Entertainers 2010

Festival | Artisans | Entertainment | Schedule | Food

As an established arts and craft festival, the Filberg Festival also appreciates and respects the craft of the musician and has deliberately developed a stellar music program. The Filberg Festival has a roots music feel to it, similar in flavour to an old fashioned folk festival. With a musical line-up which features musicians from all across Canada, as well as Ireland, and the United States, folks are sure to be entertained this year. Most of the performers will be presenting shows on both the Pacific Audio Works Main Stage and on the more intimate Garden Stage. But some performers are only featured on one stage, so check out the schedule in your program carefully so that you don't miss your favourite musician. And don't forget the children. Families will find many activities to keep them occupied in our comprehensive Kid’s Area. Our intention is to make sure that everyone in the family has a good time.

Attention Music Lovers

We anticipate this great music line-up is going to attract enthusiastic fans and we ask that festival attendees be kind and courteous as we try and make room for everyone to have a turn at listening to the music. We might find it necessary to clear the seating area in between the back-to-back sets so that everyone gets a chance to listen to their favourite musician. We are honored to present Jim Cuddy at the festival this year. We will seat as many people as we can at the Jim Cuddy concert, but ask for your co-operation. Our aim is to make sure that everyone has a good time. Remember, if you can’t get a seat in the audience for Jim Cuddy, you will still be able to hear him as you peruse the crafts and search for something to nibble on in the food court.

Babe Gurr

Born on Vancouver Island, Babe’s love of music began at a very young age but it wasn't until she reached the age of twenty five that she joined her first band and never looked back! One of the best-selling Indie recording artists around, Babe's music has been described as honest, rootsy and real, fitting powerful stories to thoughtful music with craftswoman-like precision. The Vancouver based singer, songwriter and guitarist has drawn comparisons to such diverse talents as Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin and Sheryl Crow but she always manages to retain her own unique acoustic roots sound and style. Babe has been the support act for various artists throughout the past years, and has headlined at numerous festivals. Her tunes have been licensed for various shows including the U.S. FOX series Higher Ground which has brought her music to worldwide audiences. Babe appeared on the television show Big Sound as an actress, playing an avant-garde lounge singer and has been a guest on many national shows such as Canada AM and The Jim Byrnes Show. Playing some of the most popular and prestigious concert halls in Canada, spanning from Vancouver Island to The Maritimes as well as throughout the United States, the name Babe Gurr is becoming familiar to many more fans each day, people who appreciate finely crafted songs performed with sincerity.

Blues Panel Concert

At the Filberg Festival, Friday is Blues Day and features our very popular Blues Panel Concert. We take five of the finest Canadian players and put them on stage together and see what happens. Host of the Blues Panel concert this year is Sam Hurrie who will be joined by David Sinclair, Paul Keim, Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick. Each performer is an accomplished musician with their own individual style, but on Friday they come together and take us on a trip down to the Mississippi Delta, sharing their extensive knowledge of the Blues with the audience.
 
David Sinclair – Admittedly most folks do not think of David as a bluesman. From 1992 to 1995, David toured with k d lang, and from 1993 to 2003 he toured with Sarah McLachlan's ensemble, and at the Filberg Festival this year, David is playing with Babe Gurr. He is an amazing guitarist, and he spent hours in the UBC music library listening to and absorbing a wide variety of guitar music that included the Delta Blues.

Paul Keim – He has been in the music business for over thirty years and has played in a variety of western swing bands and jump blues bands. Paul likes tunes with a deep feel, somewhere in between a New Orleans Street Parade, a Memphis back beat, the haunting keen of Muddy Waters and the raw power of Blind Willie Johnson.

Rick Fines - His style is strongly influenced by the blues of the forties and fifties, but with his own fresh take. He is arguably one of the best acoustic finger-style and slide guitarists on the folk and blues circuits in North America today. His classic blues guitar picking and authentic sounding vocals hark back to the blues ancients.

Sam Hurrie - He spent his teens obsessed with the pre-war blues, immersing himself in the Robert Johnson songbook, and in later years he scoured the Mississippi Delta for traces of Johnson, Son House and Charlie Patton. Sam has jammed with Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles and he even had the great good fortune to open for his idol Muddy Waters.

Suzie Vinnick – She started out singing blues at the legendary Bud’s on Broadway in Saskatoon. Captivating and charismatic, Suzie’s performance underlines the essence of the blues. She plays bass, guitar, piano, and mandolin. Suzie has the voice of a blues mama who’s seen it all, a voice that will soothe the keeper at the crossroads.

This year we again dedicate our Blues Panel concert to the Hornby Island Blues Society and all of their hardworking volunteers. Thank-you so very much for the many hours that each of you expends to keep the Blues alive in Canada. Offering one of the premier Blues instructional camps in the country, the Hornby Island Blues Society makes the Comox Valley a great place for fans of the blues when they share their instructors at the annual Blues Odyssey concert at the Sid Williams Theatre in May.

David Sinclair

David was first exposed to the world of professional music as a teenager, playing regularly, refining his guitar skills and performance. At the expense of his academic courses at the UBC's School of Music, he would often spend hours in the music library listening to a wide variety of guitar music from Delta blues, to Django and to classical. Over the next few years he released his first solo album and went on tour with a succession of major Canadian artists. From 1992 to 1995, David toured with k.d. lang and from 1993 to 2003 with Sarah McLachlan's ensemble, traveling extensively in North America, Europe, and Japan. During that period he appeared on television shows including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Arsenio Hall, Saturday Night Live, Larry Sanders, Good Morning America, Rosie O'Donnell, MTV Unplugged, VH1 Storytellers, The Grammy Awards Show, and Juno Awards. As a studio guitarist, David has worked with many Canadian artists including Sarah McLachlan, Michael Bublé, Daniel Powter, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Amy Sky, Rita MacNeil, Paul Janz, Valdy, Susan Jacks, Terry Jacks, Barry Greenfield, Prism, Irish Rovers, Matthew Lien, Gary Fjellgaard and many more. David has played on, and composed music for, many TV series and films, appeared on numerous occasions with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a variety of musical theatre productions and has also produced CDs for a number of artists.

Connie Kaldor

In 1979 Connie decided to pursue a musical career full time, setting out to blaze a trail on the Canadian folk scene. She packed her suitcase, threw her guitar into the back seat of an old Ford and she’s been on the road ever since. Female singer songwriters were somewhat unusual in those bygone days, but nonetheless Connie sang solo and played guitar and piano herself. She broke with tradition even further by talking and joking with her audience, breaking down the wall that often separates spectator from performer. Her seamless combination of musical skill and engaging repartee still sets her apart today. Connie has toured extensively, bringing her music to fans all over North America and to India, China and Europe as well. In 2003, Connie hosted Connie Kaldor @ Wood River Hall, a thirteen part television series showcasing Canada’s finest folk and roots music performers. In 2005 she received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the arts in Canada. In recognition of her contributions to Canadian culture Connie received the Order of Canada in October 2006. Her new album, Postcards from the Road, has just been completed and is sure to be a favourite with fans new and old.

Euphorics

The Euphorics are a joyful, energetic, powerful, seasoned a cappella quartet. Each member of the group is a powerful lead singer so together they create a rich and soulful blend. Their repertoire of top-notch originals and innovative arrangements of covers includes gospel, jazz, classical, and rock. The Euphorics passion for music comes through in performances that feature plenty of humour and audience interaction. They have been performing internationally since 1983. The Euphorics includes Joani Bye (alto) whose voice has graced the albums of Jon Bon Jovi, David Bowie, Rita McNeil and Cher; Helen Davis (soprano) who has been a backup singer for groups such as Doug and the Slugs, Kathi McDonald, and Johnny Ferriera’s Swing Machine; Bing Jensen (bass) a long time Vancouver performer who has won awards for his children’s albums; and Nathan Aswell (tenor) a veteran of Montreal and Vancouver’s rhythm and blues and rock scenes.

Four Chords of Wood

Four Chords of Wood are an energetic group of talented performers based on Vancouver Island. Known for their love of hard driving bluegrass music, Four Chords of Wood's music comprises rich vocal harmonies and strong instrumental accompaniment. The members are all experienced performers grounded in stage presence and audience rapport. Four Chords of Wood is an emerging powerhouse bluegrass band that appreciates the roots and traditions of bluegrass both from the performer and audience’s perspective. They gather around a single microphone, lay down solid rhythm and dress it up with passionate lead vocals, tight harmonies and exciting instrumental solos. Count on hearing waltzes, blues, sentimental numbers, fiddle tunes, gospel and some foot to the floor ravers. Expect to see some fancy footwork as each soloist steps up to the microphone and then makes way for the next.

Four Men and A Dog

Four Men and a Dog are a gathering of stellar traditional Irish musicians who controversially fuse boogie and blues music with a pure drop of the traditional instrumental. It's rare to see them as a group because they all ply such busy solo careers. Every five years or so the call of the wild produces an album, that excites and frustrates the status quo in equal measure. Members of the group include: Gino Lupari (Bodhran, vocals, big heart) who has recorded and performed with, Sinead Ó Connor and Shane McGowan and the Popes. Gino could have a career as a comedian; Gerry O’Connor (known in Ireland simply as Gerry Banjo) who has recorded and played with The Band, Chris Rea, The Dubliners, Rita Coolidge, Bela Fleck and Earl Scruggs; Cathal Hayden (fiddle, banjo) who is the traditional heart of The Dogs. He has been a guest of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, USA and has toured China as a guest with the Dónal Lunny Band; Kevin Doherty (guitar, vocals) is the songwriter of the bunch, having been covered by The Band, Mary Black and many others. He is in demand as a co-writer with the likes of Paul Brady and the great Henry McCullough; and Donal Murphy (the box) rounds off the band’s traditional credentials, All-Ireland winner in accordion competition multiple times he met Cathal in 1990 and formed The Dogs. Dónal has performed with the world famous dancer Michael Flatley in his global production Feet of Flames. The Edmonton Folk Festival has proclaimed Four Men and A Dog as one of the best live shows they have ever seen.

Fred Eaglesmith Band

An award-winning and acclaimed music auteur of the highest order, Fred Eaglesmith has forged a singular and distinctive legacy with his songs, recordings, and live performances. He has done so as a fiercely independent and original artist through the sheer power of the music he creates. His seventeen albums over the last three decades — many of them released on his own label — have consistently evoked critical raves, and he’s been compared to a broad blue-ribbon list of musical icons. His fellow songwriters regularly record his songs and sing his praises. He hosts a number of music festivals across North America, where he plays hundreds of dates a year in addition to touring Europe and Australia. His releases consistently hit the upper reaches of the Americana charts, and he’s the only Canadian to ever write a No. 1 bluegrass hit. His songs have even become part of the course curriculum at two colleges, and the paintings he creates when not making music have been shown in numerous prestigious galleries. Fred comes by his exceptional musicality and lyrical command naturally and honestly. Through dedication to his craft and delivery, he has built his audience ever since he left the family farm at the age of fifteen to become an itinerant troubadour. His life story, in fact, could be the subject of one of his songs. Fred has a deft touch for finding the literary significance within the lives of seemingly common people, rendering their tales, thoughts and feelings into songs with profound humanity and sensitivity. Onstage Fred is a sharp raconteur between songs with tales and observations as keen and compelling as his songs and frequently as hilarious as the best stand-up comedians.

Ginn Sisters

The Fabulous Ginn Sisters have made a career of breaking hearts in clubs all across North America. When Tiffani (lead singer, guitarist, songwriter) and Brit (flute and harmonies) take the stage their performances send chills up and down the spine. Their already constant touring schedule also includes touring as a part of the Fred Eaglesmith Band. Fred was struck by the new band’s rough, rawboned sound and invited them to record the new Fabulous Ginn Sisters CD in his Port Dover, Ontario studio. The result You Can’t Take a Bad Girl Home has recently been completed. The Fabulous Ginn Sisters first made their mark on the Americana scene with their 2006 release Blood Oranges, which received stellar reviews from regional, national and international media. It was the #1 independently released CD on the Americana Chart for 2006 and it was in top rotation on a number of national radio, TV-radio and Internet stations. The Ginns have been singing and playing music together for over twenty years and have brought their stunning harmonies to some of the best listening rooms in the country as well as many of the major folk festivals in North America.

Gord Carter

Gord has been writing and performing music since his early teens. It was the early influences of folk artists such as Bob Dylan, John Prine, Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris that inspired and encouraged him to hone and perfect his craft. Gord was born in the town of Cumberland and is a third generation resident. With his innate storytelling gift, combined with a compassion for the land he lives on, he brings to life stories of draft dodgers, touching tales of his family, and social and political songs from the local area. His sense of melody and thought-provoking lyrics make him one of the foremost songwriters in the Comox Valley today. Gord is not only an excellent songwriter and performer, but he is also an accomplished musician, enhancing his song writing with a guitar-picking style he has made his own. Playing with Gord at the festival will be Kybor Tylor, equally at home on the guitar, mandolin, banjo and the dobro. His accompaniment seems to wind through the music so well that sometimes you don't know he's there till he stops playing. His attention to detail shines through in his music; sometimes he's working with the music, sometimes the music is working with him.

Great Canadian Songs Concert – with NO surprises

Who is your favourite Canadian songwriter? What is your favourite Canadian song? Who is going to perform at the Great Canadian Songs Concert on Monday at the Filberg Festival this year? Let me tell you. Jake Galbraith, Todd Butler and Valdy will be the featured performers at the Great Canadian Songs concert this year, and GASP, there will be no surprise guests! There will be many Great Canadian Songs sung that were written by Great Canadian songwriters who should be considered national treasures.

Jake Galbraith has always loved music. Since moving to Victoria in 1973 he has immersed himself in the local music community as a performer and in various aspects of concert and record production. As a musician who embraces many styles, Jake performs with various ensembles throughout many Vancouver Island communities. His performances draw on musical sensibilities developed in over forty years of performing as a singer and multi-instrumentalist. His voice is full and melodious and he has an engaging stage presence.

Todd Butler, a veteran contributor to CBC Radio and Television, is also a serious musician. With over twenty years of live performance experience as both a musician/vocalist and a comedian, Todd’s skills are finely tuned and he swings easily from lambasting politicians in hilarious political parodies to interpreting the latest news story with a twist. Expressing himself through music is his passion. Todd is a master guitar player and he also writes very touching and meaningful songs in the finest singer songwriter tradition.

Valdy has been a part of the fabric of Canadian folk music for almost forty years. Of Canadian folk artists in the mid-1970s, only Gordon Lightfoot was more popular. One of Canada’s most influential songwriters, he charms listeners with his rich, smooth, singing voice and introduces his songs with genuine warmth, establishing a strong rapport with his audiences. Valdy is the winner of two Juno awards for Folk Singer of the Year and Folk Entertainer of the Year, and has received seven additional Juno nominations. His albums have achieved sales of nearly half a million copies, four of which are certified Gold.

Canada has its own rich folk tradition, a musical heritage of creating wonderful music, arranged and sung from the heart. Songs that paint pictures with lyrics and melodies rekindle many happy memories and have the ability to touch the soul. So on Monday come to the Great Canadian Songs Concert and sing along with the songs that capture the spirit of Canada. Some of these songs are written about the history of our country, some of these songs are written by folks born and raised here and some of these songs are written by folks who have come to this country, to make this country home. They are all powerful songs.

Highrise Lonesome

Highrise Lonesome performs a unique blend of bluegrass and roots music. While honouring their bluegrass origins, they love to explore and branch out to create original new sounds. Sue Malcolm plays guitar and sings lead and harmony in a warm, natural style. She has performed bluegrass, country, old-time, western swing and children’s music for many years, and was a founding member of Vancouver’s Pacific Bluegrass and Heritage Society in 1980. Recognized for her ability to help beginners gain confidence and enjoy making music in a group setting, Sue developed the very popular Slow Pitch Jam method of teaching bluegrass jamming. For the past few years she has been presenting this unique workshop at festivals in BC, Alberta and Washington. Vic Smyth brings great energy to his mandolin playing and lead and harmony vocals. His crystal clear baritone shines on solos and blends seamlessly on harmonies. Don Fraser adds his inventive dobro styling to the line-up and has won numerous awards including first place at the Western Canada Guitar Championship. Stu McDonald on acoustic and electric bass, has made it his mission to revive the role of the bassist-comedian so popular with early bluegrass and country bands. Jay Buckwold on five-string banjo and baritone harmony, has been an active member of the Vancouver Bluegrass community since 1986 and is the founder and director of the amazing British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop.

Jake Galbraith

Jake Galbraith has always loved music. His musical career began in the context of late 1950’s Los Angeles folk revival. After moving to Victoria in 1973 Jake made his living as a player for about ten years in the 1970s and early 1980s. Since then, he has continued to immerse himself in the Vancouver Island music community as a performer and in various aspects of concert and record production. As the very capable Filberg Festival Main Stage MC, Jake facilitates the connection between audience and performer, drawing on his life long love of music and the craft and ritual of musical performance. As well as attending to the task of the MC with warm humour and well-pressed, and occasionally quirky sartorial splendour, Jake will also be a member of the Great Canadian Songs panel concert. As a musician who embraces many styles, Jake performs with various ensembles throughout many Vancouver Island communities.

Jesse Winchester

You could stock a crowd-pleasing jukebox with the songs Jesse Winchester has written and recorded in the past four decades. Many of the better-known versions of his songs have become hits and album staples for artists ranging from Joan Baez to Elvis Costello to Jimmy Buffett. Jesse’s skill in capturing vivid small town vignettes, heartfelt love and love lost situations, and goodtime celebrations has resulted in him being acknowledged as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. The strength, sincerity and humour of Jesse’s songs combine the laidback gentility of his Memphis upbringing with the perspective of his self-imposed Canadian exile after receiving his draft notice in 1967. The ten years that followed may have limited his recognition and eliminated touring in the United States, but the next twenty-five years based in Montreal were voluntary and productive. Jesse is a graceful, soulful vocalist, as memorable a singer as a songwriter. His light southern tenor drawl, warmly wrapped in country/bluegrass/folk arrangements, can gently ascend to the heavens a la Roy Orbison and even capture the sublime hush of Ben E. King’s classic Stand By Me. Jesse was presented with the very highly regarded Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers in 2007.

Jim Cuddy

When Jim got his first guitar at the age of ten, the first song he learned was Gordon Lightfoot’s That’s What You Get For Loving Me. Today, twenty-five years after the formation of Blue Rodeo, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor are widely respected as one of Canada’s best song writing teams. In 1998, Jim released his first solo CD, All in Time, which went on to sell Gold. His second solo album, The Light That Guides You Home hit stores in September 2006 to critical acclaim and won the Juno for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. The Light That Guides You Home delivers impeccably crafted, slightly nostalgic country-rock and roots-pop laced with gorgeous melodies, bittersweet lyrics, heartfelt vocals and twangy sincerity. The CD was recorded throughout the Spring of 2006 at The Woodshed in Toronto. Produced by Jim Cuddy and Colin Cripps (Kathleen Edwards, Oh Susanna, Junkhouse) the album soars from the boozy, honky-tonk piano duet Married Again to the countrified Country Wide Soul to the full-throttle rolling rock of Stagger In. His voice has never sounded better and Jim proves once again that his song writing ranks with the best Canada has to offer. It was the mid-seventies when Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor first met each other in high school. After discovering a mutual love of music, they formed a band called the HiFis. The pair moved to New York City in 1981 and tried to land a recording contract. Three years later they returned to Toronto without a deal but discovered a burgeoning club scene where acts like k.d lang, the Cowboy Junkies and Jeff Healey were honing their chops. Through a series of chance meetings Jim and Greg formed the band Blue Rodeo. Since the release of their debut album, Outskirts, in March 1987, Blue Rodeo have established themselves as one of the premier bands in Canadian music history. They have released ten studio albums, one live album, a Greatest Hits collection, and an award winning DVD, selling in excess of four million copies around the world. We are honoured to present Jim Cuddy at the festival this year.

John Mann

John Mann is the lead vocalist (and along with Geoffrey Kelly, one of the principal songwriters) for the folk rock band Spirit of the West. John’s solo material has none of the frenetic catchiness of SOTW’s best-known songs. Rather, he lopes along at an easy pace, backing adept lyrics with simple instrumentation. He pens beautiful melodies with emotionally honest lyrics that capture the intimate moments of his hometown of Vancouver, its occupants, the fragile details of their dysfunctional love and the loss of a city’s innocence. When John plays alone, he returns to his barebones alternative folk roots using just his acoustic guitar and warm voice to create beautiful melodies and observational insight. John has always been an observational writer; his lyrics are simple, yet filled with lyrical gems. He has released two solo albums to date, Acoustic Kitty and December Looms. John is also an actor working in live theatre, film and television.

Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne

Juno Award winning keyboardist/singer/songwriter Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne plays crackling originals and well-chosen covers that embrace his elemental influences; high-energy boogie-woogie piano, rolling New Orleans blues and jazz, improv heavy Kansas City swing, and vibrant West Coast jump. Kenny is well known for his boogie-woogie capabilities but he also excels in his vocal ability with his richly warm and gritty voice. When a piano player’s got the three most important things – the playing, the voice, and the look – he’s the whole package. “And that’s what attracts me,” says Kenny who favors boldly colored, French custom tailored performance wear. Kenny spent his early years in New Orleans but at the age of eight, he moved with his family to San Francisco and then later on to Los Angeles. A child prodigy on piano, Kenny was encouraged by his preacher father to play gospel music. At this time his Uncle Charlie also secretly introduced Kenny to the radically more exciting boogie-woogie style. By his early teen years, Kenny was an accomplished keyboardist working dozens of gigs during the early 1960s, including a 1962 appearance at the Alpha Bowling Club with the great Jimmy Reed, the biggest blues hit-record king of all time. By the late 1960s Kenny was in tight with the burgeoning Los Angeles soul/R&B scene. The second half of the 1970s saw Kenny moving to Canada, where he established a strong reputation on the western Canada club circuit. His reputation as a gifted keyboardist put him at the top of everyone's on-call list and he established himself not only with the R&B circuit, but also with Vancouver’s blues and jazz communities. Kenny’s full transformation into Blues Boss (the nickname taken from the title of Amos Milburn's Motown Records comeback album) came about following a 1994 tour of Europe. Kenny's longtime passion for Fats Domino and Amos Milburn paid off in the form of star treatment from piano loving European music fans. Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne is one of the premier purveyors of red-hot contemporary blues piano.

The Konsorados

The Konsorados are a husband and wife duo of singer songwriter Donna Konsorado and multi-instrumentalist Bill Konsorado. After years of pursuing separate musical careers, they have come together with a fresh approach that combines their musical talents. Donna's roots in Western Canada stretch from her home on Vancouver Island to the wide landscape of Saskatchewan. With a rodeo cowboy for a father, who played guitar and sang songs by country western artists like Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, and Merle Haggard, Donna couldn't help but soak up some of the old style country in her songs. As a songwriter Donna's unique style of folk music reveals her prairie roots, and embraces the sensibilities of the coastal landscape. She's done her part to maintain the frailing banjo style, but also plays an acoustic guitar during her performances. Bill is a keyboard player and percussionist. He received classical training on piano early in life but soon found improvised music a more natural form of expression. Bill provides instrumental and rhythmic accompaniment to Donna’s original songs as well as adaptations of other songwriter's material. He also performs his own instrumental compositions and unique arrangements of popular melodies. In addition to traditional piano and organ sounds on the keyboard, Bill uses a number of realistic guitar sounds that compliment the rootsy nature of Donna's vocals. Bill is also pioneering a one-man band technique, playing drum kit simultaneously with the keyboard. In addition, Bill plays accordion and hand drum and he has contributed his musical talents on both of Donna's CDs.

Mike Battie

Mike Battie is one of the most experienced juggling instructors in BC and has personally introduced more than 10,000 people to the joy of juggling. He began sharing his performance expertise in 1987 by becoming the resident juggling/unicycle/stilts instructor for Vancouver Cirkids. Mike spent four summers with the Ailanthus organization, teaching Street Performing skills as a vehicle for building self-esteem. In 1995 he began training a group of Abbotsford youths to become the resident performers for the Western Canada Games in that city. This group of high school students later went on to perform professionally with Mike at the PNE, Grey Cup Gala and in a movie. Mike travels every year to Winnipeg and Saskatchewan to share his skills with kids in the C.A.M.P. and C.A.P. programs. Mike has also instructed for the Vancouver School Board's Adult Education program, taught privately for schools, colleges, and corporate functions, and conducted workshops at Science World and at a wide variety of festivals. For twenty years, Mike has been warming hearts young and old with his hilariously dynamic stage show.

Paul Keim

Paul Keim has been a producer, engineer, songwriter and guitarist for almost thirty years. Born in Berkeley, California, Paul is a fifth generation Californian now proud Canadian settled in the Comox Valley. Paul has spent his lifetime playing, writing, recording and thinking about what makes music tick. He played the piano from the age of six to twelve years and then moved on to the guitar. Along the way he has been lucky enough to open up for Albert King, Leo Kottke, Dr. John, Jesse Colin Young and to talk with them, to watch and to learn. His music is an intriguing mix. He pays homage to such diverse early influences as Howlin' Wolf, Joni Mitchell, and gospel slide guitarist Blind Willie Johnson. Anything rootsy really attracts Paul and he enjoys playing acoustic guitar instrumentals, traditional Irish tunes, the blues, and western swing; pretty much anything just so long as there is a nice big groove! “The blues players think I play country, the rock players think I play blues, the country players think I play jazz, the jazz players think I play western swing, and the folk players think I rock too much. I just love to play music.” Paul’s original songs are captivating, tapping into emotional undercurrents, creating images driven by melody and lyric and his guitar playing is dazzling. Paul hopes that his writing and playing will inspire imagery about a time, a place, or a special feeling.

Rick Fines

Rick Fines is an accomplished songwriter, acoustic and dobro guitarist and vocalist with a very recognizable voice that turns from gravel to silk. He is arguably one of the best acoustic finger-style and slide guitarists on the folk and blues circuits in North America. His classic blues guitar picking and authentic sounding vocals hark back to the blues ancients. His work with Jackson Delta for over fifteen years brought him nominations from both the Juno and the Handy Awards. He has played for legendary blues piano player Pinetop Perkins, songstress Colleen Peterson, folk icon Penny Lang and many others. Rick won the Maple Blues Award for Acoustic Act of the Year in 1998 and 1999. In addition to a busy touring schedule, Rick conducts classes and workshops and also works with kids as part of the Blues In The Schools programs in Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto and Fredericton, bringing his understanding of blues, finger-style and bottleneck guitar to the next generation.

Sam Hurrie

Sam Hurrie has been playing blues and roots music for over forty years. He began playing guitar while in elementary school in Toronto. He spent his teens obsessed with pre-war blues, immersing himself in the Robert Johnson songbook and in later years he scoured the Mississippi Delta for traces of Johnson, Son House and Charlie Patton. He started his first band in high school, playing electric R&B around Toronto and went on to play the Yorkville scene in he late 1960's. There were lots of great venues and at that time all the folk blues greats came through the city. Sam was lucky enough to see some of his heroes including Son House, Bukka White, and Sonny Terry and Browny MacGhee. With band mates from his group The Churls, Sam moved to New York City to record for A&M Records. During this time Sam was fortunate enough to jam with some of the greats of the period, including Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles. Sam's all-time thrill, however, was opening for his idol Muddy Waters at New York's Electric Circus. Muddy even held Sam's baby daughter! After several years of touring the United States Sam returned to Canada. Deciding to come in off the road, Sam moved with his family to the west coast. In 2007 Sam moved back to Ontario for a couple of years, but he is now back on the west coast where he continues to play the blues.

Sand Northrup

Sand Northrup loves to teach the skills she uses in her own performances as juggler, unicyclist, stilt walker and clown. Since 1984, she has brought circus arts to literally thousands: at schools across the country, innumerable community centres, festivals, corporate events and special education projects. Sand co-founded the Ailanthus Street Performing program for inner-city youth and taught there three seasons. She coaches at Saskatoon’s Circus Arts Project and the One Wheel Wonders, a unicycle basketball team. She also coordinated the wildly successful Circo Circuit project for the Vancouver International Children’s Festival and now takes her mobile “Circus School” to schools throughout BC. The circus school challenges students to new learning and performing heights. Physical education, performing arts and circus magic all combine in one package with astounding results. In fact Sand’s popularity is due, in part, to her ability to let the children who participate with her be the stars of the show. She empowers children to meet new physical challenges successfully and confidently while creating an exciting, safe and cooperative learning atmosphere.

Sean Hogan

The response to Sean Hogan's 1996 debut album over a decade ago was nothing less than spectacular! His first release immediately caught the attention of country radio programmers and listeners across Canada. Their reaction earned him the first ever C.C.M.A. Independent Male Artist of the Year Award in 1997. Since then, Sean has become one of the highest profiled Canadian singer/songwriter artists, performing his own brand of country and roots music in Canada with an astounding seventeen videos aired on CMT. The singer says he is motivated by the satisfaction of tapping into a song idea, finding its true spirit, and creating a song that reaches people with its story as well as its sheer emotion. Hijacked, Sean's second album, along with his third album Late Last Night, won two consecutive West Coast Music Awards in 2001 and 2002, each for Best Country Album. In 2003, Sean won the C.C.M.A. Roots Artist of The Year Award. He was the first independent artist to win this prestigious award and the only nominee without label support. The following year, Sean personally planned and launched the Canadian Country Christmas Concert tour. In conjunction with country radio, the event assists communities across Canada with funding for food banks, hospital foundations and other essentials for those in need. The first tour was inspired by one of Sean's songs, which ponders the question, "Why not live the whole year through like it’s Christmastime?" The inaugural 2004 tour was so well received that it has become an annual event. To date, the effort has raised close to $85,000 for various communities across eight provinces, and his philanthropy earned Sean the S.C.M.A.'s 2005 Humanitarian Award.

Spirit of the West

Spirit of the West, a quarter century and a half million albums later, are still going strong. They are a Canadian folk rock band popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before developing a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s. SOTW began in 1983 as a Vancouver-based folk trio consisting of John Mann, Geoffrey Kelly and J. Knutson. The band's first major success was with the 1988 album Labour Day, which included the popular single Political and made SOTW a major name on the folk festival circuit. When SOTW toured England, they decided to bring in drummer Vince Ditrich and experiment with a more rock-oriented sound. The band's 1991 album, Go Figure, was the result. Although the album retained the band's folk influences, it was more hard rock than any of the band's previous efforts and won them many new fans in the alternative rock scene. In 1993, SOTW released their most successful album, Faithlift, and scored their biggest hit single, And If Venice is Sinking. SOTW continues to perform and record with many successful albums to their credit. 2008 was a very good year for SOTW. They released the CD, Spirituality 1983 – 2008: The Consummate Compendium, a selection of their greatest hits, and they were inducted into the Western Canadian Music Association's Hall of Fame.

Suzie Vinnick

A Saskatoon native living in Toronto, Suzie Vinnick possesses a gorgeous, powerful voice and performs with a sweet mixture of engaging candidness and unparalleled musicianship. Suzie is a singer songwriter with great depth and versatility. Starting out in Saskatoon, Bud's on Broadway gave Suzie her first taste of stage performance and the electricity of working live with other musicians. A restaurant by day and blues club by night, Bud's provided the venue for a teenaged Suzie to get involved in afternoon jam sessions. Playing live with seasoned musicians, she developed a powerful and emotive vocal style while also becoming a fluid and focused bass player. Although Suzie and the blues had been good to one another, Suzie aspired to write more of her own material. The result was her first CD Angel in the Sidelines, which includes nine original tracks and made Suzie an artist in demand. Suzie has been featured nationally on CBC Radio on Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café, and has performed at many festivals and other venues across Canada and the United States. Suzie also performed for Canadian Peacekeepers in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf. She performs powerfully as a solo act or with her tasteful side players, as a duo and band. She has also been the voice of Tim Horton’s since 2006

Todd Butler

Todd Butler, a veteran contributor to CBC Radio and Television, wants to be taken seriously as a musician. There are not many comedians who can play guitar like Todd. With over twenty years of live performance experience as both a musician/vocalist and a comedian, Todd’s skills are finely tuned and he swings easily from lambasting politicians in hilarious political parodies to interpreting the latest news story with a twist. Todd will perform at the festival as a solo artist, with his trio and also as a member of the Great Canadian Songs panel concert. As a solo artist Todd enraptures the audience with poignant tales of love, friendship, what it means to belong, to be an outsider, to be searching for something real in these crazy, virtual times. Expressing himself through music is his passion, a twisting journey through such varied musical terrain as funk, R+B, reggae, country swing, blues, bluegrass and thoughtful ballads in the finest singer songwriter tradition. The Todd Butler Trio has Todd on guitar and vocals, Todd Sacerty on bass and Phil Wipper on drums. They do an exciting mix of folk rock and adult contemporary originals including some songs from their new CD, Psychedelic Cowboys, as well as some old favourites from the past ten years.

Traci Skuce

Start the day off right. Get your body limbered up for the Circus workshops and have fun playing a variety of games that encourage flexibility and freedom in your body. Traci Skuce is a certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor who teaches in the Comox Valley. She has been studying and teaching yoga since 1997 and aspires to teach yoga with precision and lightness. Traci finds that yoga has become as essential to her daily life as breathing and she enjoys sharing her yoga skills with others. She teaches in a friendly and informed manner so her yoga classes are fun. Traci not only teaches adults, but also regularly presents yoga classes for young children at schools throughout the Comox Valley area. Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them. Yoga brings to the surface that marvellous inner light that all children have. Traci enjoys practicing yoga with youngsters and invites them to join with her to stretch like a dog, balance like a flamingo, breathe like a bunny, or stand strong and tall like a tree.

Valdy

Valdy is a terrific entertainer, an energetic performer, dancing and prancing, dipping and swaying while singing and strumming on stage. He introduces his songs with genuine warmth and establishes a strong rapport with his audiences. He charms listeners with his rich, smooth, singing voice and skillful guitar playing. Born in Ottawa, singer-songwriter Valdy moved to British Columbia in the 1960s, where he farmed for several years near Sooke. Adopting a country-folk style, he performed in Victoria coffee houses and in 1972 came to national notice with his first mainstream single, Rock and Roll Song. Valdy is the winner of two Juno awards for Folk Singer of the Year and Folk Entertainer of the Year, and has received seven additional Juno nominations. His albums have achieved sales of nearly half a million copies, four of which are certified Gold. Of Canadian folk artists in the mid-1970s, only Gordon Lightfoot was more popular. Many other artists have recorded Valdy’s songs. Although less prominent during the 1980s, Valdy remained a fixture on the Canadian folk circuit, maintaining a yearly itinerary of some two hundred performances. In the 1990s he continued to tour and perform extensively, and he released several more albums. The notion of duets blossomed with the Contenders album, a collaboration with cowboy singer-songwriter Gary Fjellgaard. The two toured extensively throughout Canada, and continue to perform together frequently. When not on the road with Gary, Valdy travels throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia playing concerts for his many fans.