The 2017 Roots and Blues Festival will be a celebration of diversity.
Artistic director Peter North is building a performers’ list that pays tribute to Canada’s 150th anniversary and features a slate that will appeal to all ages.
“It just continues to add to the diversity of the list we’ve already released,” says North of six new additions –Frazey Ford, Braden Gates and Toubab Krewe will appeal to the younger set. “Personally, I am really excited about Toubab Krewe; they play a combination of West African and jam bands music and they play all the major festivals like the Bonnaroo in the States.”
Canadian singer Frazey Ford and her band have figured out a cumulative average from the sounds of two old records: Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together and Neil Young’s Harvest – two albums released within two weeks of each other in 1972. Memphis soul and Northern California folk-rock: not too far apart from each other, as it turns out.
For 10 years now, Ford has been harmonizing sweetly and trading verses with the two other members of the Be Good Tanyas, whose easygoing vocals and rustic folk-pop have made them mainstays on Vancouver’s music scene.
In going solo, she’s carving out her own niche while proving that she can anchor a full album on her own.
• Some music is so original it seems snatched from the great, invisible substrata that runs below all human activity, a sound aching to be born without a flag or fixed allegiance – free, questing, overflowing with immediate, tangible life.
This is the music of Toubab Krewe, the vibrant Asheville, NC-based instrumental powerhouse that lustily swirls together rock, African traditions, jam sensibilities, international folk strains and more.
While nearly impossible to put into any box, it takes only a few moments to realize in a very palpable way that one is face-to-face with a true original who recognizes no borders in a march towards a muscular, original, globally switched-on sound.
Formed in 2005, Toubab Krewe has tenaciously honed their craft through relentless touring and a fierce dedication to carving out something they can truly call their own.
• Braden Gates is a young man, which may come as a surprise to anyone who has heard his brand of classic foot stompin’, fiddle playin’, guitar pickin’ folk.
It would be easy to stereotype Gates as an old soul, but despite his love of traditional folk instrumentation and songwriting and old-timey stage clothes, Gates’ sound carries a youthful feel and never feels affected or inauthentic.
Through the ease with which he bows his fiddle and picks his guitar, and the straightforward uncluttered honesty of his lyrics, Gates has a natural way with a story. And storytelling really is at the centre of Gates’ writing: songs about characters hanging out on Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue and other tales of lives lived.
Gates’ warm and slightly gravelly voice relays stories that are funny and heartbreaking, full of wit and wisdom, folksy charm and sharp observations.
•Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle offer a rare opportunity to see three of the world’s finest traditional musicians share a stage. Master of flutes, whistles and Uillean pipes, Mike McGoldrick is a founding member of Flook and Lunasa, and is a current member of Capercaillie.
McCusker’s unique fiddle playing has earned him a worldwide reputation as one of the most gifted and versatile musicians of any genre. Doyle’s gift as a guitarist, songwriter and vocalist have played an essential role in the ongoing renaissance of Irish traditional music.
“Paddy Malone of the Chieftains has said that McGoldrick, McCusker and Doyle are one of the greatest Celtics act ever,” says North. “I have seen these guys in various configurations and it’s an intense and brilliant music experience as you are ever going to find.”
•Stephen Fearing was born in 1963 in Vancouver and grew up in Dublin, Ireland where his schoolmates included future members of U2. In 1981, he moved to Minneapolis, Minn. and immersed himself in the music scene, learning the fundamentals of songwriting and performing, while washing dishes to stay alive.
By 1984 he was back in Vancouver, determined to become a professional musician. In the years since, he’s been named one of the finest songwriters in Canada and has built a national – and international – audience for his music, doing it old school through countless performances at intimate venues and on the concert stages of festivals and theatres across Canada and the world.
Don’t miss Salmon Arm’s hottest show of the summer from Aug. 18 to 20 at the fairgrounds.
Tickets at member earlybird prices are available until March 31. To get yours, go to www.rootsandblues.ca, or call 250-833-4096.