Episode 250: Kingsville Folk Music Festival

May 06 2016

This episode features an interview with John & Michele Law who joined us to chat about the line up for the 3rd Annual Kingsville Folk Music Festival, which takes place from August 12-14, in the beautiful confines of Lakeside Park in Kingsville on the shores of Lake Erie It’s a great festival and already gaining a great reputation for bringing fabulous folk, roots, blues and world music down into South-western Ontario. There’s also a lot of new music on this episode. I hope you’ll check it out.

This year’s Kingsville Folk Music Festival features Buffy Sainte-Marie, fresh from success at the Juno Awards with her Polaris Music Prize winning album “Power in the Blood”. Joining Buffy at this year’s festival are Alex Cuba, Quique Escamilla, Irish Mythen, Garnet Rogers, Alysha Brilla, Qristina & Quinn Bachand, Bill Bourne, The Boxcar Boys, Jason Dennie & Rochelle Clark, Tony Gouveia, Maneli Jamal, Connie Kaldor, Kaia Kater, The Laws, Rob Lutes, Danielle Miraglia, The O’Pears, Amanda Rheaume, Gordie Tentrees & Jaxon Haldane, Union Duke, Luther Wright, Dale Butler, Francine Leclair, Whoa Nellie! Vera & Johnny, Tribute to Willie P. Bennett and children’s performers: Jangles The Magical Clown, Butterfingers and Magoo alongside Todd Crowley’s Musical Petting Zoo. Weekend passes at Kingsville are still under $100 which sounds like a great deal and Children 16 and under are admitted FREE! Regular priced weekend – senior – student and single day passes are now available online HERE. For more information visit kingsvillefolkfest.org.

Among the new music we played: great new albums from Swedish Americana singer/songwriter Sofia Talvik, BC’s Nashville transplant Victor Anthony, Canadian soldier turned singer/songwriter Tim Isberg and singer/songwriter arranger and producer Van Norden & Aubrey Richmond who loves to push boundaries… from his new album of coffee house folk with LA fiddlist and vocalist Aubrey Richmond, “The Space Between”. Van Norden rearranged an earlier song Love At First Sight for EDM (electronic dance music). I’m not sure whether he’ll do that with any of the songs on his latest collection, but you never know. You may yet hear some EDM on Folk Roots Radio. We like to mix things up!

Two more great new albums have appeared on Borealis Records, one of my favourite record labels – and they’re both by Canadian folk supergroups! Barney Bentall, Tom Taylor and Shari Ulrich have got together as Bentall Taylor Ulrich or BTU, if you prefer. Three great songwriters sharing the space and their songs on their great new album “Tightrope Walk” that is brim full with great songs, and features some outstanding musicianship from artists who clearly love spending time together. They’re definitely simpatico. And, I’m sure they’re fantastic live too. We’ll dip back into the album on future episodes.

We also heard from The Bills – another Canadian folk super group, although they’ve been coming together for quite a lot longer. With Gypsy-jazz guitarist Marc Atkinson on mandolin, guitar, vocals, Adrian Dolan (fiddle, accordion, piano, vocals), Chris Frye (guitar, lead vocals), Richard Moody (violin, viola, vocals) and Scott White on upright bass and vocals. Their latest album, “Trail of Tales” features 14 new tracks, including 10 new songs and 4 instrumentals, and, for the first time, the album sees all five members of the band contributing to the compositional side of things. It’s a great album, one that gives up more and more with each listening. You’ll definitely hear more on this show!

Before I get done, I’d like to just say something about Borealis Records. They do such a great job with the presentation and packaging. Informed, well-laid out CD sleeves and insert notes that are easy to read, with great graphics. It really is a joy to receive an album from them.

Well, that’s all we have time for this week. Check out the full playlist with artist links below and share your love for all the great folk and roots music out there. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We have a lot of great music to bring you on future shows. I hope you’ll join us! You can listen to this show again on Mixcloud by following the link below.

Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (expected 2016)

Sofia Talvik
Big Sky Country
Big Sky Country (2015, Makaki Music)

Victor Anthony
Boots On
Mystery Loves Company (2015, Self) CDN

Tim Isberg
Come Hell or High River
Tears Along the Road (2015, Self) CDN

Van Norden & Aubrey Richmond
Sapphire Skies
The Space Between (2016, Gate 5 Media) CDN

City Of The Sun
To The Sun And All The Cities In Between
To The Sun And All The Cities In Between (2016, Chesky Records)

Irish Mythen
Let Them In
Open Here (2011, Myth Records) CDN

Interview: Artistic Directors John & Michele Law discussing the line-up for the 2016 Kingsville Folk Music Festival. Listen again HERE.

Buffy Sainte-Marie
Power In The Blood
Power In The Blood (2015, True North Records)

The Bills
Wonders I’ve Seen
Trail of Tales (2016, Borealis Records) CDN

Bentall Taylor Ulrich
You Got Lost
Tightrope Walk (2016, Borealis Records) CDN

The Robert Bobby Duo
Whatever I Fell for You
Folk Art (2015, I Like Mike)