Peterborough Folk Festival

AD’s Notes:
Once again, and act that needs little introduction to Ptbo audiences; the fabulous harmonies and old-timey sensibility of The County Boys pleases people from 2 to 92.

Bio:
The County Boys, Chris and Benj, were born in a barn just outside of Peterborough and spent their youth playing music in piles of hay. Growing up, Benj became the fastest banjo picker in the county and Chris was even faster on the guitar. Soon they met a chap named Diamond Dave from Peterborough County who was known as the fastest bass fiddler around, known for playing with the fastest washboard player in the world, WASHBOARD HANK!!! Benj and Chris challenged him to a duel at the Peterborough Farmer’s Market and people were in awe as the duel progressed, erupting sounds of boom boom boom, ting ting ting and chuck chuck chuck. As the hours went by it appeared as though no one would win the duel. Chris and Benj had finally met their match and until this day they play together as the County Boys.

Since the County Boys are no longer dueling, they have accomplished many feats in the year that they have been together. Their original and high energy music has spawned many nights of dancing, foot stompin’ and drinking in the many venues of Southern Ontario. Such highlights have been sharing the stage with Willie P. Bennet, Washboard Hank and playing the Peterborough Folk Festival. They have made the Montreal House in Peterborough their watering hole, playing regular Thursdays and creating a loyal home town following. They just finished there first CD of 13 original songs, which include three part harmonies, guitar, banjo, and upright Bass. The performance was captured live off the floor from the local pub the Rusty Snail and was a collective effort among the three musicians who shared both the song writing and singing.

The music is the experiences and stories of the County Boys. It could be called bluegrass or roots music but Diamond Dave prefers to call it Pure Love. It is music that tells a story and is from the heart, just like the time when someone stole Dave’s beer and he heartbrokenly wrote a song about it.

The County Boys now live together in the County of Peterborough and share a three story bunk bed. They rehearse all day and then play all night. When they get tired of working on songs they work on astral projection. This makes the County Boys appropriate for almost any venue or function.

AD’s Notes:
Dana is another new artist I discovered through the massive pile of submissions; she has a northern sensibility that really draws you in. Hailing from the North West Territories, we’re really lucky to have Dana journeying down to the southlands to join us this year!

Bio:
Described as a “lyrical satirical poet,” Dana Sipos sews a compelling sound. Likened to the folk minstrels of yesteryear, she’s part politics, part poetry, part hip, part pop, with a dash of blues, hints of soul and a whole lot of heart.

In the fall of 2007, Dana had the fun and luckjoy of representing the NWT in the CBC True North concert series, held in Iqaluit, Nunavut, joined by a host of wonderful musicians from all across the north and the Vancouver Symphony orchestra. It snowed that september on the shores of Frobisher Bay and was a lovely sight to behold.

Written under the influence of the northern moon, with a generous helping of moonshine on the side, Dana’s debut CD, The Moonshine Brigade is that fine moment where cabin fever is finally introduced to her long lost sweetheart, the spring thaw. It’s a glorious reunion. Recorded with Bob Hamilton in the summer of 2008 in a magical little studio, tucked in the woods off the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse, Yukon. Accompanied by mountains and the Yukon River.

Close yer eyes and listen.

AD’s Notes:
Local group Unity work together in the community to keep life flowing in traditions that once were outlawed; their songs express the courage and compassion which is at the heart of their tradition.

Unity is the collective talents of Barb Rivett, Brenda Maracle O’Toole, Heather Shpuniarsky, Paula Sherman and Joeann Argue. We are an Aboriginal a cappella women’s group who perform both traditional songs and contemporary songs within the traditional genre. The group has performed at numerous venues: from education conferences to music festivals – both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. We work in local public schools, offering Aboriginal awareness workshops for elementary students and their teachers. In these workshops we teach the songs and their meaning, and we often bring Elders as storytellers and Indigenous knowledge holders. At Trent University, where we all work and/or study in the Indigenous Studies Department, we are known as the “Trent University House Band”.
It is important to us as Aboriginal educators to reach out into the communities and share with them the knowledge we have been given through song and story. Each of us, in addition to our public work, participates in traditional ceremonies and cultural life. We are working, albeit slowly, to regain our traditional languages as part of our own growth as Anishnaabe Kweg and to pass on to others what knowledge we have gained.

AD’s Notes:
The Weather Station were a new discovery for me this year; combing through a massive pile of submissions, I came upon their songs and was instantly charmed. I’m glad to be able to present them this year, and hope you’ll check out these great young artists.

Bio:
Music is, in essence, a revolt against silence. Tamara Lindeman was not a musician when she decided to make music. But, reeling from a personal loss, she found the usual avenues of expression insufficient. In the absence of talk, she found herself curiously drawn to sound. On a whim, she borrowed her roommates recording equipment. What poured forth was nothing less than a cri de couer. A “post traumatic dreamscape”, in the words of Simon Borer, a band member. Alone in her room, she marshalled banjo, guitar, scissors, pots, pans – whatever she could find to give voice to the lunar landscape of loss.

The story of The Weather Station, though, is not just that of someone alone in her bedroom. Coming from vastly different musical backgrounds, Jack Donovan, Simon Borer, and Dwight Schenk joined forces with Lindeman to re-invent The Weather Station as a powerful live band. In the past year, this band has come into its own, appearing on CBC’s DNTO, playing showcases at NXNE, CMW, and Pop Montreal, touring, releasing an EP, and holding down a wildly successful residency in Toronto’s legendary Tranzac Club with guest performers including $100, Sandro Perri, Eric Chenaux, and Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija.

With the success of the live band, Lindeman turned her attention to live performance. But her recordings continued to grow and evolve. Through trial and error, Lindeman schooled herself in sound and composition, software and effects. Using a single microphone and playing most of the instruments herself, she painstakingly assembled the music which would form the critically acclaimed EP East, and finally grow into the full-length album The Line.
The Line is an album of surprising beauty. Lindeman’s crystalline voice floats over dense forests of banjo, cello, and percussion; folk songs of the utmost simplicity nestle next to urgent, multi-layered instrumentals. It is a meditation on grief that plays itself out not in the real world, but in the fevered imagination of the mind. The album delves deep into loss, regret, memory, anger, and love. In other words; all the things that nobody warns you about.