Artists

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Buffysainte-marie.com

With a career spanning 60 years and more awards than can be readily listed (including an Oscar, a Gemini, Junos and a wall full of honorary doctorates) Canada’s Buffy Sainte-Marie is a staggering talent whose work encompasses music, art, film, literature and humanitarianism. She’s a mesmerizing presence, a woman who has and continues to fight passionately for an end to war and oppression, using her voice and her talents to condense centuries into moments.

Carlos Del Junco and the Blues Mongrels

Oh mama, the maestro is back in the house. After a nearly 10-year absence from our festival, the harmonica phenom returns with his Blues Mongrels — Eric St. Laurent on guitar and Henry Hellig on bass — for some of the most exquisite blues you’ll ever be privileged to hear. Del Junco gives new meaning to the word “crescendo”.

Cassie & Maggie

Nova Scotia sisters Cassie and Maggie have been enchanting audiences around the world with their amazing blend of contemporary and classic Celtic fiddle playing, outstanding harmonies and fabulous percussive step-dancing. Unparalleled unity of strings, powerful voices and feet.

Coco Love Alcorn

Cocolovelacorn.com

Known globally for The River, a luscious, layered piece beloved by community choirs everywhere, Calgary’s Coco Love Alcorn arranges and composes intricate, heart-stopping lyrics with the voice as the primary instrument. Messages of hope, love and inspiration are at her core as she mixes folk, pop and soul into an incredible fusion of soaring, passionate sound.

Gunning & Cormier

Two of the most engaging roots musicians to emerge from Canada’s east coast have joined forces to return and reconquer the west. Frequent collaborators and touring partners, great friends and co-writers, they’ve just released their first album together called (naturally) Two Great Friends. Two guitars, two vocals, too much fun.

Jon Brooks

Jonbrooks.ca

Canadian singer/songwriter Jon Brooks, four times nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, demands you lean in and listen hard to his profound lyrics, delivered with a gritty and gruff voice and a style laced with the power of spoken word poetry.

Joey Landreth Trio

One-half of the killer band The Bros. Landreth, Canadian prairie boy Joey Landreth will blow you away with his razor sharp lyrics, wicked electric slide and powerful, soaring voice. Backed by Ryan Voth on drums and Meg Dolovich on bass, their powerful fusion of rock and folk has you sensing early CSN, a hint of Robert Palmer and a maybe a whiff of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Jon and Roy

In the true spirit of folk, Victoria’s Jon Middleton and Roy Vizer pen the kind of beautiful, grab-you-by-the-feels songs where gorgeous words soar over lush tandem guitars and bouncy backbeats.

Les Poules à Colin

Steeped in the traditions of folk music and folk festivals, Quebec’s Les Poules a Colin embodies a deep and rich cultural heritage of trad music. Despite their youth they have nine solid years of touring, performing and recording behind them, amazing audiences around the world with their inventive arrangements and dizzying prowess on a myriad of instruments.

Lindi Ortega

Lindiortega.com

So imagine marrying the voice of Dolly Parton with the depth and breadth of k.d. lang’s songwriting. I know, right? Boggles the mind. Dubbed “Indie Lindi” in her hometown of Toronto while on her decades-long pursuit of overnight success, Ortega falls somewhere between a heart-hurtin’ C&W siren and a short-skirted folk goddess who can sing a tale unlike any other. Brace yourself.

Ruthie Foster

Firmly planted somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin, Texas native Ruthie Foster is the kind of powerful musician who can make you weep with both joy and sorrow. From blues to gospel to jazz, folk and soul, she is a phenomenal spirit and we’re thrilled to welcome her back after a 10-year absence from our festival.

Nick Waterhouse

Set the Wayback Machine, because California’s Nick Waterhouse is about to take you on a tour of all the best that mid-Century American music had to offer. From the cool and elegant 1950s R&B to the classic club jazz and powerful soul of the 1960s, he’s a little bit Buddy Holly, a little Phil Everly and a whole lot of fun. 

Scott Cook & The Second Chances

Scottcook.net

Edmonton songwriter Scott Cook is a throwback, a nod to the likes of Woodie Guthrie and Steve Goodman. A slightly subversive roots balladeer, he applies his gentle, whimsical humour liberally to contemporary issues with unique and keenly observant lyrics.

Catch Scott and the rest of his band Scott Cook & The Second Chances this August.

Steve Poltz

Poltz.com

There’s a parallel universe in which Steve Poltz lives, and sometimes we all wish we could live there, too. But only sometimes. An Owen Wilson kind of goofy sweetness… until his evil twin Warren Zevon emerges. Hang on for the ride and hang onto your sides. A storyteller extraordinaire, a songwriter with a biting wit and a skilled guitar player, Poltz is riveting & an attorney for dogs!!!

Son De Maple

Sondemaple.com

 Let loose your inner Latino! Son De Maple is a Vancouver-based band playing Mexican Son Jarocho and other Latin music idioms. Formed by Tom Landa (Locarno, BC World Music Collective, Paperboys) as a vehicle to play traditional songs from his native Mexico, the collective brings strings, drums, fiddle and voice to a joyous stage.     

Shakura S’Aida

Shakurasaida.com

Multiple Juno nominee Shakura S’Aida brings the blues home with a scorching voice and a stage presence that will leave you riveted – hopefully not to your seat. You need to be up and moving to this woman. Runner-up in the 2008 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Suzie Vinnick

Suzievinnick.com

Toronto roots and blues singer Suzie Vinnick, a 10-time winner of the Maple Blues Award for both songwriting and female vocalist, has a voice you’ve heard a thousand times and one you’ll never forget. It soars, it growls, it whispers and it shouts from a deep, deep well of emotion. The pure joy she exudes when she picks up that guitar is so worth the show.

Lindsay Lou

https://www.lindsayloumusic.com/

Lindsay Lou has been making beautiful, soul-shaking music for the last decade with her band The Flatbellys, though 2018 marks what might be the biggest year for the band. Now with four albums under their belts, the band’s latest release is a transformative and heart-wrenching album titled Southland. The identity for this particular record – the beauty with which its sound slips into the ether – didn’t come by crazy random happenstance. The year leading up to its recording, 2016, was a trying year emotionally for several of the band members so – after taking a beat to really delve into the roots of it all – the band is re-emerging with material written during that time in a cathartic and transformative light.  Lindsay Lou’s sound and songwriting continues to evolve and intertwine her sturdy Bluegrass roots with progressive Americana and Folk.

The Mammals

Themammals.love

Alternately languid and contemplative, old-time folk married to pop, this quintet from New York State identify as “subversive acoustic traditionalists” – or “a party band with a conscience”. Well chosen words. Their lyrics will haunt you, their exquisite harmonies will uplift you.