local Anxiety lampooning the “glories” of being a bureaucrat. You might discover a lopsided smile growing

broader while listening to an absurd country weeper about an invisible dog from Chris Wolf. You could actually guffaw while being stirred up by an anthem to a “famous” Chinese general. And you may well titter uneasily at the calypso-swing parody “proposal” to Jessica Alba by Waiting For Betsy.

There are many moments you’ll remember with delight from this “tour de farce” collection that marries humour and true musicality into a 36-minute romp that seems to go way too quickly. This is a prescription for pulling you out of your funk: listen as needed; repeat as often as you like; WARNING: May be addictive!

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Bob Snider's last performance before permanently relocating to the east coast.

Other performing artists include Marianne Girard, Jory Nash, Lynn Harrison, D’Arcy Wickham, Ewan Dobson, Choirgirlz, Max Woolaver, Brian Gladstone, and a surprise artists or two.

Bob Snider – Singer-songwriter Bob Snider has played on the street and in the concert hall. He has been called a “national treasure”, a “living legend” and “author of some of the best Canadian songs of the decade”.

Marianne Girard – Marianne Girard ‘grabs you by the soul and won’t let go’. Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee for 2009, Marianne simply captivates. “Wow!” Not likely to forget about this one. She DOES stand out.

Lynn Harrison – A compelling performer who connects powerfully with audiences of all ages, Lynn Harrison is known for “charming, positive, uplifting and life-affirming songs” (Penguin Eggs magazine). Lynn has earned songwriting honours from the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals’ Songs from the Heart and was a Top 10 Finalist Toronto’s Song Contest. D’Arcy Wickham – An exceptional artist with all styles of guitar picking has highlighted decades of performing experience, and was recognized by an OCFF “Songs From the Heart” award in 2007 for his song “Feather Fingers”.

ChoirGirlz – This highly entertaining, enlightening, and engaging female trio sings original songs about real issues with tight harmonies in many styles including cabaret, comedy, jazz, R & B, and more.

Ewan Dobson – Ewan Dobson has established himself as one of Canada’s most brilliant and exhilarating young guitarists, having won first prize in nearly every single Classical Guitar competition across the country. His impressive list of credentials includes winning the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, as well other major awards.

Jory Nash – Jory Nash has a commanding stage presence; his strong, warm voice urges people to listen. Jory Nash has crisscrossed North America several times, playing folk festivals, folk clubs, concert series and house concerts. He has built a large, loyal fan-base and he has been fortunate enough to see most of North America in the process. Unusual things tend to happen to Jory on the road, and when not legally bound to silence he will incorporate these events into his onstage storytelling.

Max Woolaver – Reverend Max Woolaver is one of the most compelling Canadian singer/songwriters working in Canada today. Max Woolaver takes the listener across the psychic terrain of our current times through the medium of powerfully crafted and lyrically charged songs – from ripping bluegrass and poignant ballads to dark rocking songs.

Brian Gladstone – An imaginative songwriter unrestrained by conventional limitations, Gladstone’s four albums have been highly acclaimed in dozens of rave reviews worldwide. Gaining quick international recognition, his music is played on radio stations all over the world; and he has successfully made the jump from college and underground stations to mainstream rotation and play chart listings.

Presented By: The Association of Artists for a Better World is a nonprofit organization, registered in the province of Ontario, Canada. More information is here www.abetterworld.ca  

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 Folk music’s its own world, so it seems appropriate that this annual winter festival sets up camp east of Yonge, where roots music fans and musicians crisscross the Danforth through wind and snow. A multi-generational, volunteer-driven, pay-what-you-can affair, Winterfolk offers up-and-comers like a cappella duo the Blackest Crow the opportunity to play alongside veterans like Mose Scarlett, Melwood Cutlery and David Essig

JACK MARKS AND THE LOST WAGES PLAYED A GREAT ROOTSY SET AT EASTMINSTER UNITED CHURCH SATURDAY AS PART OF WINTERFOLK

The fest tried something edgy (by folk standards) this year with Brass Roots: Big Bands For Your Buck, a ticketed event at Eastminster United Church. It’s a shame that more of Winterfolk’s regulars didn’t make the three-block trek from the Black Swan to take in some of the best roots rock Toronto has to offer.

Openers Jack Marks and the Lost Wages played a great set, including Michigan Love, Sweet Patricia and New Girl Now (harmonica stood in for the horns) from the recent Lost Wages release. Cousins-fronted quintessentially Canadian act the Warped 45s impressed with a warm, cohesive showcase highlighting their musicianship, working-class experiences and catchy choruses. Freeman Dre and the Kitchen Party sprawled across the stage like a travelling Parkdale carnival, with Michael Louis Johnson providing smoky trumpet solos from the dais. Finally, 11-piece Afrobeat closers Minotaurs joyfully rocked, inspiring at least a few people to get up and dance.

The venue seemed to move the road-hardened musicians to an unusual intimacy: Marks talked about his time in Princess Margaret Hospital; Dave McEathron (Warped 45s) joked about his mom’s sleepy Unitarian Church congregation; Andre Flak referenced his Catholic upbringing; and Nathan Lawr got the crowd to holler some enthusiastic amens.

Meanwhile, Winterfolk proper raged on, with good crowds at the Black Swan, Mambo Lounge, Dora Keogh and Terri O’s. I caught some great moments, including Collette Savard’s timeless vocals and zither at the Songwriters Unite showcase, Joanne Crabtree and Margaret Stowe having a great time playing the blues together, and Eve Goldberg’s Watermelon Sorbet (the intro to Richardson’s Roundup for six years).

Other highlights were Rosemary Phelan’s intimate Story Behind The Song workshop in the basement of Danforth Baptist Church, kids dancing in a circle at the end of Nonie Crete’s Dora Keogh set, Tannis Slimmon’s gospel singalong, Betty Supple’s The Moon, and funky/fun roots pop group the Donefors.

I thought it was a typo, but Parkdale’s Saturday Saints proved me wrong when they threw Armenian folk music into their usual Appalachian-inspired repertoire. Finally, Erin Hill (in town performing in South Pacific) and Her Psychedelic Harp went completely over the top with sci-fi songs that would fit right into 70s musical theatre.

SARAH GREENE

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February 18 – 21, 2011 Toronto Canada

150 Artists on 7 Stages For 4 Days of Roots and Blues Music

Winterfolk is a Free Family Festival All Ages Are Welcomed

A Better World on Facebook and Twitter

Winterfolk Listing on Face Book. This is your invitation to join A Better World – share your comments,  post a picture. to your fan list. Follow Us on Twitter.

Community Music Programs at Winterfolk

Winterfolk works within our community with various music organizations to offer them stages at our festival to increase their public visibility and membership, offer exposure for their events, and in general assist them to meet the goals of their mission statement. interfolk lists community organizations in our printed program and various forms of promotion.

I Support Roots Music In Toronto 

Buttons are available for a voluntary donation at all Winterfolk Venues.

Did You Know?

Winterfolk VIII is a non-profit organization registered in the Province of Ontario. We have no full time employees, and are fueled by a team of volunteers. Winterfolk hires and pays over 100 artists. Winterfolk brings communities together, and brings much needed revenues to the area merchants. Please be generous with your donations. Thank you.

Schedules are available on entry to Winterfolk venues.
WINTERFOLK IX SHOWCASE: BRASS ROOTS: BIG BANDS FOR YOUR BUCK   SATURDAY FEB 19, 2011 Eastminster Church Auditorium More Details Doors @ 7 pm   7:30  Jack Marks & The Lost Wages 8:30  The Warped 45s 9:30  Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party 10:30  The Minotaurs   Winterfolk Venues * All Venues are All Ages * Danforth Cafe is Alcohol Free   Winterfolk IX Venues  Black Swan Tavern – 2 Stages 154 Danforth Ave Mambo Lounge 120 Danforth Ave Eastminster United Church 310 Danforth Avenue Danforth Cafe In the Danforth Baptist Church 60 Bowden Street (corner of Danforth & Bowden) Dora Keogh 141 Danforth Ave Terri O's Sports Bar 185 Danforth Ave Winterfolk IX Dates and Times Friday February 18 7:00 PM to Midnight Saturday February 19 1:00 PM to Midnight Sunday February 20 1:00 PM to Midnight Monday February 21 1:00 to 6:00 PM (Family Day)
Winterfolk IX Schedule
Community Music Presentation Winterfolk works within our community with various music organizations to offer them stages at our festival	Paid Performance All Winterfolk Stages are Free (no admission price) except for one stage, shown in this colour.	Artist Workshop (multi-artist themed Performance) Ideas and concepts for Workshops have been conceived and proposed by the presenting artists.	For Little Kids, and Big Kids of all ages	Advance Reservations Suggested  416-778-7004

Friday February 18, 2011
	Black Swan Tavern		Mambo Lounge	Terri O's		Dora Keogh	Danforth Cafe Located in Danforth Baptist Church
	2nd Floor Long & McQuade Stage	Main Floor
7	Songwriters Unite Host Russell Leon Opens then presents Collette Savard & John Zyteruck, Neil Conway, Kristin Lindell, Heather Chappel, Vince Peet , Erica Werry, Scott Maynard, Kat Goldman, Alise Marlane , Marcus Walker	Sarcasouls	Laura Fernandez with Don Naduriak	Aaron McGill & Dan Shantz (Miliitis Rue)		The Blackwood Two	Ania Ziemirska
8		Joanne Crabtree & Margaret Stowe	Laura Fernandez  with Don Naduriak	Mikel Miller with Kevin Bell		Sue & Dwight	Rosemary Phelan & Jason Leprade
9	Brock Zeman	David Celia & Joan Besen	Tony Quarrington	Jory Nash		The Blackest Crow	Dan McVeigh
10	Steve Paul Simms and John Jackson	Brian Gladstone & Tony Quarrington	Evaristo Machado	Danny Marks		Nonie Crete	The Story Behind the Song Host Rosemary Phelan with Jory Nash, David Celia,  David Lum, & Jack Marks.
11	Danny Marks	HOTCHA!	Evaristo Machado	Michael Brennan		The Art of Improvisation Instant Songs Host Jon Davis with, Dave Celia,  Dave Lang on bass
Saturday February 19, 2011
	Black Swan Tavern		Mambo Lounge	Terri O's	Dora Keogh		Danforth Cafe  Located in Danforth Baptist Church
	2nd Floor Long & McQuade Stage	Main Floor
1	NSAI Presents Best of Nashville Songwriters Assoc. Hour 1  Host Dan McVeigh with Debra Alexander John Di Battista Dean Stacey    Hour 2 Host Shaun Devlin with Barbara Lynn Doran Chase Stevens David Lavkulik	Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Host Dunstan Morey opens then presents guests Jo-Anne Park, Ron Bloor, Des McCann, Steve Shorter, Randy Finney. Pickers wanted –  drop by and sign up for last half hour.	Ania Ziemirska	David Lum	Speak Music Presents Bev Kreller hosts, with guests Josh Wilkinson, The McDales Abigail Lapell,  William & Polly, Bram Cherun, Grainne Ryan, The Wanted
2			Sue & Dwight	Mike Masse
3	SAC Presents Award Winning Songwriters  Play and talk about their tunes – David Leask, Jory Nash, D`Arcy Wickham, Melwood Cutlery	Seneca College Independent Music Program Host and instructor  John Switzer presents Justice R.F., Nika Smith, Andrew Hyatt, Emma Sunstrum, Erin Bolton, Bram Cherun, Joey O'Neil & more.	David Lum	Tony Quarrington	Brock Zeman
4			Glen Hornblast	Dan McVeigh	Irish Song Circle – Deb Quigley and Uilein Piper lead a traditional Irish music session. Players welcome.
5	Best of Acoustic Afternoons Open Stage Dan MacLean Jr. Opens, with Hour 1 Katie Regan, Mark Denington, Steven Morrison Hour 2  Carlin Belof, Trevor Jones, Tyler Ellis		Mike Masse	David Celia & Joan Besen
6		Melwood Cutlery with Dan Whiteley	Louise Ford	Terri O's is closed Saturday Evening Check out the Eastminster Church – One Performance Only  Winterfolk IX Feature Presentation 7:30  Jack Marks & The Lost Wages 8:30  The Warped 45s 9:30  Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party 10:30  The Minotaurs
7	Brock Zeman	Put Some Afro in Your Roots The Donfors joined by Minotaurs' Nathan Lawr  combine Jazz, Afro, Funk bass, and rhythm for their special sound.	Tony Quarrington				David Leask
8	Songs of Social Justice Host Glen Hornblast, with Peter Verity, Mikel Miller, David Leask, Sue & Dwight	Finger Pickin' the Blues Mr. Rick , Mose Scarlett, Michael Jerome Browne	Evaristo Machado		David Nigel Lloyd		David Hein
9	Saturday Saints	Jon Davis	Laura Fernandez		Louise Ford		D'Arcy Wickham
10	The Guitar Boys of Alderon	Big Rude Jake	Evaristo Machado		The DoneFors		Eve Goldberg
11	Michael Jerome Browne	Betty Supple Band			Margaret Stowe Trio
Sunday February 20, 2011
	Black Swan Tavern		Mambo Lounge	Terri O's		Dora Keogh	Danforth Cafe Located in Danforth Baptist Church
	2nd Floor Long & McQuade Stage	Main Floor
1	Best of Ten Feet Tall Open Stage Host Gary 17 presents Hour1 Roger Zuraw, Chris Casserly, Steve Raiken, John Layton Hour 2 Steve Morrison, Trevor Jones, Peter Solmes, Paul Cross, Murray Powell	Stouffville Artists Showcase Host Jim Priebe presents  Marie-Lynn Hammond with D`Arcy Wickham,  Erwin Shack, Glen Marias, Ewan Dobson	John DiBatista	Moonshine Cafe Presents best of the open stage  with host John Marlett		Arts Can Circle Carol Teal opens then presents guests Hour1  HOTCHA!, Noah Zacharin Hour2    Joanne Crabtree, Jason LaPrade & Rosemary Phelan
2			Aaron McGill & Dan Shantz (Miliitis Rue)
3	Guitar Jam – Always one of our most exciting shows!  Tony Quarrington and Margaret Stowe start, then invite guests Shawn Brush, Jimmie Bowskill, Mr. Rick, Noah Zacharin and more guitar Aces will join.	Blues Songwriting  Host Gary Kendall on bass, with by Ken Yoshioka on harp, Big Rude Jake on 6 string	Peter Wildman	GCDC		John DiBatista
4		Songs of the Spirit – Gospel Music Host Eve Goldberg with Tannis Slimmon, Michael Jerome Browne, and more	Paul Languille	The Danforth Sound Pete Otis hosts with guests Hour1 Peter Verity, Pat Little, Chris Casserly Hour2 Herb Dale, Jace, John Romas, Dellukka, Paul Cross		Matthew DeZoete
5	Ken Yoshioka	Steve Payne	Writing Music for Theatre Successful playwrights David Hein, Tony Quarrington, James Gordon and more			Nonie Crete
6	Fingerstyle Frenzy  D'Arcy Wickham, Steve Payne, Noah Zacharin & more	Tannis Slimmon	Matthew DeZoete	Laura Fernandez with  Noah Zacharin		Paul Languille
7	Erin Hill & Her Psychedelic Harp	Cross Cultural Roots  Danny Simmons and Kristin Cavoukian  from Saturday Saints play guitar, banjo, and mix it up from Bluesgrass  to Armenian Folk lore, and more.	Joanne Crabtree & Margaret Stowe	Steve Payne		Shawn Brush
8	The DoneFors	An Evening With Borealis Records – The Best in Canadian Folk Music Presents 8:00  Eve Goldberg 8:45 James Gordon 9:30  Melwood Cutlery with Dan Whiteley 10:15 Michael Jerome Browne 11:00 Mose Scarlett with Tony Quarrington,  and likely some guests	The Blackwood Two	Steve Paul Simms and John Jackson		Why So Glum Chum? Songs to make you laugh with Peter Wildman, Tony Quarrington, and more
9	The Guitar Boys of Alderon		Betty Supple	Michael Brennan		The Blackest Crow
10	Porkbelly Futures		Peter Verity	Kristen Sweetland		Women With Words  Betty Supple,  Rosemary Phelan, Tannis Slimmon, Joanne Crabtree
11	David Essig		Jon Davis	Jimmy Bowskill		The Horables
Monday February 21, 2011 – Family Day !
	Black Swan Tavern		Mambo Lounge	Terri O's		Dora Keogh	Danforth Cafe Located in Danforth Baptist Church
	2nd Floor Long & McQuade Stage	Main Floor
1	Music for the Good Times and Bad Host HOTCHA!  with Michael Brennan, The Saturday Saints, Peter Verity	Audience Participation Songwriting Host James Gordon divides audience into groups, each  assigned an artist, to write and perform a song, Eve Goldberg, Joanne Crabtree, David Hein	Kristin Sweetland	Remembering Norm Hacking Host Glen Hornblast –  Anecdotes and tunes from those who knew the late Norm with Mikel Miller,  and more.		Andrew Queen entertains kids of all ages!
2	Songs of Canada Peter Verity, Sue and Dwight		Brian Gladstone			Beth Anne Cole (from Mr. Dressup & Sesame St.) with Tony Quarrington	David Nigel Lloyd
3	The Horables	Kristin Sweetland	Mr. Rick	Beth Anne Cole (from Mr. Dressup & Sesame St.) with Tony Quarrington		Noah Zacharin	Erin Hill & Her Psychedelic Harp
4	Middle Aged Guys with Guitars David Essig with Tony Quarrington	Ukulele Speakeasy Hosted by Bob Cutler with members of the Corktown Ukulele Jam   including Sue Cutler, Michael Griffin, Heather Katz, Tony Burns, Eve Goldberg, Debbie Fleming, David Olsen, Pete LeBlanc, Frank Paldino & more.	Freeman Dre up Close Rising star Freeman away from the big band,  in duet plays and talks about his tunes.	Andrew Queen entertains kids of all ages!		Story Telling in Song Meet enchanted harps, pirates, a lovesick frog and more with balladeer & tale-teller David Nigel Lloyd	Hoola Hoops and Tunes – Just Bring your  Hips – Betty Supple & Laurel Collins bring the hoops and the fun.
5	Gary Kendall Band		Ken Yoshioka	Old Time Guitar Boys Mose Scarlett, Mr. Rick, Big Rude Jake, David Essig		HOTCHA!

 

February 18 – 21, 2011 Toronto Canada

Winterfolk IX Artists

WINTERFOLK IX ARTISTS:

Artists: Aaron McGill * Dan Shantz (Miliitis Rue) * Best of Acoustic Afternoons with Dan McLean Jr. * Andrew Queen * Beth Anne Cole * Best of Ten Feet Tall Acoustic Open Stage * Betty Supple * Big Rude Jake * Brian Gladstone * Brock Zeman * Caroll Teal & David Joyce for Artscan Circle * Dan McVeigh * Danny Marks * D'Arcy Wickham * David Celia & Joan Besen * David Essig * David Hein * David Leask * David Lum * David Nigel Lloyd * Erin Hill and Her Psychedelic Harp * Eve Goldberg * Fingerstyle Guitar of Toronto * Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party * Gary Kendall Band * GCDC * Glen Hornblast * HOTCHA! *  Jack Marks & the Lost Wages * James Gordon * Jimmy Bowskill * Joanne Crabtree & Margaret Stowe * John DiBatista * Jon Davis * Jory Nash * Ken Yoshioka * Kristin Sweetland * Laura Fernandez * Louise Ford * Margaret Stowe * atthew DeZoete * Melwood Cutlery & Dan Whiteley * Michael Brennan * Michael Jerome Browne * Mike Masse * Mikel Miller * Mose Scarlett * Mr. Rick * Noah Zacharin * Nonie Crete * Paul Langille * Pete Otis – The Danforth Sound * Peter Verity * Peter Wildman * Porkbelly Futures *Rosemary Phelan / Jason LePrade * Saturday Saints * Shawn Brush * Steve Paul Simms & John Jackson * Steve Payne * Sue & Dwight * Tannis Slimmon * The Blackest Crow * The Blackwood Two * The Donefors * The Horables * The Minotaurs * The Warped 45s * Tony Quarrington *         

Artscan Circle presented by Carol Teal

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

ArtsCan Circle sends teams of artists and musicians to remote Indigenous communities to engage the youth in hands-on workshops in visual arts, music and drama. Returning to each participating community annually or more often, we build relationships, teach skills and provide opportunities for positive self-expression. We also bring donated musical instruments to each participating community providing youth access to instruments on an on-going basis.
For more information please visit www.artscancircle.ca www.facebook.com/pages/ArtsCan-Circle/129454145654?ref=ts

Andrew Queen

• Winner, 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Children’s Album of the Year!
• Winner, 2010 Parents’ Choice Recommended Award for Too Tall
• Winner, second-place in the Children’s Category of the International Songwriting Competition, 2009 for ”Big Troubles for Little Red.”

Andrew Queen is Too Tall and his songs are guaranteed to stretch out your smile muscles! Catchy lyrics get everyone singing right along with his original Fairy Tale tunes and new takes on old campfire favourites. Andrew’s body bending action songs get folks hustling and hopping. His latest album, Too Tall, won the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Children’s Album of the Year.www.andrewqueen.ca http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Queen/181666579014

Ania Ziemirska

• Released debut EP in May 2010

Ania Ziemirska’s whiskey and honey-dipped vocals pour over edgy-folk and pop-infused melodies. Written over the course of a year in 2007-2008, her debut EP, I Was The Girl captures a pivotal moment in the evolution of an artist. Songs of longing, love and hope, with a dash of sarcasm, garner her inevitable comparisons to Sarah McLachlan, Chrissie Hynde and Martha Wainwright. aniazmusic.com

Best of Acoustic Afternoons at Sarah's Cafe Bar

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

”Acoustic Afternoon” is an ”everyone’s welcome” open stage, every Sunday afternoon from 3-6pm, at Sarah’s Café & Bar, 1426 Danforth Ave. Host Dan McLean Jr provides a friendly, supportive, co-operative, non-competitive event for all ages. Usually, we have as many people coming to listen as there are playing!

Beth Anne Cole

• ”Mr.Dressup”, CBC-TV: Beth Anne”, regular singer-actor for 22 years
• Soloist (with Alvin Epstein), songs of Kurt Weill, Carnegie Hall, New York, 2002
• Singer-songwriter of two CDs: Gifts in the Old, Old Ground” and ”Song under the Stair”; songwriter-performer, ”Sesame Street”

About Beth Anne Cole, the Toronto Star wrote: She has the timing of true artistry”; the Boston Globe: ”A superb-singer actress”. Beth Anne is comfortable in concert halls, theatres and especially in intimate surroundings such as ”Winterfolk” where she can perform with her trademark candor, humour and musicality. She has entertained family audiences narrating and singing with symphony orchestras such as the Edmonton Symphony, and on television’s ”Mr. Dressup” and ”Sesame Street” programs. She loves folk music, has recorded a Cd of Yiddish folksongs and is very happy to be singing with guitarist and fellow folksong lover Tony Quarrington.

Best of Ten Feet Tall Open Stage

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

Ten Feet Tall is a destination room for live music in Toronto’s East at 1381 Danforth Ave. which offers Jazz, Roots, Blues and R&B music several times a week including a weekly Thursday open stage hosted by Gary 17. There is also a biweekly fingerstyle open stage every other Tuesday and the room is owned and operated by musicians Carin Redman and Andy Woodley. Gary 17’s open stage endeavours to provide an opportunity for accomplished veteran performers to showcase and for up and coming artists to build their confidence, skills and an audience. The open stage runs Thursdays 9-1 and includes a feature set from 10-10:30.www.facebook.com/Gary17

Betty Supple

• On her 3rd cross country tour; stoking winter fires all over Canada
• Honest, humorous, warming, thought provoking folk fusion with heart and cheek.

Betty grew up in F’realtown Ontario, which means she is required, by blood, to keep it real. Her repertoire touches the genres of witty bluegrass, honest hip hop, cheeky folk, raspy jazz, truthful love songs and political anecdotes. She has an uncanny ability to read her audiences mixing her mood with the vibe of the crowd to make a good time for all. She’s been firin’ out tunes since it occurred to her to do so, and speaks her mind, heart and soul through her songs. www.myspace.com/bettysupple

Big Rude Jake

• Recipient of the Jazz and Blues walk of fame in Cognac, France

Singer/song-writer Big Rude Jake is a remarkable and distinguished figure on the Canadian music scene with a notable presence around the world. A true innovator, a deft craftsman of song and a powerful and compelling lyricist, he has been knocking audiences dead with his impassioned performances for some 20 ears, in venues across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. www.bigrudejake.ca  www.facebook.com/bigrudejake

Brian Gladstone

Brian’s particular way of seeing things through irony and old time approach reminds me of great artists as John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt. He is their own true son and he continues their great sounds. SUSA ONDA RADIO, ITALY. WHERE DOES ONE BEGIN TO DESCRIBE BRIAN GLADSTONE? The man is such an anomaly on the side of modern music; a self-propelled master of folk, a throwback to days when music was simpler, yet somehow more touching. The Toronto-based singer-songwriter is an early Bob Dylan, a guitar wizard on par with Jesse Cook, and a lyricist who can evoke a plethora of emotions with a single song. CANEHDIEN.COM With his countrified, playfully narrative lyrics, the indie performer … recalls legendary storyteller John Prine. Psychedelic Pholk Psongs is an eclectic 90 minutes of unadorned. www.briangladstone.ca

Brock Zeman

Over the past five years Brock Zeman has elbowed his way into the independent music world. The 28 year old singer-songwriter of Carleton Place, Ontario has already released 7 albums and toured Canada and the US extensively averaging 250 dates a year. His signature roots style has been praised by critics for the maturity of his vocals, the depth of his storytelling and his impressive live performances. He was first discovered by Canadian Country Hall of Famer Keith Glass (Prairie Oyster) who went on to produce his first 4 releases. By the time of his 5th released Brock was picked up by Busted Flat records out of Kitchener Ontario. www.brockzeman.com

Corktown Ukulele Speakeasy

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation
• Featuring the members of the Corktown Ukulele Jam Hosted by Bob Cutler 

Corktown Ukulele Speakeasy has over 300 active members and meets every Wednesday night at the Dominon on Queen. The goal is to jam and to teach people to play ukulele and to improve the skills of those who can play in a supportive and sharing music community. www.torontoukes.com

D’Arcy Wickham

An exceptional facility with all styles of guitar picking has highlighted decades of performing experience, and was recognized by an OCFF ”Songs From the Heart” award in 2007 for his song ”Feather Fingers”. Recent achievements have included being a Canadian finalist in the Mountain Stage Newsong Contest in August 2009, and being a featured performer at Winterfolk Roots and Blues Festival in Feb. 2009, 2010 and 2011. D’Arcy was also one of the featured performers at the Bruce Cockburn Tribute at Hugh’s Room in Oct.
2009. www.darcywickham.com www.facebook.com/darcy.wickham

Dan McVeigh

• 5 Billboard Songwriting Awards, 3 NSAI Songwriting Awards, 1 Brampton Arts Acclaim Award
• 2 CD Releases – Love & Bridges – 2001,. Drove – 2005
• NSAI Toronto Coordinator since 1996

Dan McVeigh is a country artist and songwriter promoting his current CD “Drove” has garnered great reviews from Country Music News & other publications. Dan’s strong voice and his music has been compared to great artists such as Ronnie Milsap, Billy Joel, Eagles and Garth Brooks to name a few. Dan is currently working on a new CD which will be out in 2011. For more information, visit his website at www.danmcveigh.com

Danny Marks

•  Toronto Blues Society’s Blues With A Feeling Award for lifetime achievement in 2007

TORONTO’S OWN DANNY MARKS a unique performer. If there’s a popular song from 1900 to now, chances are Danny Marks has heard it, and can sing it. And maybe even put a new spin on it: Johnny Cash performing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, or Elvis launching into reggae. Danny does it all. Danny Marks masters two careers as if there’s nothing to it. The velvety bass voice behind JAZZ.FM91′s weekly bluz.fm radio show not only talks the talk, but has walked the walk his entire life. Marks has released two highly acclaimed original albums, the all instrumental Guitarchaeology in 1998 and a biographical confessional, TRUE. In 2004 his third disc Big Town Boy was a romp though home town classics winning and big glossy rave in Billboard Magazine. Currently, Danny is finishing up tracks for his latest, A Friend in the Blues, for spring relelase. w.dannym.com www.jazz.fm

David Celia with Joan Besen

• playing massive festivals both in Canada and Europe and also supporting Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, Fairport Convention and more…
• Playing at Glastonbury Festival in England this summer (Headliner-U2).
• Winner of the Porcupine Awards

"The affable David Celia's main weapon of musical mayhem is his superb voice. Added to that he's got a catalogue of brilliant songs and plays a pretty mean guitar." (Marr's, UK) "One of Toronto's finest songwriters and guitarists". EYE MAGAZINE [critics pick "Album of the year"/ 06] Like so many of his talented Canadian contemporaries, he's a 'best kept secret' at home, collecting frequent flier miles like Grandma does doilies. Just before his 13th tour of England, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, with a jaunt to NYC, David plays his 'roots rock with hints of folk wrapped in a pop package' at Winterfolk. Summer found him on criss-crossing festival stages in Europe and Canada while recording the follow up to "This Isn't Here", spending precious time with his young family and repacking his well worn suitcase. "I like the sentiment in your lyrics" – Gordon Lightfoot, UK http://www.davidcelia.com

David Essig

David Essig was introduced to Canadian audiences in 1971 as a "talented newcomer" at the legendary Mariposa Folk Festival. Now, nearly 40 years later, he has an international career as one of Canada's finest interpreters of original, contemporary folk music. Always paying homage to his roots in Bluegrass and Country Blues, David uses these traditions to create timeless new songs.

David is highly respected as a thoughtful and intelligent songwriter, with Canadian folk standards like "Albert's Cove" and "High Ground" to his credit. His work moves from pieces as contemporary as today's news, to songs that sound as if they were rediscovered from old country blues 78's. These are songs that tell stories that will start you laughing and leave you crying.

David Hein

• Co-author and star of ”My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding”, the hit Mirvish musical.
• Winner, Susquehanna Music Festival Songwriting Contest, 2009

The Toronto Star calls David Hein ”super-charming” and calls his songs ”clever and catchy.” His musical, ”My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding” based on his mom’s true story, was called ”hilarious” by CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi and played to over 50,000 people in Toronto, recently winning ”Most Promising Musical” in the New York Musical Theater Festival. David has released four CD’s, toured North America, playing festivals and house concerts, and worked with the Muppets. His shows feature free comics, audience interaction, and hilarious and heartbreaking songs. www.davidhein.net www.facebook.com/pages/David-Hein/27146870010

David Leask

• Runner up in John Lennon’s 70th Birthday anniversary song contest – songs of peace, love, political activism, and free expression – chosen by Yoko Ono for the song ”Everybody Sing” co-written with Debra Alexander
• Winner of 2009 OCFF Songs From the heart award for song ”While I Still Breathe” co-written with Bruce Madole.
• Winner of Mississauga Performing Artist of the Year

Originally from Scotland, David Leask was the recipient of the Mississauga Performing Artist of the Year Award. A songwriting journeyman, he has produced three critically-acclaimed CD’s and numerous international songwriting awards in a range of categories that include folk, jazz, blues, rock, country and gospel. Songwriters Magazine called David, ”the most consistent Canadian songwriting competition win¬ner.” David was the 2009 winner of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals “Songs From The Heart” competition. A talented multi-instrumentalist with a sharp Scottish wit, David’s music draws from folk roots, topped up with a pop sensibility that brings to mind the talents of Gordie Sampson and Mumford and Sons. www.davidleask.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Leask/65351955038

David Lum

• 2004 Manitoba Country Music Association Songwriting Contest

Born in Vancouver, David began as an instrumentalist for other artists and has developed into a gifted songwriter in his own right, infusing a blend of folk and roots in a versatile guitar style with songs that will draw you into his world, filled with tales of quiet desperation, longing and the triumph of the human spirit. He has performed at coffee houses, clubs, and folk festivals in BC, Manitoba and Ontario, and now brings his music to the 2011 Winterfolk Festival. ww.davidlum.com

David Nigel Lloyd

• Celtic Balladeer, Song poet, Fine Guitarist, Tale Spinner, Scholar and Fool
• Named Among Best of 2008 on National Public Radio’s Celtic Connections
• Inventor of the Eight-Stringed Octar and Pioneer of D’F-BEAD Tuning

David Nigel Lloyd began his career in 1975 on a Greyhound Bus bound bound for Los Angeles. He swore he would never return to Toronto until he was a rock star. Or, as it turned out, a folk singer. He returns this weekend via Memphis where he was invited to perform at the Official Showcase of the still on-going International Folk Alliance Conference. Years ago he returned to his first musical love —that odd melange of traditional balladry, beat poetry, Delta blues and Zen paradox pioneered in the mid-60s by a handful of British guitar poets. One of them, Celtic music legend Robin Williamson, accompanies DNL on Rivers, Kings and Curses. DNL’s most recent CD, it was featured on the “Best of 2008” episode of NPR’s Celtic Connections program. www.davidnigellloyd.com www.facebook.com/pages/David-Nigel-Lloyd/53240611820

Erin Hill & her Psychedelic Harp

• Erin’s Celtic album hits #1 on the Billboard World Music Chart, in the Top Ten on multiple Heatseeker charts, and in the Top 40 on the Independent chart (2009).
• Erin is a lead actor, composer, and screenwriter in the film ”Clear Blue Tuesday,”– “Erin Hill, as a giddy, harp-playing Trekker, is a stand out… The best and funniest scene in the film is Ms. Hill’s” — The New York Times (Sept. 2010)

Erin Hill is a harpist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor and sci-fi geek who’s been seen as the Pretty White Girl on Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show,” and has played with Kanye West, Enya, Cyndi Lauper, moby, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson. The music is beautiful and psychedelic pop with a science edge: ”Hill is a songwriting angel… with tracks that fascinate and mesmerize the audience” — The Louisville Eccentric Observer. ”Beautiful. Voice exquisite; the words telling tales everyone wants to hear.” — Radio 3, BBC. www.erinhill.com www.facebook.com/erinhillharp

Eve Goldberg

• Eve’s instrumental tune ”Watermelon Sorbet” was the opening theme song for ”Richardson’s Roundup” heard for many years across Canada on CBC Radio One.
• Eve is a three-time finalist for the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award (Ontario Arts Council, 2004, 2007 and 2008). Eve’s song The Streets of Burma is being used by Amnesty International Canada as part of their campaign to free one of the monks imprisoned in Burma following peaceful protests by monks and nuns in September 2007.

Eve Goldberg sings music that draws honey from the rock of life. A compelling writer and interpreter, Eve’s watercolour voice and solid guitar style has made her a favourite with audiences across Canada and the US. Her performances are intimate and relaxed, moving effortlessly from folk classics to original gems. She has been performing since 1990, bringing her trademark mixture of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz to venues across Canada and the U.S. ranging from small house concerts to the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Along the way she’s earned the respect of legendary musicians like Peggy Seeger, Geoff Muldaur, and Penny Lang. She has released three CDs to widespread acclaim: “Ever Brightening Day,” “Crossing the Water,” and her latest, “A Kinder Season.” http://www.evegoldberg.com www.facebook.com/EveGoldbergMusic

Evaristo Machado

Finger Style Guitar

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

The FingerStyleGuitar.ca Open Stage is a unique opportunity for fingerstyle players of all levels to meet, connect, sit in …and for non-players to hear some of Toronto’s most exciting guitar playing – from established veterans, up-and-coming new talent, and dedicated amateurs. The FingerStyleGuitar.ca is a network of many of Toronto’s finest solo guitarists and guitar aficionados. It sponsors over 50 local workshops, open stages, and small venue performances as well as several Main Stage concerts per year. www.fingerstyleguitar.ca

Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party

• ”Winner of the NOW Magazine’s Readers Pick for “Best Songwriter 2010”

This band has finally bottled the white lightening of their killer live show into a potent new debut album, Red Door 2nd Floor. They take their name from the great and timeless East Coast tradition of friends and neighbours gathering together in the kitchen for an evening of laughter, drinks and music. But despite the casual atmosphere in which they create their songs, make no mistake; onstage, The Kitchen Party is tighter than a three-day drunk! The soul of this music comes from Freeman Dre’s apartment in the heart of one of Toronto’s most creatively fertile neighbourhoods, Parkdale. It’s a place where friends hang out in the kitchen most every night, where a raccoon recently tried to give birth in Dre’s vinyl collection, where Hank the cat comes to chill out from life in the mean streets and alleys, and where a lot of music gets made.www.myspace.com/freemandrethekitchenparty   

Glen Hornblast

• Past Winner of CIUT Porcupine Award
• Well-known in the Toronto Folk Scene

Glen Hornblast is a Toronto singer-songwriter well-known in the Toronto folk community. Once the Open Stage host at Free Times Cafe for a number of years, Glen writes songs about love, heartache, and homelessness. Always an entertaining performer, Glen is frequently seen at music jams, open mic nights, folk festivals and benefits. He is working on a soon-to-be released CD. www.myspace.com/glenhornblast

HOTCHA!

• Included in the Top 40 CBC Galaxie Folk/Roots Year end Chart 2009! And was the CBC Fresh Air featured disc of the month in May 2009 with Hosts Mary Ito & Mark Rheaume
• 4 star (out of 5) review in SING OUT! Magazine – 4 star (out of 5) review on Amazon.com
• Included in the Penguin Eggs 10th Anniversary issue as “New Discoveries” by both Mike Regenstreif (SING OUT! Magazine) and CFMU radio host Jim Marino

Born in the swamp. Raised on the mountain. Work in the mines. Play on the porch. Well, that’s only true metaphorically. We don’t actually have a porch. HOTCHA! (Beverly Kreller and Howard Druckman) nonetheless feel as though their music fits the description: Rustic, rural songs of work and faith, delivered with a vintage vibe and the energy of a runaway train. HOTCHA! creates a distinctive musical blend of old-time western, bluegrass, early swing and country gospel. If you could take a picture of HOTCHA!’s music, it would be a grainy, sepia-toned portrait of depression-era musicians with nothing but an old Sears-Roebuck guitar and a nickel in hand for the jitney dance. If you listen to HOTCHA!’s music, you’ll hear a unique combination of accordion and bodhran (Celtic drum) alongside gritty guitar, wailing harmonica and soaring vocal harmonies. Debut CD Dust Bowl Roots: Songs for the New Depression, intended as a true tonic for the times we liv e in. www.HOTCHA.ca

Jack Marks

• Nominated for a CFMA award in 2010 in the emerging artist category.
• Touring Holland and Germany in January 2011.

On the heels of a 2010 CFMA nomination and the release of his second full length album titled ”Lost Wages”, artist Jack Marks is emerging as one of the most important writers on the Toronto scene today. With plans to tour Germany and Holland in January 2011 and to begin his third album in three years in March, Marks is known in Toronto as a ”songwriters songwriter” and the rest of the country is beginning to catch on. [email protected] www.myspace.com/jackmarksmusic

James Gordon

• His song ”Frobisher Bay” was named favourite Canadian folk song in a CBC radio poll. It has been recorded by more than 100 artists world-wide
• His Song ”Mining For Gold” was recorded by the Cowboy Junkies on their multi-million-selling ”Trinity Sessions” album and has been featured in Hollywood films, television commercials and around campfires!
• Was songwriter-in-residence for CBC radio for 12 years

Veteran Canadian Songwriter. Known for his songs dealing with Canadian heritage, social justice issues, the environment. For many years he was resident songwriter on CBC Radio’s Basic Black program so he has a sack full of comedy material as well. New CD ”My Stars Your Eyes” — best reviews ever! www.jamesgordon.ca

Jimmy Bowskill

Jimmy Bowskill just seems to fit the script of a modern day artist destined to play the blues. He burst onto the scene on B.B.King's birthday of all times, a brand new B. B.Kid!! Inspired by the late, great Robert Johnson, Jimmy taught himself to play and sing by interpreting by sight and sound but in his own natural style. At the tender age of 11, Jimmy was invited to join Jeff Healey onstage, alongside his now mentors and bandmates, Jerome Godboo and Alec Fraser.  Since being discovered in Southern Ontario a whirlwind of activity has been bestowed on Jimmy. Major festivals, radio and television appearances including national coverage on CTV's Open Mike with Mike Bullard have all featured his rise in popularity and blues stardom. Jimmy has been broadening his musical boundaries to Quebec, where much media exposure has taken place. Playing in front of 5000 concert-goers chanting "Jimmy!" "Jimmy!" has solidified a whole new legion of loyal fans. Jimmy Bowskill has become the toast of the Belle Province.

Joan Beson

• Member of prairie oyster for 27 years.
• 6 Juno Awards

Joan has multiple CCMA and rpm awards, multiple socan and cmpa song of the year awards. inducted into ccma hall of fame 2008. along with own band, have played and recorded as side musician with many others in canada and u.s., includin sylvia tyson, colin linden, willie p. bennett, morgan davis, marty stuart, pam tillis, etc. been playing with david celia for about 5 years.

Joanne Crabtree with Margaret Stowe

• About Joanne: “…an interesting performer…her warmth on stage, her lovely voice, her sense of history, her beautiful originals…. which captivates the audiences’ attention.” Lillian Wauthier
• About Margaret: “..a richness of imagination…tonal variety that teases one’s imagination….an assertive sense of daring.” (James Strecker, Mayday Magazine CD Review)

Joanne and Margaret first performed together “live” on the radio, CFMU-FM (93.3 FM), along with Mose Scarlett, Paul Mills, David Bradstreet et al, as part of a tribute to Jackie Washington. Here they formed their mutual admiration society and since then they have also performed together several times including Festival of Friends and Hugh’s Room. Joanne describes herself as a “city singer”. Her artistic roots took hold in the poetry-filled coffee houses, the after-hours jazz clubs, the earnest folk venues of Toronto. Frequenter of song circles, ballad projects and bluesy side projects she is often seen performing as a duo with Paul Mills. Margaret maintains an international career and works with variety of artists. Known for her eclectic tastes and high energy, she has received great press for her stage performances and recordings and is also the proud owner of a CIUT FM Back to the Sugar Camp Porcupine ”Lenny Breau” Award (2009), was recently interviewed and performed www.joannecrabtree.com

John DiBatista

• John Di Battista was Voted in by " ACTRA" on Proffesional Status after recording the Lead Vocals to many Radio Jingles including a National Jingle Spot for " Harley Davidson" an Ontario's own Molson's Park .
• Most recently John Di Battista Won a recording package In Nashville Tenessee , at the " Music Row Songrwriter's Festifval"

John DiBattista, singer/songwriter, was born and raised in Toronto and began his life immersed in a rich musical environment at home. John’s father bought him a ukulele at 9 and a 6-string Washburn guitar at 14. His father would sing often and encouraged young John to sing for friends visiting their home. His first musical heroes were Elvis, Gordon Lightfoot, the Beatles, John Denver and Ray Charles and more recently, George Strait and Keith Urban. At age 14, John began performing at local Toronto clubs and talent shows where people began to take notice of his unique and powerful voice. At 15, John recorded 2 original songs and had his sights set on sharing his music beyond the Toronto area. At 17 John traveled around the United States where he began winning singing competitions and was invited to perform live at local clubs. After returning to Canada, his distinct voice landed him several commercial jobs on the radio and he became a member of ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists). DiBattista continues to craft songs and play live to his growing fan base that are hooked by John’s moving lyrics, memorable vocals and commanding stage presence. A recent trip to Nashville solidified John’s passion to continue to write songs that connect with country and music fans everywhere. The songs, which are a blend of country rock, blues and folk, allow him to share with you his extraordinary gift of music–music that touches the heart and soul. Currently John is in the studio recording a CD of his original works. www.JohnDiBattista.com

Jon Davis

• Winner, Montreal NATS Voice Competition, 2000
• ”Jon is by far one of the most talented singer-songwriters to emerge since Van Morrison.” – Alex Boicel, Artistic Dir. Cayenne Jazz Festival

Jon Davis’ recently released debut – Golden Hue – reveals an artist who enjoys giving the listener’s emotions a bit of a workout. Golden Hue also provides Davis the opportunity to underline his abilities on piano, guitar and arranging skills. The star of this show is, however, his fragile, weathered vocals. Originally trained as a jazz pianist, he switched horses somewhat, based on an outbreak of carpal tunnel syndrome and the accumulated comments he’d received on his vocal talent. Classical training followed and the influence of everyone from Joni Mitchell to Stephen Sondheim helped set the stage. Yet this singer is a songwriter first, and his fine arts background as an artist has provided him with an approach similar to that of a painter with a new canvas. And he paints very personally, indeed, revealing himself in the painterly process – an intense vulnerability exposed through lyrical content providing insight into his old soul. Jon Davis appears at Winterf olk with gifted Montreal percussionist and singer/songwriter Mateo Tomlinson.www.jondavismusic.ca Facebook

Jory Nash

• 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards Nominee
• 2009 Penguins Eggs Magazine ”Album of the Year” for New Blue Day
• Winner, OCFF Songs From The Heart, 2000

Jory Nash blends elements of folk, jazz, blues, soul and pop into an original stew of sound. He has recorded 6 critically-acclaimed CDs, including 2004’s curiously titled ”Spaz Loves Weezie” and 2010’s award winning ”New Blue Day”. A master storyteller and a lover of hats, Jory tours across North America, playing mostly solo. Acoustic guitar, piano and banjo are Jory’s main instruments. Jory is a past winner of the Ontario Council of Folk Festival’s Songs From the Heart Songwriting Award, and has showcased at NXNE, NERFA, Ontario COntact and OCFF. Jory is a fixture on the summerfolk festival circuit, having played such great festivals as Hillside, Summerfolk, Mariposa, Winterfolk, Toronto City Roots, Home County, Live From The Rock, Shelter Valley, and numerous others. Jory’s music can often be heard on CBC Radio, and on college stations across North America. Jory’s music can be purchased (in CD or MP3 form) from www.maplemusic.com or at live concerts. www.jorynash.com

Ken Yoshioka

• As a harmonica player, Ken got involved in the 2009 Juno winning CD ”Ramblin’ Son” of Julian Fauth, the blues record of the year.
• Released 1st solo CD ”I Love Harp” in 2006, which was an old style blues album and a local hit in Toronto blues scene.
• Appears on Brian Gladstone's album 'A Time for New Beginnings'

Ken started his music career as a harmonica player with a lot of influences of Chicago blues, backing up Toronto singer/piano player Julian Fauth.Over the past few years he has been developing into a singer and guitar player to perform delta blues covers ( Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker etc.) and his originals .His specialty is unique blend of skillful finger picking and emotional slide playing on guitar with a progressive approach. www.myspace.com/kenyoshioka

Kristin Sweetland

• Award-winner, Songs from the Heart 2003
• ”A monster of a guitarist” and a ”goldmine of a mind.” – Cosmic Debris Magazine
• ”Great melodies, great lyrics, great musicianship, great voice and great attitude.” – Alex Mason, producer, CBC Radio’s Sounds Like Canada

Kristin Sweetland is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, photographer, and nomad—although she now has a permanent Toronto address, for years the road was her home. She has toured internationally; released multiple albums; won an award from the Songs of the Heart competition; and worked with Ken Whiteley, Stephen Fearing, James Keelaghan and George Koller. Kristin also plays with bassist/violinist Lyndell Montgomery in the band Captain Dirt & The Skirt. www.kristinsweetland.com www.facebook.com/kristinsweetland

Laura Fernandez

• Winner New York International Independent Music Festival 2005
• The only North American Artist invited to sing at the International World Music Festival in Varadero, Cuba on the main bill with Los Van Van, Omara Portuondo and Bobby Carcasses and Pupy y los Que Son Son and Dyango

Spanish born Laura Fernandez is a multifaceted artist; a classically trained pianist, singer and songwriter who expresses her take on the passion, the excitement, the hardships and the many experiences life has to offer in both English and her native language, Spanish. www.laurafernandezmusic.com

Louise Ford

Louise Ford has been performing in the Quinte area and throughout Ontario for over twenty years. Known for her singing and finger style guitar arrangements as well as for her extensive repertoire of Celtic, folk, classical and easy listening music, Louise is also a pianist. She has performed not only as a soloist, but also with various Celtic, folk, country and R ’n B bands.

Louise recently released her first full length CD, entitled ‘Heroes and Angels’, a collection of eleven original songs. The biggest production is ‘Grosse Isle’, written about the island near Quebec City that was used as a quarantine station for Irish immigrants in the 1830s and 1840s. In the Belleville, Ontario area ‘Heroes and Angels’ can be purchased at Sam’s, Chapters, Pinnacle Music Studios, Harmony Music, Serendipity Gifts, Easy Print (who did the printing for the CD), the Quinte Arts Council and other gift and book stores.

Margaret Stowe

• ”Guitarist Margaret Stowe is a constant delight.” Exclaim! Magazine Toronto (Live CD Review)
• Margaret received the 2009 CIUT FM Porcupine ”Lenny Breau” Award.
• ”Stowe’s departure point is jazz, but her style ranges from folk to blues to world beats, propelled by her trademark high energy and eclectic tastes.” Prague Post

”It’s hard to take your ears and eyes off Stowe.” London Free Press Margaret maintains an international career and was recently interviewed and performed on both Vallee FM Radio Paris France and Radio Nacional de Espana Madrid. She is listed in the Canadian Encyclopaedia of Music and more importantly, yeahbaby Celebrity Baby Names. She can also be found playing shows with diverse artists such as Priscilla Wright, Mose Scarlett, Sonya Côté, Brenda Lewis, Joanne Crabtree, Blues Fuse and Margaret and the Redheads. She also works in Europe with German jazz guitarist Barbara Jungfer, chanteuse Susanna Bartilla (Paris) as well as her own groups. Her latest CD MELLOW JELLO features just Margaret on guitars, playing some familiar cover tunes and new originals. You’ll love it. www.margaretstowe.com

Matthew de Zoete

• Matthew tours throughout North America and Europe, playing 120+ concerts each year.
• Matthew has released two acclaimed albums on his own label ShipRecords Canada.

Combining pop, rock, and folk music, Matthew de Zoete writes songs built on strong melodies and honest lyrics. Ranging from simple ballads to joyful pop revelries, his writing favours beauty over bravado, openess over obscurity. Extensive touring throughout North America and Europe has earned him a reputation for smart songwriting and dynamic performances, as well as comparisons to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. He often performs with his brother Johan singing harmonies – think of Simon and Garfunkel growing up in the von Trapp family. Matthew has released two albums, and he is now recording a third with producer Les Cooper (Jill Barber, Good Lovelies), set to be released later in 2011. For more info and to listen online, please visit www.matthewdezoete.com

Melwood Cutlery with Dan Whiteley

• Winner songs from the heart award ocff 2005

A dynamic duo, strumming there way into born again heaven, wrestle with themes as diverse as religion and politics, and bring it on vocally and instrumentally with an arresting forcefulness not to be underestimated in any circle, they’ll be bootin it into the skies on this gig, part of their ornery ontario mini tour, february 2011, they’ll be packin’ iron in their thighs and bringin along a brand new release of tunes, cut at the famous black sheep inn, wakefield pq. www.melwoodcutlery.com

Michael Brennan

• Last album ”Anywhere But Here” nominated for 2009 Country Recording of the Year by Music Nova Scotia.
• ”Anywhere But Here” named the #5 Canadian Country Album of 2008 by Country Music News.

Cape Breton born and raised, Michael Brennan is considered the voice of REAL country music in Toronto. Possessing a full blooded, passionate voice that’s been compared to Waylon Jennings and Roy Orbison, Brennan writes honest, straight-up working man songs full of characters who’ve loved and lost more often than they’ve won. www.michaelbrennan.ca

Michael Jerome Browne

• Selected to represent Montreal Blues Society at International Blues Challenge In Memphis, Tennessee, February 2011
• Recipient of Solo Artist of the Year (2008) at Canadian Folk Music Awards
• Three time Juno nominee (two categories: Blues; Roots & Traditional).

MJB is a true renaissance roots musician, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of wide-ranging talent. This Canadian Folk Award-winning “Solo Artist of the Year” will surprise you with a wailing blues song, a cajun fiddle waltz, an old-time banjo piece, a swing guitar tour-de-force, an unbridled soul song or a country ballad.  www.michaeljeromebrowne.com

Mike Masse with Jon Goldenberg

• Recent release of his debut CD “Her and I”
  Mike is well known in the local folk circuit for his passion, and emotional delivery

Mike Masse a singer/songwriter from Stratford Ontario. He writes, plasy and sinsg with emotion, using real life experiences with the intent to connect with people. Jon and him have known each other since the age of five. It is an absolute pleasure to be able to share this experience with him and Lisa! www.myspace.com/mikemassemusic

Mikel Miller with guest Kevin Bell

• Toured Ontario many times with Norm Hacking over a 27 yr period and survived

Mikel Miller,singer/songwriter,guitar player and Kevin Bell,Toronto guitarist legend have been performing together for over 22yrs whenever Miller travels east This Yukon artist is a man locked in a capsule of almost forgotten times, he enter your world not with a crash of noise,but with a whisper of hopes,dreams,times good and bad,late nites,maybe a cold one,tales of the roads travelled before they were paved – all these things and more and always ever present -humour! (Norm Hacking)

Militis Rue

Dan Shantz & Aaron McGill have been creating compelling and unique music for nearly four years. The band, Militis Rue, (Mil-ee-tis Rue) has always been about fusing the honest explorations of lyric with expressive and dynamic sounds. Whether you catch their engaging, heart-on-your-sleeve live shows, or you simply catch a ride on one of their tunes on the airwaves, Militis Rue will be a good friend when you need some real music for a real world. www.militisrue.com

Minotaurs

• Included in Exclaim Magazine’s Top 10 Soul and RnB records of 2010.

”With the gifted hands and encouragement of producer and fellow drummer Don Kerr, Lawr has thrown caution to the wind, rebuilding his Minotaurs into an all-star jazz funk orchestra whose soaring horns, sunny guitar stabs and bouncy rhythms are meant to shake you up and get you down. Gone are the doe-eyed romantic platitudes of a charming rascal, as Lawr has instead tapped into his nuanced thoughts on socio-political causes and issues for subject matter. The result is a curiously dark set of songs, which are packaged in ass-shaking, instrumental cases, subtly parcelling out joy and rage in ambitious swoops. Engagingly provocative lyrically and stirring musically, The Thing is Lawr’s uncompromising masterwork.”
Exclaim www.minotaursband.com

Mr. Rick

• Rick hosted The Toronto Blues Society guitar workshop 2005
• Performed over 200 Shows in 2010

Mr. Rick is an old school vocalist & fingerstyle guitarist. Growing up in Michigan, Rick cut his teeth on old 78’s, LP’s and hanging around Folk and Jazz clubs in the 60’s. Rick plays a wide variety of material from the Americana roots song book. For the past 15 years Rick and his trio “Mr. Rick and the Biscuits” have been performing their brand of “Honky tonk Swing” in Toronto and Southwest Ontario. Rick and the Biscuits have recorded 2 Albums and Rick is currently working on a solo album for release in 2011.

Moonshine Cafe – Best of the Open Stage

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

Our goal is to continue to support, encourage and promote artists by providing a venue for the accomplished performer, the beginner and those who are "somewhere in between" to play or showcase their art in a comfortable atmosphere."We work diligently to help build and support the artistic community in the area" LIVE MUSIC EVERY NIGHT!!! in a unique and intimate venue. [email protected]

Mose Scarlett

• Mose Scarlett is a Borealis Records recording artist.

A 40-year veteran of the music business, Borealis recording artist MOSE SCARLETT has a rich bass-baritone voice, an intricate finger-picking guitar style, and a penchant for the ‘good old tunes’. With his entertaining blend of Blues, Jazz, Ragtime, and ‘Tin Pan Alley Treasures’ [1900-1940], he has performed all over Canada and the U.S., and made 26 tours overseas [United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Australia]. Grizzled yet verging on elegance, deadpan yet bordering on hilarity, songster MOSE SCARLETT is truly one of a kind. http://borealisrecords.com/artists/mose-scarlett/

Noah Zacharin

Noah Zacharin was born in Montreal and resides in Toronto. He’s been called “a stunning guitarist” (Holger Petersen, CBC), “a wonderful songwriter and performer” (Paul Mills, Borealis Records), and “a poet, a songwriter, a singer we have been waiting for” (Penny Lang). Minor 7th commented: “like Bruce Cockburn, Ry Cooder, and Bonnie Raitt, Noah Zacharin possesses a virtuoso command of the guitar…world-wise songwriting”. Zacharin has released 6 CD’s of literate, well-crafted songs that know no barrier of genre. His most recent—“Waiting on Your Love”—earned 4 stars from Eye Weekly, has been heard nationally on CBC and Radio-Canada, is “one of the best singer/songwriter CD’s I have ever heard” (Randy Finney, TFGA), and features the best of Toronto’s jazz, pop, and roots players, as well as long-time Tom Waits alum, Ralph Carney. www.noahsong.com www.myspace.com/noahzacharin

Nonie Crete Band

• Recorded 7 CDs

Nonie Crete is a musical and storytelling force to be reckoned with. From heady blues, Irish balladry, to Cajun and French Canadian hues, Nonie seamlessly traverses genre with an execution only matched by her uncanny ability to explore equally diverse lyrical themes. Whether upbeat, sorrowful, poignant or whimsical, Nonie’s songs reach into the landscape of the heart – family, community, memory, discovery, love and loss – woven together by her stunningly beautiful voice. Eugene Rea played with various groups including Crubeen, Atlantic Bridge, The Mourne Ramblers, Dhu Varryn, The Rea Brothers, and Eugene and Andrea Rea, and recorded a number of albums. However it was with Houl Yer Whisht that he achieved his biggest success, with an album “On Boyne’s Red Shore” which made #1 on the Irish charts, and resulted in a gold record. Gary Kreller has played accordion and keyboards professionally for more than 35 years. His main gig has been with the polka/dance band, The Black Forest Band, with which he has travelled throughout North America. He has played with both of North America’s Polka Kings. He has appeared on the bill with virtually every Canadian classic rock act from Kim Mitchell to Loverboy. He has recorded with numerous performers, including major artists such as Quartette, and played on both Juno and Grammy-nominated records. www.nonie.ca

Nashville Songwriters Association of Canada (NSAI Toronto)

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world's largest not-for-profit songwriters organization. The NSAI represents the songwriting community and exists to promote and protect the intellectual property rights of songwriters.www.nsaitoronto.com

Paul Langille

• Winner Jack Richardson Award Singer/Songwriter 2008
• Opened for BB King JLC London Ontario, Solo guitar and vocals
• Winner Ampac Awards for Labatts Blue Commercials 1986

Born in Hamilton, Paul currently makes his home in London, Ontario where he has been one of the city’s most popular entertainers for several years. It is obvious from the minute Paul walks on stage that he truly loves to play. He has developed a unique and awe-inspiring stage presence and emits such energy that his audiences are inevitably caught up in the power of his performance. These are Paul’s strongest attributes…strong voice, instrumental work and songwriting coupled with an honest passion for his music. Have a listen, experience the passion and take it home. www.paullangille.com

Peter Verity

• Winner Best Folk Performer TIMA (Toronto Independent Music Awards)(2005)
• Runner up Folk category NA John Lennon Songwriting Contest (North Ontario)
• Honorable Mention Mountain Stage New Song Contest (Blue As I Can Get)
• Top 20 Finalists Acoustic /Folk Unisong Contest (North Ontario)

Peter Verity is a folk/roots eclectic, poetic, singer songwriter, performs his live show as a multi-instrumentalist – guitar, harmonica and mandolin and singing 30-40 original tunes. He has performed across Canada and the U.S. His latest CD entitled “Sometimes A Journey” .He put out his 1st solo Cd “High Flyer” several years ago and a CD self entitled “DeltaTango” with a 5 piece band in 1995 which was featured on the CBC radio program “Definitely Not The Opera”. “Sometimes A Journey” is receiving air play across Canada and the U.S. as well as Europe and Australia. It was in the top 50 listed on the Folk DJ list when it was released and is continuing to receive air play to date. DJ’s are playing all 11 tunes on the disc! “Sounds Like Canada” featured Peter’s “The Ballad of Rachel Davis” . Peter has appeared on numerous radio shows and Breakfast TV across Canada. He has been a member of the Songwriters Association of Canada for several years. Both his live performances and his songwriting has been recognised.He was awarded Best Folk Artist at TIMA (Toronto Independent Music Awards) and many songwriting awards runner up (folk) in John Lennon Songwriting Contest with “North Ontario” and many kudos to “Blue As I Can Get” from CD “Sometimes A Journey” www.peterverity.com

Peter Wildman

• Founding member of the comedy troupe ”The Frantics”

The Frantics take full responsibility for numerous tours across Canada, several Theatre productions, a radio series on CBC, a short lived TV series, three appearances at Juste Pour Rire in Montreal and trips to the Comedy Store in LA. Throughout it all, Peter dragged along his guitar. Comedy songs had become part of the Frantic’s comedy arsenal and Peter was identified as the musical one.

Peter has appeared on such TV shows as Puppets Who Kill and Little Mosque on the Prairie. He has written for a variety of TV show including four seasons of the New Red Green Show. www.peterwildman.com

Porkbelly Futures

• Porkbelly Futures give ” Concert of the Year” at London Music Club.- James Reaney-London Free Press
• Porkbelly Futures in the top 20 for 26 weeks in The American Roots-Blues charts.
• Porkbelly Futres recently released their 3rd CD The Crooked Road and have just returned from a 3 !/2 week western tour in support of the album to rave reviews.

It would be easy to call Porkbelly Futures a roots-rock band, seeing as how the five-piece band draws from rock’s deep well of folk, blues and country music. But the Porkbellys defy simple categorization. There’s nothing straightforward about a band that sings about subjects as varied as heartbreak, hotels, fishing, trains, wrestling heroes and literary icons, or one whose members come from a variety of diverse backgrounds. This is a group with as much intelligence and wit as soulfulness and fun.
The Porkbellys are an engaging live act, with strong original material, exceptional musicianship (including an award-winning blues guitarist and two highly esteemed classical players) and a natural on-stage chemistry that comes from years of touring across Canada together, playing countless bars and summer festivals. The Porkbellys possess an enviable versatility, with two lead vocalists and several multi-instrumentalists in the group. It’s a powerful package that connects with audiences wherever they play. www.porkbellys.com ww.facebook.com/porkbellys

Rosemary Phelan with Jason LePrade

• 2010 CIUT Golden Quill Award for Songwriting
• Canadian Finalist 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest
• ”what sings in the blood” listed in Folk Alley’s Top DJ Picks of 2010

The grace and losses encountered during a tumultuous, nomadic childhood, time spent eking out a hard-won living in the bush, and her years as a community nurse in the urban core live in Rosemary’s songs… she sincerely hopes the goodness she unearthed at the root of it all cp an be found there, too. ”There is something in Rosemary Phelan’s voice and songs that moves me to tears each time I hear her; even the happy songs. Her voice and words go straight to my heart, and my response to her work is involuntary – I simply surrender.” Ian Tamblyn … ”… an incisive lyricist… songs that deserve a close listen.” David Francey”… the performances cut to the bone…” Bill Garrett, Borealls Records”…a lovely voice, full of feeling… more powerful for being devoid of affectation. ” Guelph Mercury www.rosemaryphelan.com www.facebook.com/rosemary

Sue and Dwight

Sue and Dwight are a folk roots duo, originally from Winnipeg and now living in Toronto. Their songwriting is strongly influenced by their journey from the prairies to the big city and more recently, travel in East Africa. Lyrics are honest and insightful with themes of peace, courage, and social justice. Without pretension, they share their songs and stories while creating a warm, relaxed atmosphere at their live shows. Rich harmonies are front and centre in their musical arrangements, supported by laid-back guitars, piano, and accordion. www.sueanddwight.com

Saturday Saints

Danny Simmons (banjo, vocals) and Kristin Cavoukian (guitar, vocals) met deep in the heart of Parkdale, in Toronto’s west end, and have spent the last few years playing music together, along with some of the incredibly talented musicians they both know. On stage or around a campfire, The Saturday Saints revisit traditional, old time, bluegrass, and other acoustic songs, with a focus on strong duet singing and simple arrangements. They recently recorded their first album, Hand-Me-Downs, a collection of traditional songs that captures the energy of their live performance. Sam Petite regularly joins The Saturday Saints on upright bass. www.myspace.com/saturdaysaintsmusic

Seneca College Independent Music Program

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

The Independent Musician Program at Seneca College offers a unique educational opportunity to a select group of “Indie” musicians. The strong, hands-on curriculum, taught by some of Canada’s top music professionals, provides the students with the technical, musical and business skills to produce and market their own unique vision, to become the next great generation of Canadian musicians. “Indie” is not a genre: it is an approach, a way of life, a DIY mindset. IMP students represent a variety of backgrounds, interests and styles of music, united by a common goal: to realize the dream of making a living doing what they love. http://sca.senecac.on.ca/prospective/programs/overview/programCode/IMP

Shawn Brush

Shawn is one of the finest performers of bluegrass, folk, and country music you will ever have the good fortune to hear. A superb solo artist who writes songs full of passion and truth. There's a sincere, bittersweet quality to his voice that reaches the listener deep within. His talent on the guitar astounds all from casual fans to seasoned musicians. He possesses a rare vision and has meticulously crafted his skills. You can't help but be moved by the presence, depth and remarkable talent of his music, either live or in his recordings. The music, the words and the man are real. Shawn Brush is one of those rare musicians who’s able to combine highly technical musicianship with memorable and impactful songwriting. He’s won two Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards and has worked alongside Fred J. Eaglesmith, Natalie MacMaster, Ray Materick and Sherry Kean to name a few. Shawn’s music is passionate, heartfelt and has a unique ability to touch pretty much anyone listening. www.shawnbrush.com

The Blackwood Two

Getting their start busking old time tunes on the streets of Victoria BC, The Blackwood Two has since then evolved into a unique and well received folk duo, masterfully combining fiddle, banjo, and guitar with a unique blend of powerful vocals, smoothly interweaving male and female voices in tight harmony. Their captivating, simple, and accessible acoustic roots sound is quickly making a name for itself in the folk community, appealing to all generations and leaving audience members excited for more.

Sillken

• 20th LA Music Award Nominee
• 16th Billboard World Song Contest Honorable Mention 2009
• Showcase at Vancouver Island Music Conference 2009
• Featured at the David Suzuki Earth Run 2009
• Emmy nomination 2008; Leo Award 2008

MICHELE SCHMIDT, native to Southern Ontario, has lived in Texas, Baltimore and Toronto performing in diverse folk venues throughout North America. Michele embarked on a solo career, focusing solely on her own songs and making the rounds of folk clubs primarily in Toronto, Ontario. During that time, she became well known in venues such as the Renaissance Cafe, Freetimes Cafe, Holy Joes and the Tranzac Club. Most recently she made the move to Vancouver, BC, where she performs in a duo with Ken. Her duo is called Sillken, which is quickly becoming popular at folk venues around Vancouver. KEN CADE, studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as a teen and then studied with Terry Hallowick, Violinist in the Toronto Symphony who helped prepare him for successful auditions for the Chicago Civic Orchestra (Training Orchestra for the Chicago Symphony) and DePaul University (Chicago). After his university years he began work in the film business winning numerous Bessie awards for his commercial work. Ken has been the sound editor/designer for many successful TV series and feature films and nominated for numerous awards including an Emmy in 2008 and awarded a Golden Reel and Leo

Songtown – The Danforth Sound

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

SongTown is a record label and promotion component which discovers, encourages and promotes songwriters from one area of the country into another through a SongTown CD release series,promotional support, concerts and performance opportunities.SongTown-The Danforth Sound Volume 2 is the second in the planned cross-country series.Some of the talent will be featured at Winterfolk this year www.peteotismusic.com

Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC)

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

The S.A.C. exists to nurture, develop and protect the creative, business, and legal environments of songwriters in Canada and around the world. We do this to promote universal recognition of the inspirational, societal and economic values of music & song. www.songwriters.ca

Songwriters Unite

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

Produced and hosted by Russell Leon Songwriters Unite promotes emerging and professional musicians by encouraging songwriters to create and perform original music and lyrics. We want our musicians to gain exposure, meet new musicians, entertain, and unite a community of hard working, talented artists. We encourage artists, producers, promoters and venues to contact Songwriters Unite! and use it as the valuable resource that it is. www.songwritersunite.com

SPEAK Music Presents

• Winterfolk Program of Building Communities Through Participation

SPEAK Music is a Canadian publicity and promotions company, based in Toronto, Ontario. We specialize in genres from folk to alternative, world music to country, blues to pop, and everything in between. With a focus on artist development, SPEAK Music has been providing encouragement and professional support to performing musicians, independent record labels, distributors, festivals, not-for-profit organizations and music charities since March, 2003. www.speak-music.com

Steve Payne

• '' Calm yet impassioned vocals marry to distinctive melodies and exemplary guitar-playing across a variety of themes. He wins his fans one at a time but, at this rate, he'll certainly never lose them. ''

Steve Payne: Songwriter / vocalist / producer / arranger has been variously described as "one of the UK's finest guitarists" and "one of rock's fallen ( but resurrected ) angels". After many years experience in the music business both in the UK and abroad Steve P is still recording and touring extensively.

His live performances in particular, both solo and with his newly reformed band 'Candy Run", have been described as ''the show to go to ' not to be missed ''. www.steve-payne.net

Steve Paul Simms and John Jackson

John is an ex Perth County Conspirator and the current lead guitarist for the re-formed Kensington Market, has released 3 cds and wrote the music for the long running documentary series Great Canadian Parks Steve Paul is a singer songwriter, actor and raconteur with 2 cds to his credit. www.johnjackson.ca www.stevepaulsimms.com

Tannis Slimmon

• Tannis won the 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards Contemporary Vocalist of the Year at the awards ceremony in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
• Lucky Blue’s first cut ”Ernest, Charlie & Allan” won an Independent Music Award for best song. The album was also listed as a finalist for best album in the Folk/Singer-songwriter category.
• Lucky Blue was selected as one of the top 10 ’Critics’ Albums of the Year’ for 2007 by Canadian Folk and World Music magazine Penguin Eggs.

Tannis Slimmon has been performing, songwriting and recording for over 30 years. Her exceptional voice “full of gentle grace and unobtrusive dignity” is considered to be a Canadian “musical treasure”. Her solo career began in 2001 with the release of “Oak Lake”, an album heavily influenced by her early years in rural Manitoba. Highly regarded for her compelling live performances, enchanting melodies, and strong lyrics, in 2008 she was honoured with the Contemporary Vocalist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards for “Lucky Blue”, her second album. You can find Tannis’ name on over 75 albums, contributing songs or singing harmonies for some of Canada’s finest songwriters (Willie P. Bennett, James Gordon, Gwen Swick). Recognized as one of the best roots music singers in the country, she is ”a breathtaking vocalist with a bright and angelic disposition” (Exclaim, 2007). www.tannis.ca

The Blackest Crow

The Blackest Crow is Hannah Naiman on voice, banjo, and guitar; and Emily Adam on voice and cello. Their music comes from the heart. Simple arrangements with complex harmonies, their sound is the pure and sweet echo of Appalachia. Original and traditional songs by The Blackest Crow will captivate you. Close-harmony duo Emily Adam and Hannah Naiman sing original ballads and re-arranged traditional heartbreakers, often featuring banjo and cello. http://www.myspace.com/blackestcrow http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Blackest-Crow/116194531751885

The Blackwood Two

• Old-time street-folk!

Getting their start busking old time tunes on the streets of Victoria BC, The Blackwood Two has since then evolved into a unique and well received folk duo, masterfully combining fiddle, banjo, and guitar with a unique blend of powerful vocals, smoothly interweaving male and female voices in tight harmony. Their captivating, simple, and accessible acoustic roots sound is quickly making a name for itself in the folk community, appealing to all generations and leaving audience members excited for more.

www.theblackwoodtwo.com Facebook

The Donefors

• The DoneFors released their first full-length album — How to have sex with Canadians — in early 2009 to great critical acclaim. Produced by The DoneFors, and mastered by João Carvalho, the album is a landmark of a project displaying timeless virtuosity.
• Notable past performances include Northern Lights Festival/09, Cabbagetown Street Festival/09, Open Door Music Festival/07, OCFF Official Showcase/06, Junction Arts Festival/06, Plan B Harvest Festival/06, and successful residencies in 2009 at Toronto’s Cameron House and Not My Dog.

Toronto-based band The DoneFors embody a contemporary pop and progressive folk sound they’ve coined Canadiana Vanguard — a musical expression that spans genres, stretches boundaries, and stays rooted in an instrument’s organic sound.In the late hours of 2006, four accomplished Canadian musicians came together to form what many fans & colleagues have dubbed their “new favourite band”. The DoneFors comprise singer-songwriter Janine Stoll (The Ladybird Sideshow), electric guitar player/songwriter Paul MacDougall, electric bass player/songwriter Liam Smith (both of Juno nominated Mr. Something Something), and drummer/producer/engineer Brian Lahaie (Angie Nussey, SuperStack). www.thedonefors.com

The Horables

The Horables are a trio of musicians who play tradional Klezmer music , a little jazz and the occasional polka. The Horables is a three headed six armed monster with a fiddle, an accordion and a mandolin. Rachel Shenin(violin) Rachel Melas (accordion) and Conny Nowe (mandolin) want to share their love for archaic music with anyone within earshot. www.myspace.com/thehorables

The Gary Kendall Band

• Multiple Maple Blues Awards and nominations Blues With A Feeling Award
• The Gary Kendall Band has released independent recordings on their own 47 Records label. Full length CD`s,Dusty & Pearl (2004), Feels Real Strong (2008). Download singles This Sacred Ground (2010), Sumlin Around (2011)
• Gary Kendall is a current and longtime member of the legendary Downchild Blues Band

The Gary Kendall Band, fresh, impassioned and inspired, a unique approach to the blues, honoring the the tradition of the art form.

The Guitar Boys of Alderon

• They took up space in school – and now they are cadets!

When superbly talented guitar players get together one of two things usually happens –they either fall all over the place tripping each other up as each attempts to assert themselves or they blend like a well-prepared cocktail, sounding for all the world as if they’ve performed together all their lives. Fortunately the latter outcome is what ensues when Roots/Folk/Country picking icons Brian Gladstone, Noah Zacharin and Rick Zolkower combine to perform as the new “power-Roots” trio The Guitar Boys Of Alderon. The trio each brings to the combo musical sensibilities that have superior guitarsmanship in common but feature slight differences of style that somehow mesh beautifully together to create a whole far different from the parts —not unlike the way in which Jackie Washington, Ken Whiteley and Mose Scarlett form a unique trio when they combine their talents. Brian Gladstone, regarded as one of the leading TO practitioners of Rootsy fingerstyle picking, Noah Zacharin, whose captivating waterfalls of beautiful Folk fingering are well known, and Rick Zolkower of the Alt Country band Mr. Rick & The Biscuits, each bring distinctive talents and flavours to a mix that blends as smoothly as a well-prepared cocktail.

The GCDC Gang

If music could be scruffy, it would be GCDC. This enthusiastic and highly entertaining group of musical mongrels leave a lasting impression with every show. Each guitarist/banjo/mandolin/bass playing member not only wields multiple instruments with ease, but each has earned their own reputation as a bone-a-fide singer-songwriter. These are the men that make GCDC….Ricky Joe, K-Mack, Ronnie J, Craw Ditty and Dave. http://www.gcdc.ca/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/GCDC/28436289095

The Warped 45s

”Winners of the 2009 Rogers Fan Choice Award at North By North East”

First cousins Ryan Wayne McEathron and Dave McEathron grew up together in small town Ontario and in 2007 formed their first band together – The Warped 45s. The new five piece roots rock / alt country band quickly developed a layered but warmly accessible sound, with multiple voices, harmonies, and diverse instrumentation. In June 2009, the band won the NXNE Roger’s Fan Choice award, toured the east coast of Canada, and signed with indie label Pheromone Recordings for a September 1 release of the new album titled 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan, distributed in Canada by Fontana North. Fall 2009, while the record climbed the college charts and enjoyed play on CBC Radio One, Two and Three and other stations, the band flexed their touring muscles further. After playing extensively in Ontario, with bands like Elliott Brood and Drive By Truckers, The Warped 45s drove west for the first time; 20 shows in 22 days! They had a blast, and came home to find 10 Day poem made a num ber of year end lists, including Exclaimʼs top 10 records list. The Warped 45s continue to build momentum through 2010. They got their first magazine cover (View Mag) in January and earned more rave reviews from prestigious music magazines like Americana UK. The “Radio Sky” video was picked up in February by CMTʼs Wide Open Country and songs like “Why oh Why” and “”Radio Sky” are in rotation on radio stations across the country and beyond. “Radio Sky” has also been featured on Stuart Mcleanʼs Vinyl Café. Spring and summer saw The Warped 45s back on the both coasts, and playing great summer festivals including the Hillside Music Festival. The band played an official showcase at OCFF in October, then hit the road for one last big tour before settling into the studio to record their next album over the next few months. www.thewarped45s.com Facebook

Tony Quarrington

• Won a Solo Roots Juno in 1998 for producing Willie P. Bennett’s HEARTSTRINGS, which he appeared on playing many different instruments- he also wrote the title song of this iconic recording.
• This veteran guitarist and songwriter has been a house guitarist for many of the past Winterfolks, playing with musical friends like Joe Hall, Brian Gladstone, Mose Scarlett, James Gordon, Marg Stowe, Cris Cuddy, Howard Gladstone, and Beth Anne Cole.
• Though still much in demand as a sideman in the folk and jazz fields, Tony has been appearing more lately as a solo act, featuring interesting original tunes and blues-tinged vocals.

Guitarist/ songwriter TONY QUARRINGTON is a 40 year+ veteran of the folk and jazz scenes. Playing on hundreds of recordings over the years, he won a Juno in 1998 in the Solo Roots category for producing Willie P. Bennett’s seminal HEARTSTRINGS. He also won the first Cec McEachern Award (the Golden Porcupine for a utility sideman). His most current recordings are a duo album with Order of Canada bassist/pianist Don Thompson, and a jazz album of Hank Williams tunes with Jeff Bird of Cowboy Junkies. www.tonyquarrington.com

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Canadians boast of our winter heartiness, our perseverance through sleet and slush, teeth bared and shovels brandished. We’re proud of how we brave the elements and celebrate the snowy season with outdoor sports and activities.

But there’s another side to the winter experience that we do so well—we know how to build the most warm, welcoming spaces to come home to. We excel at creating comfort and coziness. We are experts at mid-winter interior design, with cottages and chalets, hot drinks and thick socks, unafraid of snuggling in close to each other.

It’s this sense of huddling together, of coming in from the cold to brightness and cheer, that establishes the Winterfolk Blues & Roots Festival.

The festival, now in its ninth year, ran February 18 – 21, filling rooms along the Danforth in Toronto with music and merriment. The event takes the folk festival construct, sticks it in the middle of February and brings it indoors in the middle of the city.

It’s a welcome opportunity for performers to play multiple stages over the course of a weekend at a time when such bookings are slow. The festival generates business for local bars and restaurants when there would usually be less walk up traffic. Unlike many summer festivals that take place at secluded campsites and country farms, the strip of venues in Greektown is easily accessible by public transit, encouraging locals to head east of the Don Valley.

The seven stages range from restaurants to sports bars to pubs to martini lounges. Most do not regularly present live music. While this poses some challenges in terms of live sound quality and good sightlines, the performers are adaptable and resilient, capturing audiences where the setting might not be entirely ideal. With music running from early afternoon until late night, there’s a noticeable shift in the crowd during different timeslots. The daytime audience is more sparse and attentive, while the nighttime revelers can get loud and rowdy. This may suit a rollicking party band, but is less favourable for the quiet singer-songwriter types, which make up much of Winterfolk’s programming. However, there is something enchanting about claiming a space and filling it with song, when the music overtakes a bar crowd and has them joining in on the sing-along chorus.

The festival is a gathering spot for the neighbourhood, the audience, and the performers, comfortably housed away from the wind and the weather, with central heat and indoor plumbing. Outdoor festivals invite sprawling blankets and quiet downtime to laze about under the sky, while the multiple indoor venue format of Winterfolk makes for some awkward seating situations, and the practice of catching several stages over a short time period isn’t as conducive to settling down with dinner and a drink.

Largely a showcase of talented local acts, the festival represents the Toronto folk scene well and many of the performers already know each other. Winterfolk is an opportunity for reunions and collaborations with old friends who might not get to see each other very often, with their touring commitments and gigs. It’s a chance for folks to network, catch up, and play on each others’ tunes. Several stages are structured as workshops, resulting in some very magical interactions between acts.

The programming is, however, uneven at times and could offer more variety year to year, especially when drawing from the local talent pool.

Tony Quarrington, James Gordon, and David Hein
In the end, Winterfolk is packed with four days of music and it’s completely free. The festival is supported by numerous sponsors and funders, donations from the audience, and the commendable work of dedicated volunteers. The Family Day programming is kid-friendly and community collectives like the Moonshine Café open stage and the Corktown Ukulele Jam get their showcase spotlights. In recent years, Winterfolk has also held auditions in nearby towns such as Stouffville and Peterborough to seek out new talent. There is a true sense of community and kindliness throughout.

As James Gordon said, when introducing a most beautiful and heartbreaking song about a refrigerator: “The neighbourhood just felt more alive”.

Tagged as: corktown ukulele jame, danforth, david hein, eve goldberg, folk, folk festival, james gordon, lewis melville, michael jerome brown, Moonshine Cafe, tannis slimmon, tony quarrington, winterfolk

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WINTERFOLK: It has certainly been a miserable winter to date, but Toronto folk and roots music fans will be warmed by the return of this popular and mostly free festival. Now in its ninth year, it runs from Feb. 18 to 20, and is held in six venues all in close proximity in the Danforth and Broadview area (Black Swan Tavern, Mambo Lounge, Eastminster United Church, Danforth Café, Dora Keogh, and Terry O’s Sports Bar. It’s a real talent-heavy list of performers this year, and those artists we can heartily recommend include BROCK ZEMAN, LAURA FERNANDEZ, DAVID ESSIG, TONY QUARRINGTON, BETH ANN COLE, HOTCHA!, DAVID CELIA AND JOAN BESEN, FREEMAN DRE AND THE KITCHEN PARTY, NOAH ZACHARIN, JAMES GORDON, ace blues guitarist JIMMY BOWSKILL, THE WARPED 45s, JACK MARKS, ROSEMARY PHELAN, THE MINOTAURS, BIG RUDE JAKE, JACK MARKS, MOSE SCARLETT, and ERIN HILL. A visiting artist from Montreal we’ve heard good things about is singer/songwriter JON DAVIS, who has drawn JAMES TAYLOR comparisons. For a full lineup, go to www.winterfolk.ca

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w/ Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party, Minotaurs, Jack Marks and more

Various venues, tonight (Thursday, February 17) to Monday (February 21)

Entering its ninth year, the folk, roots and blues festival takes over the Danforth February 17 to 21, with 150 artists playing at six local venues. All of the gigs are free except for Saturday night’s talent-stacked bash at Eastminster United Church (310 Danforth), where you can catch the Warped 45s (pictured), the Minotaurs, Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party and many more for $15, or $12 in advance. winterfolk.com.

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The ninth annual Winterfolk music festival on tap throughout this Family Day holiday weekend will feature more than 150 musicians on seven stages in six venues, on the west Danforth between Broadview and Chester subway stations.

It kicks off early evening this Friday, Feb. 18 and runs right through until early evening Monday, Feb. 21.

Venues include the Black Swan Tavern (two stages), Mambo Lounge, Dora Keogh, Terri O's Sports Bar, Danforth Baptist Church (except Sunday) and Eastminster United Church (Saturday night only).

The information is available on the Winterfolk website.

Admission is mostly free – there's only one special presentation requiring admission ($15 at the door) on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.) at Eastminster Church. Titled Big Bands for your Buck, it features Jack Marks&The Lost Wages; The Warped 45s; Freeman Dre&the Kitchen Party; and The Minotaurs.

The festival is the brainchild of Toronto's Brian Gladstone, himself a noted roots/folk player who, besides still heading up the ever-growing, all-volunteer festival, also plays in the festival.

His idea was to bring a roots festival, normally set in a rural area in the summer, to the heart of the city in the middle of winter. Not only would it allow Toronto residents a chance to take in a huge roots festival literally seconds from the subway, but is also convenient for the top players in Toronto and throughout the province and country who are less busy this time of year.

Local roots music fans will be familiar with numerous artists and bands such as the Porkbelly Futures, which have carried on after the death of their leader Paul Quarrington, the Gary Kendall Band, Hotcha, Joanne Crabtree, the DoneFors and Tony Quarrington, just to name a few.

For those not so familiar, think variety. The roots umbrella is about as wide as you can get, flavoured by folk, jazz, blues, pop and country.

One highlight is An Evening With Borealis Records with some of the label's finest, including Eve Goldberg, James Gordon, Melwood Cutlery (with Dan Whiteley), Michael Jerome Browne and the legendary Mose Scarlett.

In keeping with the spirit of a typical roots festival, Winterfolk also provides some creative on-stage workshops led by the musicians. A few examples include the art of improvisation; blues songwriting; women with words; Irish song circle; and writing music for theatre.

It also shines the spotlight on the local music scene, promoting both well established musical institutions as well as up-and-coming musicians, through such presentations as:

* Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar with host Dunstan Morey, presenting artists from its bi-weekly open stage at Ten Feet Tall on the Danforth;

* Seneca College independent music program with host and instructor John Switzer;

* Ukulele Speakeasy with host Bob Cutler and members of the Corktown Ukulele Jam;

* Stouffville Artists Showcase with host Jim Priebe;

* and Best of Ten Feet Tall Open Stage with host Gary 17.

Visit the Winterfolk website at https://abetterworld.ca (click on winterfolk).

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By: Marie-Lynn Hammond

Four musicians from the region will be showcased at Winterfolk, the roots/folk/blues fest in downtown TO, on Sunday, 20 February, at 1 p.m. at the Black Swan pub, 154 Danforth. Details here. It’s a FREE, not-for-profit festival, happening all week long in various venues on the Danforth, though donations are certainly welcome to help pay the musicians.

The Performers

And yes, I’m one of the four performers showcasing, so as a typically modest, self-effacing Canadian (other than Don Cherry, that is), I sincerely apologize for what may seem like shameless self-promotion, something we really just don’t approve of, do we?!

So forget about me (though I should mention I’ll be accompanied by D’Arcy Wickham, a great singer and guitarist; and we do sound great together, and I’ll be doing five original songs) and just consider the other three: terrific guitarist Erwin Shack from Stouffville, singer-songwriter-instrumentalist Glenn Marais from Newmarket and composer/fingerstyle-guitar-champion Ewan Dobson from Markham. And we have music-aficionado Jim Priebe of Stouffville, who’ll be hosting the showcase, to thank for making this happen.

Lots More Great Music

We’ll each play for about 25 minutes each – but there’s lots more music happening after us at five other venues, and it goes on till late at night. A real musical feast, ranging from blues to gospel to original songs to fingerstyle guitar and more, featuring Canadian notables such as James Gordon, Michael Jerome Brown, Eve Goldberg, Mose Scarlett, and many others.

So, all you York-Region music lovers, jump on the GO bus and head to the Danforth this Sunday for a free day/evening of great music. Get there for 1 p.m. and support your local representatives – let’s show those Torontonians that there is indeed life and culture in the 905!

Take a peek at the great acts from last year’s Winterfolk:

Marie-Lynn Hammond is a co-founder of Stringband, a seminal Canadian folk group, and a critically acclaimed songwriter living in York Region. In past lives she’s written plays and magazine articles and hosted national CBC radio shows. In between working on two new CDs, she freelances as an editor of both fiction and nonfiction. www.marielynnhammond.com

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– COMMUNITY SHOWCASES ABOUNDING AT BLUES AND ROOTS FESTIVAL FEB 18-21

– TICKETS ON SALE NOW – EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT TILL FEB 10!!

WHAT: WINTERFOLK IX BLUES AND ROOTS FESTIVAL An all-ages indoor music festival w/150 artists at six venues on seven stages over four days

WHEN: FEBRUARY 18-21

WHERE: See below

TICKETS: IT'S FREE! (with the exception of one ticketed stage – BIG BANDS FOR YOUR BUCK” w/ Jack Marks & The Lost Wages, The Warped 45s, Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party, The Minotaurs) SATURDAY, FEB. 19 which is $12 adv / $15 @ the door. Doors open 7:00 pm / 7:30 pm start Book online and get early bird $10 price till February 10

WEBSITE: www.winterfolk.com

TORONTO –- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011 -– The NINTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL is proud to announce the addition of veteran musician DAVID ESSIG to the lineup, along with the many community stages that will round out a great weekend of music. Presenters such as the SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA, SENECA COLLEGE, THE MOONSHINE CAFÉ and ARTSCAN CIRCLE will showcase some of Canada's finest established artists, as well as exciting new talent, as part of the WINTERFOLK PROGRAM OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES THROUGH PARTICIPATION.

Tickets are on sale now for the special Saturday, Feb 19th event at Eastminster Church, and the EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT is on until FEB 10th ONLY!

For more information on tickets, artists, venues and schedules please visit www.winterfolk.com    

Longtime Canadian folk hero DAVID ESSIG will be joining the cast of more than 150 artists and showcase performers this year at Winterfolk IX. Equally renowned as an instrumentalist and traditional performer, David is a master of the blues and slide guitar and has been considered one of Canada's finest interpreters of original, contemporary folk music since he first broke onto the music scene at the Mariposa Folk Festival more than 30 years ago. From traditional to bluegrass, folk to country blues, Essig is a thoughtful and intelligent songwriter, with Canadian folk standards like "Albert's Cove” and "High Ground"”to his credit.  

Other highlights of the festival include U.S. artist ERIN HILL AND HER PSYCHEDELIC HARP, plus a bevy of accomplished artists on the Borealis Records label. The former is a harpist, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor and sci-fi geek who's been seen as the "Pretty White Girl"” on Comedy Central's "Chappelle's Show,"”and has played with Kanye West, Enya, Cyndi Lauper, moby, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson. The "An Evening With Borealis Records"”showcase will present some of the label's finest, including EVE GOLDBERG, JAMES GORDON, MELWOOD CUTLERY w/ DAN WHITELEY,  MICHAEL JEROME BROWNE and THE LEGENDARY MOSE SCARLETT.  

WINTERFOLK PROGRAM OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES THROUGH PARTICIPATION: Key to the Winterfolk Festival each year is the impact and focus on community involvement. Winterfolk was originally formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. The community spirit is enhanced and enriched through the collaborative efforts of organizations and open stage hosts presenting various performances and workshops throughout the weekend, including the much-loved ukulele speakeasy which returns again for more uke fun.  

FESTIVAL COMMUNITY STAGES: (For complete info visit www.winterfolk.com )  

NSAI PRESENTS BEST OF NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION:

Host Dan McVeigh with Debra Alexander, John Di Battista and Dean Stacey  

Host Shaun Devlin with Barbara Lynn Doran, Chase Stevens and David Lavkulik  

TORONTO FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: Host Dunstan Morey opens then presents guests Jo-Anne Park, Ron Bloor, Des McCann, Steve Shorter, Randy Finney. Pickers wanted –  drop by and sign up for last half hour.   

SPEAK MUSIC PRESENTS: Bev Kreller hosts, with guests Josh Wilkinson, The McDales, Abigail Lapell, William & Polly, Bram Cherun, Grainne Ryan, The Wanted  

SAC (SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA) PRESENTS: Award-winning songwriters play and talk about their tunes -– David Leask, Jory Nash, D`Arcy Wickham, Melwood Cutlery  

SENECA COLLEGE INDEPENDENT MUSIC PROGRAM: Host and instructor  John Switzer presents Justice R.F., Nika Smith, Andrew Hyatt, Emma Sunstrum, Erin Bolton, Bram Cherun, Joey O'Neil & more.  

BEST OF ACOUSTIC AFTERNOONS OPEN STAGE: Dan MacLean Jr. Opens, with Katie Regan, Mark Denington, Steven Morrison, Carlin Belof, Trevor Jones, Tyler Ellis  

BEST OF TEN FEET TALL OPEN STAGE: Host Gary 17 presents Roger Zuraw, Chris Casserly, Steve Raiken, John Layton, Steve Morrison, Trevor Jones, Peter Solmes, Paul Cross, Murray Powell

STOUFFVILLE ARTISTS SHOWCASE: Host Jim Priebe presents  Marie-Lynn Hammond with D`Arcy Wickham,  Erwin Shack, Glen Marias, Ewan Dobson

MOONSHINE CAFE PRESENTS: Best of the open stage at the popular Oakville Café with host John Marlett

ARTS CAN CIRCLE: Host Carol Teal opens then presents  HOTCHA!, Noah Zacharin, Joanne Crabtree, Jason LaPrade & Rosemary Phelan

THE DANFORTH SOUND: Pete Otis hosts with guests Peter Verity, Pat Little, Chris Casserly, Herb Dale, Jace, John Romas, Dellukka, Paul Cross

UKULELE SPEAKEASY: Hosted by Bob Cutler with members of the Corktown Ukulele Jam including Sue Cutler, Michael Griffin, Heather Katz, Tony Burns, Eve Goldberg, Debbie Fleming, David Olsen, Pete LeBlanc, Frank Paldino & more.

VENUES:

Black Swan Tavern -– 2 Stages 154 Danforth Ave, Toronto,  -– (416) 469-0537 Mambo Lounge -– 120 Danforth Ave, Toronto,  -– (416) 778-7004 Eastminster United Church -– 310 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario Danforth Café (Danforth Baptist Church)-–60 Bowden Street, Toronto Dora Keogh – 141 Danforth Ave Toronto,  – (416) 778-1804 Terry O's Sports Bar – 185 Danforth Ave, Toronto  – (416) 462-0038

ARTIST LINEUP: (For complete bios & websites please visit www.winterfolk.com

Aaron McGill * Dan Shantz (Miliitis Rue) * Andrew Queen * Beth Anne Cole (with Tony Quarrington) * Best of Ten Feet Tall Acoustic Open Stage * Betty Supple * Big Rude Jake * Brian Gladstone * Brock Zeman * Caroll Teal & David Joyce * Dan MacLean Jr. *  Dan McVeigh * Danny Marks * D'Arcy Wickham * David Celia & Joan Besen * David Essig * David Hein * David Leask * David Lum * David Nigel Lloyd * Erin Hill and Her Psychedelic Harp * Eve Goldberg

* Fingerstyle Guitar of Toronto * Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party * Gary Kendall Band * GCDC * Glen Hornblast * HOTCHA! * Howard Gladstone * Jack Marks & the Lost Wages * James Gordon * Jimmy Bowskill * Joanne Crabtree & Margaret Stowe * John DiBatista * Jon Davis * Jory Nash * Ken Yoshioka * Kristin Sweetland * Laura Fernandez * Louise Ford * Margaret Stowe * Matthew DeZoete * Melwood Cutlery & Dan Whiteley * Michael Brennan * Michael Jerome Browne * Mike Masse * Mikel Miller * Mose Scarlett * Mr. Rick * Noah Zacharin * Nonie Crete * Paul Langille * Pete Otis * Peter Verity * Peter Wildman * Porkbelly Futures *Rosemary Phelan w/ Jason LaPrade * Saturday Saints * Shawn Brush * Steve Paul Simms & John Jackson * Steve Payne * Sue & Dwight * Tannis Slimmon * The Blackest Crow * The Blackwood Two * The Donefors * The Horables * The Minotaurs * The Warped 45s * Tony Quarrington

-30-

For more information, photos, mps, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller

SPEAK Music

www.speak-music.com

[email protected]

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Winter is when much of the world hibernates, but Canadians are Winterfolk at heart.

So it's only natural that Toronto is hosting its annual Winterfolk Festival for the ninth consecutive year.From February 18th to 21st, 150 artists will scatter along Danforth hot-spots for the ultimate indoor "urban blues and roots festival."

All ages are welcome to rock out to artists such as James Gordon, Mose Scarlett, Jory Nash, Joanne Crabtree and Tannnis Slimmon.

The weekend heats up in a massive "Big Bands For Your Buck" blowout on Saturday February 19th, when Jack Marks and the Lost Wages, The Warped 45S, Freeman Dre & the Kitchen Party and the Minotaurs take over — complete with horn sections.

Winterfolk is an all-ages festival hosted by a not-for-profit Association called Artists for a Better World. All performances are free, except "Big Bands For Your Buck," which costs $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Book online at winterfolk.com for an early bird $10 price.

Visit abetterworld.ca for a complete list of artists and venues.

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Written by Ori Dagan

AS THE WINTER WEEKS DWINDLE down to a precious few, here are some good excuses to head straight to the clubs:

Who knew Toronto was such a hotbed of folk, roots and blues talent? Meet The Association of Artists for a Better World, organizers of Winterfolk.This entirely volunteer-run, all-ages festival is now in its 9th season of emulating multi-stage rural summer festivals, right here in the city. The 2011 edition will showcase 150 artists over four days (February 18-21) at six venues in the Broadview and Danforth vicinity. Ranging from sports bar to church, the venues this year are: Black Swan Tavern, Mambo Lounge, Eastminster United Church, Danforth Café, Dora Keogh and Terry O’s Sports Bar. All shows will be free of charge with the exception of Saturday night’s “Brass Roots: Big Bands for Your Buck” at Eastminster United Church, a quadruple bill of multi-genre big bands for only $15 ($12adv).

Jazzers will notice guitarist Tony Quarrington’s name all over the performance schedule – he is well-known in the folk scene as both a performer and songwriter. Popular blues acts also appear on the bill, including Gary Kendall of the Downchild Blues Band fame, charismatic Danny Marks and breathtaking multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Bowskill; other promising billings include veteran jazzman Big Rude Jake, Latin chanteuse Laura Fernandez and acclaimed singer-songwriter Noah Zacharin.

Budding musicians should take advantage of the free workshops offered, which cover everything from blues songwriting and improvisation to songs of social justice and fingerstyle guitar.

The fourth and final Family Day is highlighted by two sets with Beth Anne Cole, familiar to many from her 22 years on Mr. Dressup and Sesame Street. The Winterfolk venues can all be found in our “In The Clubs” listings.

To find out more details about this exciting festival, visit

www.winterfolk.com.

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A Better World Songs of Canada Album made Top 30 Charts in B.C.! WOW! We really made our way across the nation! Great hits played by CFBX 92.5 FM, 350 Watts in Kamloops, B.C.!  http://www.thex.ca/ Right on!

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Winterfolk IX Preview

Artists who performed at the Winterfolk IX Stouffville Preview last month will be on stage on Sunday Feb 20th, 1-3 pm, at the Black Swan Tavern on the Danforth.

Here are videos of two performances from Ewan Dobson, an instrumental guitarist, and HOTCHA!, a hillbilly swing band.

Video Collage from the Winterfolk IX Preview

Toronto's Winterfolk Preview Rocks Stouffville on Saturday Night

Over 50 people were packed into the second floor of the Earl of Whitchurch on Saturday night to hear seven performers in a Winterfest IX Preview. Stouffville Connects was there and took video that will be made available at a later date. For those who were at the event and wanted to buy a CD from one of the artists, you can find more about each performer at his/her website:

The Winterfolk IX Preview concert was held to promote the upcoming Winterfolk IX Festival, which will be held in Toronto, Ontario from February 18 – 21, 2011.

Winterfolk IX will see over 150 artists perform on six stages over four days and the festival is FREE, with all ages welcome. For more information on Winterfolk IX, visitwww.abetterworld.ca.

Profile of Winterfolk IX Preview Artists

An impressive group of artists came out to perform at The Earl on Saturday, January 15th to promote the upcoming Winterfolk IX festival that will take place in Toronto from February 18 – 21, 2011.

GLEN MARAIS

Glenn Marais is a singer/songwriter who uses his music for healing and hope through his company, Music in Mind.  He teaches character education through music, motivational speaking, curriculum kits, workshops, activities and school assemblies to thousands of students inspiring them to get involved locally and globally with his universal motto, "Give to Live".  His groundbreaking educational kit, Songs in the Key of Character, teaches character traits through ten songs and activities.  Glenn traveled to Africa to film a video for his song, "Like a Child" that went to number one on Much More Music, and a documentary on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.  The CD/DVD of Like a Child raises money and awareness for the children of Africa.  The song and video were featured at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006 and Glenn closed the conference with a live performance in front of 7000 people that was broadcast around the world.  He is currently raising funds for the Cotlands Orphanage in Cape Town South Africa, under the Kids for Cotlands campaign.  $75 000 has been raised to date.  He orchestrated the One Candle campaign in Dec.2007 to raise money for families of Canadian Military personal in the Afghanistan War, www.onecandle.ca.  He recently composed a song, "On the Shoulders of Giants" that was selected by the Nelson Mandela Children's Foundation to commemorate Nelson Mandela's upcoming 90th birthday.

Glenn has been nominated for a Juno award for the song, "Everybody Wants to be like You", by the artist Snow. The song is the 5th most played song in Canadian History. 

ERWIN SCHACK

Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitarist

Member of the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Association, York Region Fingerstyle Guitar Association, Durham Region Music Society. 

Repertoire includes various instrumental Guitar pieces spanning the Blues, Jazz, Celtic, Folk and Classical genres by artists like Bruce Cockburn, Don Ross, Preston Reed, Leo Kottke and Bob Evans.

Previous engagements include:

The Foster Memorial , Art in the Park,

Port Perry Music Festival, Unionville Jazz Festival, Bluebridge Festival as well as volunteering at Markham Stouffville Hospital and local Seniors Facilities

MARIE-LYNN HAMMOND

Marie-Lynn Hammond is a veteran of the Canadian music scene. Co-founder of the pioneering Canadian folk group Stringband, she's played every major Canadian folk festival and recorded five solo CDs. She's also a playwright and former CBC radio host. She's known especially for her finely crafted lyrics, that can range from personal and moving to wickedly hilarious. Five years ago she happily escaped from Toronto to Stouffville.

CAROL TEAL AND DAVID JOYCE

Carol Teal and David Joyce joined forces in 1997 and perform mainly original songs of life's delights and dilemmas as well as fulfilling the troubadour's role of critical commentary on society today!  They delight and engage audiences with their thoughtful and witty lyrics, tight harmonies and wide variety of instrumentation (guitars, mandolin, banjo, washboard, harmonica & feather boa!)  Serious, sensitive and audaciously funny with a side of vaudeville thrown in for fun- check them out!

David's songwriting reflects his love of the guitar as his first instrument. He also adds skills on harmonica and banjo to the duo's performances.     

Carol – passion for songwriting has won her two Honor Awards in the Great American Songwriting Competition.  Carol plays guitar, mandolin (and feather boa) in performance.

Ewan Dobson

Ewan has performed at the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival alongside Gareth Pearson, Craig D'Andrea and Don Ross.  He also demonstrated guitars at the 2010 Montreal Guitar Show.

In September and October 2010 Ewan hit the road with fellow guitar virtuoso Antoine Dufour for his first Canadian tour that featured performance dates with the legendary Don Ross. This eastern tour brought Ewan to several cities including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Fredericton, Halifax, Charlottetown, New Glasgow, and more. The impression he left behind has already warranted a return trip within the year. 

Ewan Dobson II, the new self-titled album released by Candyrat Records, brings with it 18 new recordings.  As generous as his last album, Ewan continues to deliver his unique style that has proven to be a force to be reckoned with.

HOTCHA!

High-energy hillbilly swing duo blends old-time Western, bluegrass, early swing and country gospel delivered with the energy of a runaway train. Soaring vocals, lively accordion, gritty guitar, wailing harmonica and big-beat bodhran. Debut CD Dust Bowl Roots: Songs for the New Depression, intended as a true tonic for the times we live in.

• Top 40 CBC Galaxie Folk/Roots Year end Chart 2009!
• 4 features in the Toronto Sun
• 4 star (out of 5) review in SING OUT! Magazine
• 4 star (out of 5) review on Amazon.com

BRIAN GLADSTONE

Brian Gladstone is a fingerstyle guitar player, an insightful lyricist, a colourful story-teller, and a dynamic performer. His four albums have all attained global airplay, and he has been reviewed in over 100 publications all over the world including an article in "Review on Pop Culture". Founder of "A Better World", and Toronto's "Winterfolk" festival, Brian remains active on the music scene touring in the summer, and playing locally the rest of the time. "Brian's particular way of seeing things through irony and old time approach reminds me of great artists as John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt. He is their own true son and he continues their great sounds."  ~ Susa Onda Radio, Italy

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Toronto’s Winterfolk VIII festival – which runs from February 12 -15, 2010, will present two fun-packed nights of music as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban roots and blues festival.

The events will showcase some of the finest musicians performing at the festival this year, including veteran “wows a crowd” Danny Marks. He’s JAZZ.FM91's weekly Bluz.fm radio show host and has also played with just about every VIP in the blues business, such as, internationally known Juno award-winning Edward Bear early in his career, Rick James' band and as a session sideman for Ronnie Hawkins, Rita Coolidge, Bo Diddley, Stephen Stills and others. He was also the winner of the Toronto Blues Society's Blues With A Feeling Award for lifetime achievement in 2007. With two albums to date, True and Guitarchaeology, Marks is set to release a third album in the spring called Friend in the Blues, a personal take on blues music. 

The young but fast-rising star Ariana Gillis, who recently won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Young Performer of the Year, and “Best Songwriter” at the 2009 Niagara Music Awards is also nominated for three Hamilton Music Awards. Her “beyond her years” musical talent and skillful songwriting have gained her praise and captivated audiences across the country. 2009 Juno Award winner, accomplished piano player and a fine guitarist too, Julian Fauth has won more than awards. His music, in the style of and influenced by, the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bumble Bee Slim, Leroy Carr and Big Maceo, has caught the attention and praise of artists such as Fauth’s mentor, the late great bluesman Mel Brown. Fauth does barrelhouse blues at its best, and you can hear it on his latest album Ramblin Son. Other notable performers include bluesman and member of the award-winning group Fathead, Al Lerman, sultry Latin singer Laura Fernandez, country crooner Michael Brennan with guitar great Steve Briggs and even a set from The Guitar Boys of Alderon, which includes Noah Zacharin, Mr. Rick and guitar pickin’ Brian Gladstone himself and many more!

Thursday, Jan 14 9:00 Al Lerman 9:20 Ewan Dobson 9:40 David Newland 10:00 David Gillis and Ariana Gillis 10:20 Nonie Crete and Eugene Rae 10:40 Laura Fernandez with Noah Zacharin 11:00 Danny Marks 11:20 Michael Brennan and Steve Briggs 11:40 The Guitar Boys of Alderon (Noah Zacharin, Mr. Rick, Brian Gladstone) 12:00 Open Jam Session

Friday, Jan 15 9:00 Amy Campbell 9:15 Sue and Dwight 9:30 Marianne Girard 9:45 DArcy Wickham 10:00 Peter Verity and Seb Agnello 10:20 Tony Quarrington 10:40 Lynn Harrison 11:00 Brian Gladstone and Tony Quarrington 11:20 Choir Girlz 11:40 Julian Fauth 12:00 Open Jam Session

Pictures by Terry Hart [See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca]

WINTERFOLK VIII – TWO SNEAK PREVIEW SHOWS – FUNDRAISER @ THE MOONSHINE CAFÉ IN OAKVILLE, JAN 14 & 15 WHO: Danny Marks, Julian Fauth, Ariana Gillis and more!

WHAT: Winterfolk VIII Preview Shows

WHERE: Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St, Oakville / 905-844-2655

WHEN: Thursday, Jan.14 & Friday, January 15 – Doors @ 8pm, music @ 9:00 pm

TICKETS: $10 per night, or PWYC (all funds go towards support of artists of Winterfolk VIII)

WEBSITES: www.winterfolk.com / www.moonshinecafe.com

TORONTO – THURSDAY, JANUARY 7TH, 2010 – Don’t miss the chance to get a sneak preview of what’s in store at this year’s EIGHTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Catch some of your favourite folk, roots and blues musicians whooping it up with a special jam session at the end of each night. The two shows take place at the Moonshine Café, Oakville’s most happening musical venue, Jan 14 and 15. For more information and updates please visit www.winterfolk.com

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Reprinted from York Scene, Jan 14, 2011   

Stouffville radio personality Jim Priebe and the Winterfolk Festival proudly present a sneak preview of what's in store at this year's NINTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Hot local artists from Stouffville and surrounding area will perform at The Earl of Whitchurch Pub , Saturday, January 15 @ 8:00 pm. For more information and updates please visit https://abetterworld.ca

Toronto's Winterfolk IX festival – which runs from February 18 – 21, 2011, in various venues on the Danforth, will present a night of local entertainment as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban roots and blues festival. To add to this sneak preview, co-presenter and host Jim Priebe will also be organizing a local Stouffville artist showcase at the festival in February. Please stay tuned for more information and details on that in the coming weeks.

This preview concert will highlight some of the upcoming festival performers including singer-songwriter and Juno nominee Glen Marais, serio-comic folksingers Carol Teal & David Joyce, guitar virtuoso Ewan Dobson, vintage swing duo HOTCHA!, veteran singer-songwriter Marie-Lynn Hammond, and expert guitar-tamers Brian Gladstone (also the festival director) and Stouffville fave, Erwin Schack.

ARTIST LINEUP:

ERWIN SHACK
http://www.reverbnation.com/erwinschack

CAROL TEAL & DAVID JOYCE
http://www.carolanddavid.ca/

BRIAN GLADSTONE
http://www.briangladstone.ca

MARIE-LYNN HAMMOND

http://www.marielynnhammond.com/

HOTCHA!
http://www.HOTCHA.ca

GLENN MARAIS
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/GLENN-MARAIS

EWAN DOBSON
http://www.myspace.com/ewanguitar

MORE ABOUT WINTERFOLK
Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. www.abetterworld.ca

"I SUPPORT ROOTS MUSIC IN TORONTO" badges will also be available again at the festival by donation and they'll be large enough for artists to autograph them!

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Reprinted from York Region Jan 11, 2010

One night only. Hotcha! and others preview a Toronto folk music festival at The Earl of Whitchurch in downtown Stouffville Saturday night. A handful of Stouffville-area folk musicians will be together for one night only to provide people with a sneak peak of what they will hear during this year’s Winterfolk IX event.

The Jan. 15 preview concert features Stouffville faves Erwin Shack, Marie-Lynn Hammond and Hotcha! as well as Aurora-based singer-songwriter and Juno nominee Glen Marais, Newmarket’s serio-comic folksingers Carol Teal and David Joyce and Toronto-based guitar tamers Brian Gladstone and Ewan Dobson.

“He is just at the top of his game right now,” said sneak peak event organizer Jim Priebe of Mr. Dobson.
Mr. Priebe, along with Hotcha!’s Beverly Kreller, who is also head of the artistic committee for Winterfolk, put the sneak preview show together at The Earl of Whitchurch Pub, 6204 Main St., in a matter of weeks.

“I think it’s going to be a fantastic night. I’m really looking forward to it,” Ms Kreller said. Carol Teal and David Joyce, along with Hotcha! and Mr. Gladstone are all performing during Winterfolk, which is an all-ages folk festival in Toronto from Feb. 18 to 21.

But Mr. Priebe knew there were many more area artists who should be showcased, which is why he created the sneak preview.
“I hope that it actually generates more interest in sneak previews … (and) folk music in Stouffville and York Region,” he said.
 

The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 each with all funds going to support the artists of Winterfolk IX.

For more details, go to www.abetterworld.ca

Related Images:

 Winterfolk IX Sneak Preview

Reprinted From Snap, Jan 15, 2011 – Stouffville radio personality Jim Priebe & the Winterfolk Festival proudly presented a sneak preview of what's in store at this year's NINTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Hot local artists from Stouffville & surrounding area put on a great show at The Earl of Whitchurch Pub. Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage & encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk & more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. For more information & updates please visit www.abetterworld.ca

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Four-day music festival will feature more than 100 musicians

The ninth annual festival will once again take over the west end of Danforth Avenue over the Family Day weekend in February (Feb. 17 to 21).

More than 100 musicians, including an always strong turn-out from Toronto's own substantial roots community, will play on seven stages in six Danforth venues including: Black Swan Tavern (two stages), Mambo Lounge, Dora Keogh, Terry O's Sports Bar, Eastminster United Church and Danforth Baptist Church.

As is traditional, only a couple of the shows have a relatively modest cover charge while most of the four-day festival remains free.

For those who are a fan of home brewed folk/blues/roots, the line-up is absolutely packed with the best of the roots community including such stalwarts as Tony Quarrington, Eve Goldberg, the Gary Kendall Band and Joanne Crabtree. But that list only scratches the service.

The festival is the brainchild of North York-born and raised Brian Gladstone, also a prominent player in the local roots scene who will also be performing at the festival.

He thought it would be a great idea to transpose a folk festival, normally held in the summer in more rural areas, to the city in February.

Check out the website at www.abetterworld.ca and click on winterfolk 9 which is prominently displayed.

There you can check out the dozens of confirmed artists and even a tentative schedule.

With the festival run on a not-for-profit basis, volunteers and sponsors are also always welcome.

– Norm Nelson

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A Winterfolk Sneak Preview

HOT STOUFFFVILLE ARTISTS FUEL WINTERFOLK SHOWCASE

– SATURDAY, JAN 15 @ 8:00 PM – THE EARL OF WHITCHURCH PUB IN STOUFFVILLE, ON

WHO: Carol Teal & David Joyce, Ewan Dobson, Marie-Lynn Hammond, HOTCHA!, Erwin Shack, Brian Gladstone, Glenn Marais w/ MC Jim Priebe

WHAT: Winterfolk IX Sneak Preview

WHERE: The Earl of Whitchurch Pub, 6204 Main St., Stouffville, ON / 905-642-3275

WHEN: Saturday, January 15 @ 8:00 pm

TICKETS: $10 (all funds go towards support of artists at Winterfolk IX)

WEBSITES: https://abetterworld.ca  / http://www.theearlpub.ca

TORONTO – WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010 – Stouffville radio personality Jim Priebe and the Winterfolk Festival proudly present a sneak preview of what’s in store at this year’s NINTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL. Hot local artists from Stouffville and surrounding area will perform at The Earl of Whitchurch Pub , Saturday, January 15 @ 8:00 pm. For more information and updates please visit https://abetterworld.ca       

Toronto’s Winterfolk IX festival – which runs from February 18 – 21, 2011, in various venues on the Danforth, will present a night of local entertainment as a teaser to the upcoming free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban roots and blues festival. To add to this sneak preview, co-presenter and host Jim Priebe will also be organizing a local Stouffville artist showcase at the festival in February. Please stay tuned for more information and details on that in the coming weeks.

This preview concert will highlight some of the upcoming festival performers including singer-songwriter and Juno nominee Glen Marais, serio-comic folksingers Carol Teal & David Joyce, guitar virtuoso Ewan Dobson, vintage swing duo HOTCHA!, veteran singer-songwriter Marie-Lynn Hammond, and expert guitar-tamers Brian Gladstone (also the festival director) and Stouffville fave, Erwin Schack.

ARTIST LINEUP:

ERWIN SHACK

http://www.reverbnation.com/erwinschack

CAROL TEAL & DAVID JOYCE

http://www.carolanddavid.ca/

BRIAN GLADSTONE

http://www.briangladstone.ca

MARIE-LYNN HAMMOND

http://www.marielynnhammond.com/

HOTCHA!

http://www.HOTCHA.ca     

GLENN MARAIS

http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/GLENN-MARAIS

EWAN DOBSON

http://www.myspace.com/ewanguitar

MORE ABOUT WINTERFOLK

Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. www.abetterworld.ca  

“I SUPPORT ROOTS MUSIC IN TORONTO” badges will also be available again at the festival by donation and they’ll be large enough for artists to autograph them!

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!

We’re always looking for good volunteers to help out. For eight hours of service over the Winterfolk weekend, volunteers receive access to all shows and artist hospitality lounge, including an invitation to a private party with the artists and more! For more info and to sign up, please visit https://abetterworld.ca/?page_id=4889

                                                                                    -30-

For more information, photos, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller

SPEAK Music
www.speak-music.com

[email protected]

416.922.3620

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We would like to congratulate the winners of the 7th round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at Montreal House (The MoHo) in Peterborough, ON Friday night. Some astoundingly great performances.

WINNERS:

JIMMY BOWSKILL www.jimmybowskill.com  

ANDREW QUEEN www.andrewqueen.ca

Both artists will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-21, 2011.

Come to the festival and check them out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Kate Le Douce & the Beer Barons www.kateledeuce.com

Maple Leaf Champions Jug Band www.myspace.com/mapleleafchampionjugband

Many thanks to all of the amazingly talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to everyone at The MoHo for the generous support of our music community. Thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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Hi Everyone,

We would like to congratulate the winners of the 6^th round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at Maxwell’s Music House in Waterloo, ON last night. Good humour and talent abounding!

WINNERS:

BETTY SUPPLE http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Betty-Supple

THE BLACKWOOD TWO www.myspace.com/theblackwoodtwo

Both artists will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-21, 2011.

Come to the festival and check them out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

IAN REID  www.myspace.com/ianreidsongs    

GUY STEFAN www.myspace.com/guystefan

BETHANY GEDDES www.myspace.com/bethanygeddes

Many thanks to all of the amazingly talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to Paul Maxwell for his generous support of our music community. Thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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The ninth annual Winterfolk Festival will again take place in Toronto this February.

But before then, its organizers and musicians are offering people a sneak peak at what’s to come with a fundraising concert right here in Oakville.

The Winterfolk IX Preview Show will take place at the Moonshine Café on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The preview will feature urban roots and blues musicians, including Michael Brennan, Danny Marks, Mose Scarlett, Joanne Crabtree  and Margaret Stowe, Noah Zacharin, James Gordon, Hotcha!, Brian Gladstone and D’Arcy Wickham. The Oakville show is a highlight of the festival performers.

The Winterfolk Festival will take place Feb. 18-21 on the Danforth with free, all-ages, performances in an urban surrounding. The money raised at the Oakville show will help support the artists at the festival.

The Oakville show starts at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door if available.

The café is located at 137 Kerr St. For more information, visit www.themoonshinecafe.com or call 905-844-2655 for tickets.

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We would like to congratulate the winner of the fourth round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at The Casbah Lounge – Hamilton, ON last night. Unusually small turn out for Hamilton but big talent nonetheless.

WINNER:

MATTHEW DE ZOETE www.matthewdezoete.com

Matthew will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 18-21, 2011.

Come to the festival and check him out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

ABIGAIL LAPELL www.sonicbids.com/abigaillapell

JOHN MULLER www.myspace.com/johnmuller

WIND BROKEN STONES www.myspace.com/windbrokenstones

Jackson Mann www.youtube.com/user/skrivis52?feature=mhum

Many thanks to all of the talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to Brodie, Thom and Carla at The Casbah and thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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Hi Everyone,

We would like to congratulate the winners of the third round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at The Moonshine Café  – Oakville, ON last night. It was a very difficult and close run this time.

WINNERS:

PETER WILDMAN www.myspace.com/peterwildmanhahaha  

DAVID LUM www.myspace.com/davidlummusic

Both artists will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-21, 2011.

Come to the festival and check them out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

JOHN DIBATTISTA www.myspace.com/johndibattista   

ORPHAN GEORGE www.myspace.com/orphangeorge

WARREN MUZAK (of duo Two Twenty Two) www.sonicbids.com/TwoTwentyTwo

Many thanks to all of the amazingly talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to John & Jane at the Moonshine Cafe for their generous support of our music community. Thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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We would like to congratulate the winners of the second round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at The Silver Dollar, Toronto, ON on Tuesday night. The talent runs wild in this province!

WINNERS:

KEN YOSHIOKA www.myspace.com/kenyoshioka

THE BLACKEST CROW www.myspace.com/blackestcrow 

Both artists will be featured at the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-21, 2011.

Come to the festival and check them out!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

SAMANTHA MARTIN www.samanthamartin.ca

TOM HERCEG-SHANAHAN www.myspace.com/tomhercegshanahan

EMILY AND THE BLUE CALLERS www.myspace.com/emilyandthebluecallers

DIN (OF DIN THE SOLES) www.dinarts.com

Many thanks to all of the amazingly talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks to everyone at the Silver Dollar for their generous support of our music community. Thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team

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We would like to congratulate the winners of the first round of Winterfolk Festival auditions held at The London Music Club in London, ON last night. What a grand show!

WINNERS:

MIKE MASSE www.myspace.com/mikemassemusic PAUL LANGILLE www.myspace.com/paullangille

Both artists won a spot in the upcoming Winterfolk Festival which runs Feb 17-21, 2011.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

MARK KULMALA www.myspace.com/markkulmala MILIITIS RUE (duo – Aaron McGill & Dan Shantz) www.myspace.com/militisrue THE WOODY ALLENS www.myspace.com/thewoodyallens LEAH MORISE www.leahmorise.com

Many thanks to all of the amazingly talented artists who auditioned and thoroughly entertained!

Thanks also to Pete & Janice Dennome at the London Music club for their generous support of our music community. Thanks to the audience for participating in the voting process and for helping to make it an exciting and successful event.

Regards,

The Winterfolk Team
 

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WINTERFOLK IX AUDITIONS COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU!
– ROOTS AND BLUES FESTIVAL RUNS FEB 17 –21, 2011

WHAT: LIVE AUDITIONS FOR WINTERFOLK IX ROOTS AND BLUES FESTIVAL
WHEN & WHERE: All auditions @ 8pm-12am
October 12 – Silver Dollar Room, 486 Spadina Ave – Toronto, ON – (416) 975-0909
November 3 – London Music Club, 470 Colborne St.. – London, ON – (519) 640-6996
November 9 – Silver Dollar Room, 486 Spadina Ave – Toronto, ON – (416) 975-0909
November 14 – Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St. – Oakville, ON – (905) 844-2655
December 1 – The Casbah Lounge, 306 King St W. – Hamilton, ON – (905) 521-4441
December 2 – Moonshine Café, 137 Kerr St. – Oakville, ON – (905) 844-2655
December 9 – Maxwell’s Music House, 220 King St. N.– Waterloo, ON – (519) 498-5705
December TBA – Peterborough, ON
TICKETS: IT’S FREE – There is no cost to audition. Donations accepted on entry
WEBSITES: www.abetterworld.ca

TORONTO – TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010 – WINTERFOLK IX ROOTS AND BLUES FESTIVAL continues to build bridges in the community and outside of Toronto by holding LIVE AUDITIONS at venues throughout Southern Ontario. For more information please visit www.abetterworld.ca

Toronto’s free, all-ages, mid-winter, weatherproof urban roots and blues festival, now in its ninth year, will present 150 artists on 6 stages for 4 days of music in six downtown venues on February 17 –21, 2011.

Artists will once again audition live at select venues in various Ontario cities. There is no cost to audition to Winterfolk and two artists will be hired at each of the venues listed. Artist selection will be based on a combination of voting by the audience and the Winterfolk jury/representatives at each event. Artists will be encouraged to bring their fans & friends to cheer them on.

ARTISTS WISHING TO AUDITION FOR WINTERFOLK should send an email to [email protected] and advise preferred venue, include an EPK, or send a link to website or myspace, etc. Artists will then be updated with the details, and confirmed prior to the audition. Approximately 80 artists who have submitted will prepare 2 songs each, to present on the night. Winners of the festival spots will be announced at the end of each event.
Please visit the website for more details.

Winterfolk will continue to accept mailed packages and sonicbids submissions as well, but we are hoping this audition process will give some musicians who may not be able to afford submission fees, a chance to be heard. Please visit the website for more details.

MORE ABOUT WINTERFOLK
Winterfolk was formed to entertain, educate, enlighten, engage and encourage the community about various folk music styles including roots, blues, folk and more. Founded by Festival Director Brian Gladstone, it is run as a division of The Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non-profit organization in the Province of Ontario, Canada. www.abetterworld.ca

The festival also works within the community with various music organizations to offer them stages at the festival to increase their public visibility and membership, offer exposure for their events, and in general assist them to meet the goals of their mission statement.

-30-

For more information, photos, interviews, please contact:

Beverly Kreller
SPEAK Music
www.speak-music.com
[email protected]
416.922.3620
 

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– Posted in Good stuff… by Jim on November 21, 2008

WhiStle Radio has received a donation of 100 CDs, consisting mainly of folk, blues and roots music from Brian Gladstone. Brian is big in the Toronto Folk scene, and is creator and organizer of Winterfolk, an annual folk festival held in mid-winter in Toronto. More information about winterfolk can be found at http://www.winterfolk.com
I’ve been one of the MCs for the past two years, and can tell you it is an excellent event.

The CDs are being sorted & categorized and will be making their way into our playlist in the coming months.

Thanks Brian!!

Jim
 

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Greetings. I would appreciate your vote to assist me in becoming an elected member of the OCFF (Ontario Council of Folk Festivals) board of directors. In addition to the great expertise, experience, and enthusiasm I bring to the position – I offer many new concepts and ideas to the OCFF which are intended to offer our special art form a renewed stability, growth, prosperity, support, and a zillion other good things for everyone connected to the folk scene. I can't think of a more fundamental and strrategic opportunity for the OCFF to pursue. Thanks in advance for your support.

How to Vote To vote in the advance ballot, you must be a member in good standing of the OCFF. If you are unsure your membership status, please call the OCFF office at 613-560-5997 or toll-free at 1-866-292-6233.  

Download the Ballot  Ballots may be sent by email to: [email protected]; or by fax to: (613) 560-2001 or by mail to: OCFF, 508-B Gladstone Avenue • Ottawa, ON • K1R 5P1. 

Vote Now  Deadline is Wednesday September 15, 2010

Brian Gladstone has been involved in the Canadian roots music scene for thirty five years in a variety of rolls including singer-songwriter, producer, festival director, presenter, and activist. As a result, he brings good experience and expertise from all sides of the stage. Brian Gladstone is the founder and still active festival director of the OCFF member festival, ‘Winterfolk’ – now going into the ninth year – which has somewhat served as a modern template for emerging off-season festivals. As a semi-retired engineer, Brian now spends his time touring, writing and recording, teaching guitar, and remaining involved in the Canadian roots community. www.briangladstone.ca  More information Activism and Acclaim

Why Brian Would Make a Good Director: (reprinted from OCFF Website) Having worked in private industry for over twenty five years as an engineering director and research team leader, Brian Gladstone has gained high proficiency in all aspects of project management, leadership, effective delegation, work load management, instilling motivation, meeting deadlines, and good ability to work as team member. Brian would very much like to become a member of the OCFF board, is committed to the cause, and would work diligently in any capacity assigned to fulfill their mandate to the bet of his ability. It is likely Peter MacDonald, as well as numerous of his predecessors has a folder full Brian’s emails over the years with suggestions, complaints, and ideas for innovation.

About: Brian Gladstone is the founder and active festival director for Winterfolk, an annual blues and roots festival in Toronto, now a member of the OCFF. (Ontario Council of Folk Festivals). Brian Gladstone is the founder and president for the Association of Artists for a Better World, a registered non profit organization whose mission encourages artists and song writers to get involved in better world themes. We can use our voice to change the world, there is magic in our words. Projects conceived and promoted by Brian Gladstone include Concerts for Earth Day Canada, Folksingers for Peace Concert, Peace Love and Folksongs, Summer in the Square, Benefit Concert for Tsunami victims, Benefit Concert for Victims of Hurricane Katrina, and a Fundraising Concert for The Green Party of Canada.

Brian Gladstone has conceived and produced many CDs with all proceeds donated to Earth Day Canada, New Songs for Peace, UN Foundations, and more!

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[See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca] ]]> https://abetterworld.ca/?feed=rss2&p=4244 0 https://abetterworld.ca/?p=4169 https://abetterworld.ca/?p=4169#respond Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:37:37 +0000 https://abetterworld.ca/?p=4169 Now Accepting Submissions – Submit OnLine, or Via Mail – Submit via Sonicbids, or send track, contact info, and check for $20.00 to  to The Association of Artists for A Better World, 4936-182 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M2N-6S3

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But Songs Of Canada 2010 the seventh compilation disc released by the non-profit Artists For A Better World, containing twelve tunes by singer-songwriters from across the nation, has the feel of scope, diversity, history and destiny that evokes this country’s soul.

Utilizing a variety of styles that all arise from the unique amalgam that is Canadian Roots music of the past and present, these are songs that get sung by songwriters to their fellow artists in living rooms, kitchens and tiny clubs. But even more than the wellspring from which they’re drawn, these songs also point the way to what may be the next generation of “standards”. This collection contains seeds that could grow into signposts marking the way to Canada’s musical landscape of the future.
 

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Where Have All the Protest Songs Gone

Back   Interview Portion with Brian Gladstone below.

One after another, the simple yet profoundly affecting songs that moved a generation — a couple of generations, actually — poured forth like some kind of healing sacrament.

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” “Turn, Turn, Turn.” “We Shall Not Be Moved.” “Amazing Grace.” “We Shall Overcome.” “Little Boxes.” “Guantanamera.” “If I Had a Hammer.” “Joe Hill.” “Waist Deep In The Big Muddy.” “Bring ‘Em Home.” “Irene Goodnight.” The hymns filled the 3,000-seat auditorium.

Audience voices raised in unison, in harmony, in joyful dissonance, accompanied every one, with Seeger’s energetic encouragement. This was the soundtrack of an era, accompanied with his musical contemporaries Joan Baez, Bob Dylan.

Two hours later, the exhausted but jubilant folk singer made his final exit, waving his instruments above his head. The crowd dispersed into the warm night, still roaring out the songs we were convinced could and would make the world a better place. Maybe they did. For a while.

The protests accompanying this weekend’s G20 summit in Toronto might be remembered for their noise and fury, but probably not for songs.

Protest songs — at least the kind that galvanized thousands at a time during the labour struggles of the 1920s and ’30s, anti-nuclear and civil rights marches in the 1950s, the anti-Vietnam war rallies in the 1960s and the economic upheavals in Britain during the Thatcher years — seem to have disappeared from the landscape.

At least they have from the commercial airwaves. But their spirit drives much of the best contemporary music, Bruce Cockburn says.

“They haven’t disappeared, we just have to hunt them down,” argues Cockburn, who has never wavered in a 40-year career from an almost obsessive devotion to taking on war-mongers, empire builders and environment polluters with narrative-based songs of often brutal outspokenness.

Protest songs are alive and well, he says. They are just hiding in plain sight. “We just don’t hear them. We don’t hear anything worthwhile these days unless we go looking for it.”

The erosion in the Internet age of conventional mass media may have given everyone and everything a chance to shine, adds Cockburn. “But there are so many kinds of exposure, so many formats, and so many different ways to find an audience, so many places you have to look.”

He isn’t keen on reviving protest songs as a niche genre.

“The words ‘protest songs’ give me the willies,” Cockburn says. “They conjure up the worst music of the 1960s – songs like ‘Eve of Destruction,’ which I hated when I first heard it. It’s pretentious posturing, manufactured nonsense, bad songwriting and just plain ignorant, compared to Dylan’s work in the same period. ‘A Hard Rain’ and ‘Masters of War’ are beautifully constructed and artfully created. They hit the right emotional buttons and they nail their targets.

“To have value, a song has to impact its topic. It can’t be propaganda or exploitative pop music.”

Cockburn singles out American songwriter and activist Ani DiFranco for special praise.

“She’s a beautiful singer, a great guitarist and a brilliant lyricist. She doesn’t close her eyes to what’s going on around her, and she’s not afraid to speak up. And I don’t discount punk and reggae as breeding grounds for some of the best politically intense songs ever recorded — from the Clash and Bob Marley right up to the present.

“Some people say songs and politics don’t mix. I don’t agree. It’s an artist’s job to talk about his or her life, unless you live in a place where your neck is on the line. War and politics are part of life. Nothing is taboo.”

Even so, the absence in the public arena of songs of conscience may well be an effect of the wired age, along with so many previously cherished forms of social interaction, suggests guitarist Brian Gladstone, the proudly unreconstructed hippie founder and artistic director of Toronto’s annual Winterfolk Festival and its non-profit offshoot, the Association of Artists for a Better World. The association encourages, compiles and distributes collections of contemporary protest songs to radio stations and activist organizations around the world.

“People concerned about the issues that have always troubled us are more likely to turn to Facebook to find a like-minded community than to sing songs in the streets, the way we did in the 1960s,” he says.

“There are plenty of protest songs out there, but they just aren’t part of the cultural mainstream any more. Radio doesn’t play them, and people don’t seem to do things together, as a community. We’re all connected individually to some kind of device, working alone, amusing ourselves alone, enlightening ourselves alone.”

Gladstone started the association 10 years ago — the effort has since been replicated in half a dozen North American cities — because “not enough young songwriters were using their voices for the common good.

“We’ve issued eight or nine compilations since we began, and the response has been intense and gratifying.”

Neil Young came to the same conclusion after the release of his 2006 album, Living with War, a toxic indictment of George W. Bush’s foreign policy, when he complained publicly about the lack of contemporary songwriters willing to step up to the protest plate. At 64 then, he felt forced to do their work for them.

He was subsequently inundated with recorded proof to the contrary and now runs a page on his web site, Living with War Today, that has links to some 3,280 songs and 630 videos answering his original challenge.

It has been said that Bruce Springsteen’s 2007 album Magic, with its hallucinatory vision of an America gone mad with war lust, consumerism and revenge, was the New Jersey rocker’s response to Young’s challenge.

Three years earlier, American punk rocker’s Green Day’s American Idiot album, now also a hit Broadway musical, was praised by many for its brave, satirical take on modern America and its powerful endorsement of love and humanist ethics.

Long before that, roots rocker Steve Earle forsook his chance at country music’s brass ring by writing songs that skewered America’s version of history, many of its icons and values.

“It’s not that the issues needing attention are more numerous or complex than they were a couple of generations ago,” says Canadian folk music veteran Ken Whiteley. He cut his teeth on the anti-war and union songs of Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and on the plaintive blues of American field workers and gospel singers.

“You can look at 150 different issues and reduce them to just two things: greed and the abuse of power.”

Protest songs still have meaning and cachet, Whiteley adds. Many contemporary songwriters — among his favourites are Welsh composer/activist Martyn Joseph, Kingston’s Sarah Harmer and Vancouver-based James Keelaghan — have the ability to create provocative social commentary from simple narratives “and solid, memorable melodies, the key to the survival of any great song.”

The worst protest songs are “simplistic reductions” of complex ideas,” Whiteley believes.

“The best are personalized stories in which you can see the larger picture unfold. Or sometimes they can be nothing more than a simple, resonant phrase. My friend Pat Humphries (an Ohio social activist, singer and songwriter) composed a classic rally song from three words and an elegant little tune – ‘Peace, Salaam, Shalom’.”

Some rap music contains elements of social consciousness, he points out, part of a continuum of commentary and protest that goes back to the earliest blues forms, “but there’s a disconnect between rap and what went on before.

“If you’re my age, you can probably trace a line between (1950s folk group) the Freedom Singers, (American gospel group) Sweet Honey in the Rock, (American R&B/gospel band) the Blind Boys of Alabama and (Canadian rapper) K’Naan. But I don’t think the young people who are rallying around his song ‘Waving Flag’ are conscious of these connections.”

Toronto songwriter Jon Brooks, a winner in this year’s New Folk competition at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, has earned a devoted following among his peers for soulful, topical narrative songs that invoke powerful feelings about the horrors of war, human greed and the absence of the guiding principles — what we called, in another age, peace, love and understanding.

“The closest thing I heard to protest songs in my adolescence were Roger Waters and Pink Floyd,” says Brooks, who gave up his budding musical career in the 1990s after visiting Bosnia, Poland, Ukraine and Russia.

“I saw real politics in action after the wall came down and I felt ashamed to be seeking people’s attention behind a microphone in the middle of all that suffering. So I quit for eight years.”

In those days, folk and protest music of the 1960s “seemed laughable, a cliché, something in the back of the record store to be avoided,” Brooks says. “After I came back from Europe, I was convinced songs would work no better now to benefit humanity than they did back then.

“Now I’ve come full circle. In complicated, distracted times, I’ve learned that timely songs performed in the right manner, accompanied by humour and common language, can really get inside people.”

Brooks has studied the work of his predecessors — Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Canada’s Buffy Sainte-Marie, whose bitter indictment of the patriot warrior, “Universal Soldier,” is a standout feature of his performances — and found many of them wanting.

“I think Ochs represented the best and the worst of that era, and Dylan was just too young to have a fully formed world view, but they were capable of writing powerful social and political commentary,” he says, citing Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” and “A Hard Rain” and Ochs’ “Days of Decision” as favourites.

“The purpose of songwriting, for me, anyway, is to unite people through stories, through empathy. Direct, shouted protest has never worked for me as well as indirect story telling.”

Now, that would put a smile on Pete Seeger’s face.

Ten great protest songs

• “Universal Soldier,” Buffy Sainte Marie: For its bravery in laying the blame for the pain of war at the feet of those who make themselves available as weapons and cannon fodder.

• “Fortunate Son,” Creedence Clearwater Revival: For smacking privileged Americans in the face for avoiding the draft and forcing those less fortunate to be conscripted during the Vietnam war.

• “Blowin’ In The Wind,” Bob Dylan: The mother of 1960s peace anthems.

• “Shipbuilding,” Elvis Costello: For drawing a line between the economic benefits of war and the end result.

• “Beds Are Burning,” Midnight Oil: For pricking the conscience of imperialist interlopers, not just in Australia, over their abuse of the rights of indigenous people.

• “Brothers In Arms,” Dire Straits: For illuminating the folly of the Faulklands war and inflated patriotic urges.

• “Clampdown,” The Clash: For its empathetic portrayal of the poor as a criminal class on Thatcher’s watch.

• “If A Tree Falls,” Bruce Cockburn: For its powerful indictment of the logging industry’s stripping of virgin rainforests.

• “Lives In The Balance,” Jackson Browne: An acidic account of American meddling in the politics of Central America.

• “If I Had A Hammer,” Pete Seeger: For its inclusive, joyful humanity.

— Greg Quill

Related Images:

 Bob Snider's last performance before permanently relocating to the east coast.

Other performing artists include Marianne Girard, Jory Nash, Lynn Harrison, D’Arcy Wickham, Ewan Dobson, Choirgirlz, Max Woolaver, Brian Gladstone, and a surprise artists or two.  

Click on poster to enlarge >>> [See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca]  

[See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca] Bob Snider – Singer-songwriter Bob Snider has played on the street and in the concert hall. He has been called a “national treasure”, a “living legend” and “author of some of the best Canadian songs of the decade”. Marianne Girard – Marianne Girard ‘grabs you by the soul and won’t let go’. Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee for 2009, Marianne simply captivates. “Wow!” Not likely to forget about this one. She DOES stand out. Lynn Harrison – A compelling performer who connects powerfully with audiences of all ages, Lynn Harrison is known for “charming, positive, uplifting and life-affirming songs” (Penguin Eggs magazine). Lynn has earned songwriting honours from the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals’ Songs from the Heart and was a Top 10 Finalist Toronto’s Song Contest.  D’Arcy Wickham – An exceptional artist with all styles of guitar picking has highlighted decades of performing experience, and was recognized by an OCFF “Songs From the Heart” award in 2007 for his song “Feather Fingers”.  ChoirGirlz – This highly entertaining, enlightening, and engaging female trio sings original songs about real issues with tight harmonies in many styles including cabaret, comedy, jazz, R & B, and more. Ewan Dobson – Ewan Dobson has established himself as one of Canada’s most brilliant and exhilarating young guitarists, having won first prize in nearly every single Classical Guitar competition across the country. His impressive list of credentials includes winning the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, as well other major awards. Jory Nash – Jory Nash has a commanding stage presence; his strong, warm voice urges people to listen. Jory Nash has crisscrossed North America several times, playing folk festivals, folk clubs, concert series and house concerts. He has built a large, loyal fan-base and he has been fortunate enough to see most of North America in the process. Unusual things tend to happen to Jory on the road, and when not legally bound to silence he will incorporate these events into his onstage storytelling. Max Woolaver – Reverend Max Woolaver is one of the most compelling Canadian singer/songwriters working in Canada today.  Max Woolaver takes the listener across the psychic terrain of our current times through the medium of powerfully crafted and lyrically charged songs – from ripping bluegrass and poignant ballads to dark rocking songs.  Brian Gladstone – An imaginative songwriter unrestrained by conventional limitations, Gladstone’s four albums have been highly acclaimed in dozens of rave reviews worldwide. Gaining quick international recognition, his music is played on radio stations all over the world; and he has successfully made the jump from college and underground stations to mainstream rotation and play chart listings. Presented By: The Association of Artists for a Better World is a nonprofit organization, registered in the province of Ontario, Canada. More information is here www.abetterworld.ca  

Related Images:

Record crowds attended the eight annual Winterfolk Roots and Blues festival held in downtown Toronto, over the weekend of February 12-15, 2010. Most of the venues were at, or over capacity. Similar to a summer park festival, schedule-toting attendee’s strolled from stage to stage to see their favorite artists. When Winterfolk joined the OCFF in 2003, folk festivals were customarily rural events, staged in parks scattered throughout Southern Ontario. When campgrounds fell silent, so too did much of Ontario’s folk music.

 Brian Gladstone founded Winterfolk determined not to let Canada’s climate restrict the artform. Winterfolk was conceived to break the mold of a traditional folk festival and bring the music to the people in the city, in the depth of winter. In recent years, Winterfolk has been able to waive admission fees, and provide paid work for its artists. While the task sounds daunting, even more remarkable is that Winterfolk has now delivered its eighth successful run, fueled by a small army of 75 volunteers, all without salaried employees, with fundraising activities year round. “Our ability to survive and grow”, mentions Gladstone “is because we provided a win – win – win – win scenario.” The four wins that continue to bring Winterfolk perennial success are wins for the artists, commerce, community and the artform.

Of  the over 100 artists at Winterfolk this year, about 80 were selected by an Artistic Director Committee. As with most festivals, once the AD committee determines the programming themes, it has a good idea which artists to hire. Winterfolk’s focus is on Southern Ontario talent, especially artists creating a ‘buzz’ and getting their name out there, but artists from across Canada are included.Seeking out emerging talent ‘under the radar’ of the AD committee, Winterfolk held six satellite pre-festival open auditions in several Ontario cities, for which twelve artists were selected. Some of the artists selected though the audition process were Swamp Ward Orchestra, Marc Charron, Rick Taylor, Reverend Max Woolaver, Rosemary Phelan with Jason Laprade, Amy Campbell, Phillip Brown, and more. An additional ten artists were selected from EPK and press kit submissions. “In order for any festival to be successful, money must change hands.” Gladstone accepts this reality while managing to keep the grass roots feel essential to its success. “Parking meters, bank machines, restaurants, and the venues all benefit from the thousands of people we bring into the neighbourhood.” The commerce win is significant at a typically slow time of year for the local merchants, in that it satisfies the bottom line that is required to keep festivals going without giving the festival a corporate 'odour' that clashes with Roots and Blues music. “A strong sense of community involvement is vital to the success, growth, and longevity of an urban festival. Winterfolk reaches out and engages the community,” says Gladstone. Winterfolk works with various music organizations to offer them stages at Winterfolk to increase their public visibility and membership, and overall build a stronger roots community. In exchange, Winterfolk gets top notch showcasing stages. 

Of special note, are the workshops conceived and delivered by the artists themselves. The workshops included The Harmony Workshop, The Davids' (Leask, Gillis and Newland)   [See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca] Determine Music Commonalities, Acoustic Guitar Aces, Wendell Ferguson’s Guitar Jam, Brian Blain's Colorblind Blues Campfire, Songs of Change, Audience Participation Songwriting, Music and Movement for Kids, The Lighter Side of Life, and Songs of Canada. The artists' workshops were the finest example of music by the people for the people. Roots and Blues music is a dynamic artform that is best viewed live. Before Winterfolk, folk music was presented at a few scattered clubs or remote campgrounds, rarely in the city in concentration, and rarely in the winter.  Winterfolk brings the music within reach of the people and brings home audiences to the artists. Paid work in the neighbourhood is always good for the artists. Accomplishing what once seemed impossible, Winterfolk VIII entertained and excited audiences with acoustic soulful music warming all in attendance spiritually and physically in the otherwise 'blah' and frigid month of February. Winterfolk has truly conceived a fresh template to carry on the roots tradition in harmony with the climate and culture of Canada. 

Related Images:

Bob Snider's last performance before permanently relocating to the east coast.

Other performing artists include Marianne Girard, Jory Nash, Lynn Harrison, D’Arcy Wickham, Ewan Dobson, Choirgirlz, Max Woolaver, Brian Gladstone, and a surprise artists or two.

Click on poster to enlarge >>> [See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca]

[See image gallery at www.abetterworld.ca] Bob Snider – Singer-songwriter Bob Snider has played on the street and in the concert hall. He has been called a “national treasure”, a “living legend” and “author of some of the best Canadian songs of the decade”. Marianne Girard – Marianne Girard ‘grabs you by the soul and won’t let go’. Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee for 2009, Marianne simply captivates. “Wow!” Not likely to forget about this one. She DOES stand out. Lynn Harrison – A compelling performer who connects powerfully with audiences of all ages, Lynn Harrison is known for “charming, positive, uplifting and life-affirming songs” (Penguin Eggs magazine). Lynn has earned songwriting honours from the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals’ Songs from the Heart and was a Top 10 Finalist Toronto’s Song Contest. D’Arcy Wickham – An exceptional artist with all styles of guitar picking has highlighted decades of performing experience, and was recognized by an OCFF “Songs From the Heart” award in 2007 for his song “Feather Fingers”. ChoirGirlz – This highly entertaining, enlightening, and engaging female trio sings original songs about real issues with tight harmonies in many styles including cabaret, comedy, jazz, R & B, and more. Ewan Dobson – Ewan Dobson has established himself as one of Canada’s most brilliant and exhilarating young guitarists, having won first prize in nearly every single Classical Guitar competition across the country. His impressive list of credentials includes winning the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, as well other major awards. Jory Nash – Jory Nash has a commanding stage presence; his strong, warm voice urges people to listen. Jory Nash has crisscrossed North America several times, playing folk festivals, folk clubs, concert series and house concerts. He has built a large, loyal fan-base and he has been fortunate enough to see most of North America in the process. Unusual things tend to happen to Jory on the road, and when not legally bound to silence he will incorporate these events into his onstage storytelling. Max Woolaver – Reverend Max Woolaver is one of the most compelling Canadian singer/songwriters working in Canada today. Max Woolaver takes the listener across the psychic terrain of our current times through the medium of powerfully crafted and lyrically charged songs – from ripping bluegrass and poignant ballads to dark rocking songs. Brian Gladstone – An imaginative songwriter unrestrained by conventional limitations, Gladstone’s four albums have been highly acclaimed in dozens of rave reviews worldwide. Gaining quick international recognition, his music is played on radio stations all over the world; and he has successfully made the jump from college and underground stations to mainstream rotation and play chart listings. Presented By: The Association of Artists for a Better World is a nonprofit organization, registered in the province of Ontario, Canada. More information is here www.abetterworld.ca