The Calgary Folk Festival
July 27-30, 2006

Day 1: Thursday, July 27

I can't really recall what it was that convinced me to return to the Calgary Folk Festival this year (I was also at the festival in 2004; I even have crappy photos to prove it), but I'm glad I decided to make the journey. Nothing seemed truly earth shattering on the lineup, but as always, the lineup was pretty stacked with quality performers and some that were definitely worth seeing for the sake of curiosity.

First off, a compliment. The festival, for the most part, is very audience friendly. I admit that I don't understand why I need 4 wristbands (one per day), instead of one for the weekend, forcing me to wait in line every day (and why do they always end up ripping out a big chunk of arm hair with the adhesive tabs? Am I just that hairy?), but the lineup is waaaaay faster than in Winnipeg. I guess good security isn't a bad thing, but in Winnipeg, they're a little hyper-sensitive. The wacky gate security wasn't going to let me in this year because I changed from their bland, boring, could get at a dollar store lanyard, to one that I liked better (it was handed out a decade or so ago, emblazoned with the Folk Fest logo, and I think that's a great thing), and they always beat the heck out of my bag when they're "checking" it. (how squeezing my bag and asking me if I have glass in it is a good idea or going to do any good, I just don't know, but you put up with some wacky crap when you love festivals as much as I do.) In Calgary, you just breeze past the friendly gate staff as they slap on your wristband. I love that. It's almost as if they trust me not to do anything bad. I mean, seriously, what am I going to smuggle into a festival that's really going to cause that much trouble anyway?

KK saying: "what, I have to wait in line like these common folk? Don't they know who I am?"

But on the heels of that compliment comes my first major complaint. And it's a big one, because it drives me crazy. Who in the world planned out that main entrance? It's a bloody zoo! To get ANYWHERE, you have to walk down this narrow path that is bordered on both sides by all of the food vendors. At non-peak times, it takes a while to get down the path. At major mealtimes, it's almost impossible. The best part is that they drive golf carts down there ALL THE TIME. How is it that nobody can figure out a better solution? It takes forever to get from one end to the other, but you really don't have another choice. Here's some free advice, Calgary: MOVE THE FOOD to the back path where the craft vendors are now. People will still buy food. You don't need to force me down a path that is far too crowded in order for me to figure out that there is good food available. Sooner or later, I'll get hungry and seek it out. I promise.

Once again, nice to see the huge lineups for Winnipeg restaurant, India Palace. Man I love that place, and judging by the huge lineups, Calgarians do too! Too bad there were too many of them in line, so I ended up going with other options most times, but don't worry, I'll be at India Palace on Ellice before you know it. There are some other great food options too (I absolutely loved the BBQ truck, and judging by the number of times I saw him in the lineup, so did Stephen Fearing!) Oh yeah, the festival (sometimes I get distracted by thoughts of food...)

Thursday night was kind of about scoping out the festival for me, because there was nothing that I was dying to see on. My friend Kristi and I went more to get our bearings around the festival than to see any music.

And so, I will admit that I missed the first band, Frigg, entirely, and I was sitting comfortably in the beer garden when the first act I had any interest in, Dan Bern, came on. Another huge kudos to the Calgary Folk Fest. Your beer garden rocks. Sure, it's expensive for a single drink (maybe oil-rich Calgarians can afford a $5 beer, but I'm from Winnipeg, I'm broke, and I'm cheap), but then they give you the bulk option. As a Winnipegger, it is in my blood to find a better deal, and the $20 pitcher is just that. A great selection of beverages (sure, I'd rather have Winnipeg's Fort Garry Brewing doing the catering, but they don't even sell Fort Garry at our festival (another sore spot about our festival, which I really do love... honest...)), and the convenience of the pitcher option made the beer garden a daily destination for me and KK.

Essential makin's of a great festival: a program and beer.

I really only love one song by Dan Bern (it's called "Jerusalem," in case you care), and it's off his first album, from almost a decade ago. You can forgive me for thinking that he might not play it. Imagine my shock and amazement, when I heard from overtop my glass of Big Rock Honey Brown, the familiar strains of that song coming from main stage. I left KK in charge of the pitcher (I'm sure that she drank most of it while I was gone, but I probably would have done the same).

Imagine my surprise when I bumped into another UMFM host, John Prentice (of the fine show Planet Mainstage, Saturdays 2-4 pm), who had run up to snap some photos of Bern also. Bern played our festival a few times years ago (he's responsible for a funny folk fest memory that T-Bar and I still talk about. One time at a workshop, before it got underway, he was tossing a tennis ball into the audience and having people throw it back to him. You know, some good, innocent fun. Well either the audience member had bad aim or Dan couldn't catch, probably both, but at one point, Dan missed the ball and it slammed right into Mae Moore's guitar! I thought she was going to kill him dead right then and there. I'm sure she and the other musicians didn't think it was funny, but the look on their faces was priceless), and he did some fine shows at The West End Cultural Centre, but he's absolutely disappeared from the Winnipeg concert radar for a long time now, so it was good to run into him and see what he'd been up to.

It was back to finish off the pitcher after that. Niyaz seemed to be a big hit on mainstage, and they sold out of CDs quickly, but I didn't catch a minute of their set. Maybe next year.

What little I did see of main stage was enough to know one thing: MC Howie Miller is AWFUL. He's a "comedian" I guess, but plays the Aboriginal comic thing too heavily, and tells really bad jokes and does really annoying impressions? Who booked this dolt? Worse yet, who the hell thought it was a good idea to have him do a second night (definitely more on that later...)

We did stroll over to the side of the stage to watch a bit of Feist's set. I was blown away by her the first time I saw her, but I must admit, the novelty has worn off for me as it's won over a huge hipster crowd. I'm glad she has a lot of fans now and is doing well, but I wish she'd release a new CD and prove that she's not just that one trick pony. Her latest cash-grab compilation is awful. Sorry, it is.

Her band was great and I liked what I heard, but not enough to stand there and watch forever. We hadn't been concerned or sharp enough to set up a tarp, so we were left to our own devices, and those took us back to the hotel for an early night in preparation for the long days that were to follow.

Day 2: Friday, July 28

Because Alberta's festivals don't book anything during the day on Friday, the first part of it was spent visiting KK's friends, and making some new friends at the used CD shops in Calgary. Help! Calgary stole my money! At least I picked up a bunch of new CDs for the ride home and of course for the radio show (my favourite excuse for overspending!)

Friday mainstage started out with a couple of acts that I wasn't dying to see (you can't be dying to see it all), which was convenient, because it allowed us to hit the "Twilight Stage" to see one of the best live bands in Canada (or probably anywhere else), Elliott BROOD. I've seen the BROOD a bunch of times now, and I don't think I will ever, ever get tired of seeing them. They are absolutely amazing any time I've ever seen them. I often wonder if they ever have a bad show or don't get along, but I've seen absolutely no evidence of either.

There's something dark and evil sounding about BROOD's music, and now I know why! Casey is a demon with no face or hands!

He puts on the face just for the show, but if you look really closely, you can tell that it's a fake.

Sadly, one of those festival conflicts forced us from seeing the whole set. One of the acts that I hadn't seen before but was dying to, was Robbie Fulks, and he played the main stage about half way through the BROOD set at the secondary stage. We'll be seeing the BROOD through Winnipeg regularly (at least I hope that continues), so there was no need to miss Fulks, who has never been in Winnipeg, to my knowledge.

I don't know as much about Fulks as I probably should, but I know that he's kind of unpredictable. I have 3 Fulks recordings, and each one is totally different, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Luckily, he and his amazing band put on a great, straight up country show that is better than any of the crap you hear on country radio or at big country festivals. The guy's songs are amazing, the band was hot, and it was a really fun show. Definitely a festival highlight and a show-of-the-year contender.

Another thing that I love about the Calgary Folk Fest is the autograph tent outside the music store. After 33 years, you'd think someone in Winnipeg would be smart enough to put this together. It's a great, convenient way for stalkers like me to chat with artists without chasing them down before and after workshops, like we do in Winnipeg. Fulks was so charming and easy to chat with, which made his appearance that much better. People seemed to really like Robbie, which was great to see, and his CDs were completely sold out the first night!

Next up on main stage, another act I was very much looking forward to, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Unfortunately, I spent so much time schmoozing with Robbie Fulks that I missed much of their set! Just one of the many hazards of a musical obsession.

I used to be a hugely obsessed fan of The Jeff Healey Band when I was much younger. Since then, he's grown up, and obviously so have I, because back then I never would have dreamed that I would love his band playing music from the 20s as much as I do. The half of the set that I saw was fantastic, and had me wishing that someone at our jazz festival would book this band.

More shameless shmoozing, before settling back at the tarp to watch the rest of the main stage.

Up next was Bedoin Soundclash. They're all the rage these days, and they're playing every festival in the free world, so I was curious to actually sit down and listen. I try to be open minded and like or dislike everything only after a good listen, but I went in with a bad attitude about the band, and it was confirmed. I watched the whole show, and tried to give them a chance, but I am now comfortable in saying that I hate them. Much like Great Big Sea before them, they lucked into a largely ignored, amazing and fun genre, and totally stripped the soul out of it for mass consumption, leaving a substanceless form of entertainment created in search of the evil dollar.  Too harsh? Try to sit through a show and tell me what I'm missing. Please.

One highlight of the evening was MCs Kris Demeanor, Chantal Vitalis, and Lorrie Matheson. A little homegrown talent to host the big night, and they did an awesome job. I liked the fact that there were three of them, to change things up and make it interesting (unlike Howie Miller, who was not interesting), and I liked the fact that they were musicians who could play their way through some of the silences (unlike Miller, who only created awkward silences). Festival ADs... if you need a good MC (and Winnipeg desperately does. Who thought booking CBC hosts as MCs was a good idea? Bring back Dean Jenkinson, the Prairie Flower guy, Peter Paul Van Camp, and Les Barker, and leave the radio hosts on the radio), book Kris Demeanor. He did an awesome job in Calgary a couple of years ago, Regina last year, and Calgary this year. Kris, you're good.

The 'tweener was New Orleans musician John Boutte, who was very lively and very entertaining, and a good fit for the slot just before the big headliner.

Now if only she had been as good as Boutte... Macy Gray was the big name of the night, and although I couldn't tell you the name of one of her songs or tell you anything other than that she was in Spiderman, I was very interested to see what her show was like. The "show" was impressive. It's styled after the great R&B revues (it reminded me of the amazing Wilson Pickett show at Edmonton Folk Fest in 2000), with a very tight band and cute girls in matching outfits singing and dancing. It's a good thing they were singing and dancing, because Macy Gray sure wasn't. I'm not sure what I'd call what she was doing, but it wasn't good. She kind of spoke/rapped lyrics, but generally left all of the work up to the band. When we finally gave up on her, she started in on a long, spoken interlude that people were talking about for the rest of the weekend. Apparently she went deeply into the use of the "F" word, and swore her way through a 10 or 15 minute sermon of some kind. It was fun to listen to the talk about it in the line the next day. Some people thought she was talentless, some thought she was drunk or stoned, but nobody at all seemed all that impressed with her. Kudos to Calgary's AD for giving her a try, it added a little interesting star-power, but good lord I hope nobody ever books her at a folk festival again.

Day 3: Saturday, July 29

The first full day of workshops, and the lineup looked pretty good. As usual, there were some tough decisions to be made, but all in all, I think we did a pretty good job of sniffing out the winners. At least, I had no complaints about the sessions I attended.

First up was a great women's workshop, featuring Chantal Vitalis and Diane Kooch (and the token male, drummer Peter Moller) of Kris Demeanor's band, Feist, Melissa McClelland, and Rachelle Van Zanten. Having seen Kris's band a number of times, I knew that Chantal would be great, and Feist is always interesting, but I suppose I was most interested in McClelland.

I'm one of very few people (about 4, actually) who can say that they saw Melissa in Winnipeg way back when she was an unknown, unsigned artist. She's part of an occasional supergroup called Ladybird Sideshow, and I fell in love with them when I first heard them 3 years ago or so. The day the Ladybirds were in Winnipeg, Melissa met with the record company execs that would go on to sign her and put out her records. They're great records, and I was eager to see her again, and I would not be disappointed.

The real surprise of the workshop was Rachelle Van Zanten, who I found out later on used to be in a fine band called Painting Daisies, but now is on her own. She's a killer bluesy, slide guitar player, who can hold her own on any stage. She definitely wasn't just the token local on this stage, she made everyone take notice when she performed, and she was great at encouraging participation amongst the artists onstage, which I really appreciate at a workshop.

HA! My friend Kristi wasn't always a music nerd. In fact, she knew nothing about music and listened to crappy radio rock before T-Bar and I corrupted her. Now look at her! Stalking Feist backstage for autographs! Welcome to the club, KK!

Man I love the CKUA. Sure, Alberta has the mountains and the outdoors, and the booming economy and all, but for my money, the best thing about Alberta is the CKUA. If I were any good at all, I would dream of being on the CKUA (I secretly think I'm better than some of the hosts I've heard, but most of them make me sound very silly). It wouldn't make any sense for CKUA not to have a big presence at an Alberta Folk Festival, and there they are, right at the main gate. They set up this little tent and broadcast live from the festival, featuring festival performers.

Luckily, they gave some great exposure to some Winnipeg acts, like Jaxon of the D. Rangers.

Next up was a surefire workshop winner, "Countrier than Thou," featuring Robbie Fulks, local guy Tom Phillips, Elliott BROOD, and Stompin' Tom wannabe, Tim Hus. Fulks was awesome, entertaining, and lively, and BROOD, well, they can do no wrong in my eyes (and they go on proving that I'm right about that.) Tim Hus, well, I guess Stompin' Tom's gotta die some day, and Hus will be there with the formulaic goofy novelty songs about Canada to step in and take Tom's place some day. Phillips has never wowed me, but I thought he did ok here.

One of the real highlights was when Elliott BROOD led the rest of the performers in a rousing rendition of Neil Young's "Time Fades Away." Bet you wish you were there, right? Well, I can help. Click here to view a short video clip of that performance.

I admit that during the artists that weren't Fulks or BROOD, I ducked out to the stage next door to see bits of my friend Kris Demeanor's concert.

Kris reminds me of Danny Michel a bit. He's a natural-born entertainer who wows me way more on stage than on record. But Kris is also one of the most clever, sly, witty songwriters in this or any other country. Kris is too damn smart for his own good, and too darn fun to be relatively unknown in this country.

Much like last year's Regina Folk Fest, Kris did his "lay on the ground in the audience and sing" thing, and again, it was totally entertaining.

KK and I split up after this, because we couldn't agree on where was best to be. She saw Luke Doucet & Feist in "The Kids Are Alright" at stage 1, and I went to see "Phat Pickins" (whatever that meant) at stage 2. It featured folkies Doug Cox & Sam Hurrie, and Erynn Marshall & Chris Coole, alongside one of my favourite singer/songwriters, Stephen Fearing, and the mighty roots rock legend, Dave Alvin. It was a weird combination that didn't entirely click, but there were some great musical moments.

Unfortunately, the workshop brought to light perhaps my biggest complaint about this great festival. The sound crews at the workshop stages are entirely incompetent. I think I was at one workshop where a performer didn't complain about something or have some kind of sonic problem that the crew was incapable of dealing with. This workshop was absolutely the worst. Stage 2 has this weird arrangement where the monitor mixer is behind the stage, so the performers can't communicate at all and get what they want. It doesn't really matter, because nobody seemed to know what was going on back there anyway. At no point during the workshop could Dave Alvin hear his guitar at all. Instead, his monitor was BLASTING Stephen Fearing's guitar. When Alvin was really frustrated and mad, a stage hand, who I suppose was trying to be helpful, came out and explained to Alvin that things were "really messed up" and that they were going to "try" to get his monitor working properly, but it wasn't likely that they were going to get it. You don't tell a performer that! Alvin was mad, but he handled it like a pro. Chris Coole definitely lost his cool when their microphone didn't work, and mics had to be moved around after every song. Even that didn't work, as we couldn't hear the instruments properly. Even one of the nicest, calmest guys in the business, Stephen Fearing got frustrated and angry about the sound woes. True, the performers probably should have sucked it up and not made such a big, public deal of things, but how hard is it to mic 6 people and 6 instruments? We never, ever had these problems when I worked stage at Winnipeg Folk Fest for 10 years, and I've never seen another festival with such persistent sound screw ups before. The problems were totally common two years ago when I was in Calgary, and nothing has changed. Folks, come to Winnipeg, we'll show you how we run our stages, I promise.

The workshop featured some great performances by some great musicians who tried to make the best of an awful situation, but there was really no common ground with the performers, and no clear theme or connection, so there was no real interaction between performers, and no real "magic" here. I was excited to see Alvin, and sitting right at his feet was a treat, and I didn't realize it at the time, but this was the only time I would see Fearing, whom I love, so I'm glad I went to this one, but because the performers weren't happy, I wasn't happy, and I didn't exactly come away glowing.

I'm not sure how we managed it (beer may have been involved), but we managed to not see much for a couple of hours. Perhaps I was abducted by aliens, or perhaps I spent too much time in the CD tent, because I really don't remember seeing anything until 4:30, and there were some good things to be seen.

I did manage to catch a few minutes of Winnipeg's D. Rangers, performing live in the Megatunes CD tent. This is one of those great bands that just loves to play, anywhere, anytime, so seeing them in a CD store or on stage or on a street corner is not surprising, but what is surprising is how good they are all the time (more on that later.)

I also managed to wander over and briefly see Salt. This is a new supergroup of sorts, that I only found out about a week before the festival. Salt features someone we've come to know and love, Allison Russell, of Po' Girl, alongside Awna Teixeira (who also plays with Po' Girl), and most surprisingly, Austin singer/songwriter Anna Egge, who is a fine artist in her own right.

The bit of down time was ok, because it allowed me to gear up for what was surely the one can't miss workshop of this festival. The Calgary weekly entertainment paper said that if you only saw one workshop at the festival, this should be it, and I wholeheartedly agreed. It was a strangely titled one, "Roots 66", but featured a dream lineup of legends, with not a weak act anywhere in sight. I still can't believe that I saw Dave Alvin, Jay Farrar of Son Volt, Robbie Fulks, and Eliza Gilkyson on one stage. Alvin at one point thanked whoever thought of putting them together onstage, and I have to repeat that for sure. Even if this had been like a Winnipeg workshop where each artist does a song in turn without much help or interaction, it would have been a winner, with 4 amazing, amazing songwriters sharing a stage. But the magic of this one was that each artist spurred the next on, and Fulks, Gilkyson, and Alvin's bandmates backed up everybody (funny that Farrar, the only guy who is actually part of a band, was the only one to show up solo. They played originals, covers, they worked together, they raised the bar for one another, and it was amazing.

This was perhaps the most amazing workshop I've ever seen. I remarked afterward that it was a good thing there weren't any more sessions that day, because there really wouldn't be any point in going to see any more anyway. This was one of those amazing alignments of the stars that will never happen again, and I was sure glad to have been there to witness it.

Saturday main stage was the night I was most looking forward to.

It kicked off with Kathleen Edwards.

My pal Stu Reid (host of CKUW's Twang Trust) turned me on to Kathleen way back in the beginning, and I've been a big fan ever since. We've watched her grow from small-time solo performer to international star. Along the way, she's forgotten about us entirely, and hasn't headlined a Winnipeg show in 3 years, so it was good to remember what she looked like and see what she'd been up to for so long. I think she's a much more seasoned and professional live performer now (I don't think I heard her swear on stage once!). We got to hear some great new songs and some great covers (including Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," and another fun Linda Rondstadt song that I've completely drawn a blank on...

For this set, Kathleen was joined by her husband/guitarist Colin Cripps, and the brilliant and hugely underrated Jim Bryson. I think I was more excited about seeing Jim than her (even in a supporting role). He adds a lot to her sound and her show.

I'm not sure whether it was because it was fairly early or she was playing quieter, acoustic stuff or what, but Kathleen seemed to fail to really grab most of the audience and force them to pay attention. People were constantly chatting and walking around, and it didn't seem like a lot of people were glued to her like we were.'

Wanna hear Kathleen's set? (well, part of it anyway) Visit my secret Kathleen Edwards shrine

I gotta throw in some bad news even though it was a pretty solid, amazing night. Howie Miller SUCKS. He was MC again (why, I can't imagine), and not only was he not any better, he did the SAME MATERIAL that bombed on Thursday. He kept asking if anyone could hear him (and I kept shouting, "UNFORTUNATELY"), which obviously showed me that the moron didn't understand that we just weren't listening, because he was so annoying. Please, if you ever want me to come back to Calgary Folk Fest, make sure Howie is not anywhere near Calgary at the time. Please.

Dave Alvin, Dave Alvin, Dave Alvin! I'd seen him in Winnipeg a few years ago and was totally impressed, so I was definitely looking forward to seeing him in Calgary. Unfortunately, I'd recently picked up his new album, "West of the West," and I hate it. The songs are good, but Alvin is so laid back on it, he's almost comatose. I was totally afraid that he would sleepwalk through his set like he did the album, but boy was I pleasantly surprised.

If Robbie Fulks's set hadn't been so energetic and amazing the night before, this would have been an easy pick for concert of the festival (I still give him the edge over Fulks, but Fulks gave Dave a run for the title). This was definitely a strong contender for show-of-the-year. A really rockin', tight, energized set from Alvin (at the disastrous workshop earlier in the day, Alvin remarked that later on he'd be carrying a big loud electric guitar and would take his frustrations out on it. I guess I might be glad the sound was so bad earlier then, because he worked that guitar like a madman), who proved that his slow album was not at all indicative that he'd lost his inner rocker.

Nothing could adequately top that show, so it was off for a break. I was totally fired up to add some more Dave Alvin to the collection, so I made a trip to the CD tent, before some dinner and some drinks. I could sort of hear Little Axe, who were up on main stage after Alvin, but they didn't draw me in at all, so we didn't make our way back to the tarp until after their set, when Luke Doucet was up to do a 'tweener set.

Doucet is another of those uniquely gifted live performers who always has me drawn right into his set. Even as a short filler way off to the side of the stage, he engaged me and entertained me. Of course, he had his wife, Melissa McClelland along, and he pulled out his secret weapon, his 10 year old daugher Chloe, who once again got up on stage to duet on Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl," and absolutely blew everybody away. The kid's got more talent and poise at 10 than I'll ever have. Watch for her later in life.

Next up was legendary alt.country/rock group, Son Volt, who, as they had done in Winnipeg, pulled off a really rockin', exciting set featuring Farrar's great songs.

Last up was legendary singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson. I knew that Kristofferson was a great songwriter, and you can't help but have heard some of his songs, but I had no idea how many great songs he has at his fingertips. Truth be told, Kristofferson isn't the greatest live performer in the world, his voice is weak with age and abuse, his guitar was awkwardly out of tune (even though he had another one there), he played the wrong harmonica at one point, leading to an awkward silence where the song-ending solo was supposed to be, and, as Kristi remarked, he doesn't seem to know how to end a song, but somehow, it all just contributed to his charm. Luckily, the crowd was silent, and almost nobody left early (in sharp contrast Macy Gray the night before, who played to the backs of many heads as we streamed out during her set). Because of this, it was really easy to sit and pay attention to the man's great words and enjoy his powerful songs.

Kristofferson took the stage a bit before 10:30, and the night was supposed to end by 11:30. I wasn't sure Kristofferson would last an hour, but he did and showed no sign of slowing down when he got the signal to quit at 11:30. People loved him and I guess they knew it, because he came back on stage and said, "They told me that I'd run out of time, but they're letting me do a couple more." He started and didn't show any signs of letting up as we started to pack up and head out. Another brilliant programming move. Kristofferson was a great way to cap off a great day at this festival.

Day 4: Sunday, July 30

The final day of any festival always brings real mixed emotions. On the one hand, you're sad to see it end already when you're having so much fun, and on the other hand, you've seen so much and had such long, hot days, you're ready to get some rest. Calgary was no different.

First up was another surefire winner of a workshop, "West of the West," featuring Salt, Romi Mayes & Dan Walsh, Dave Alvin, and the D. Rangers.

Not surprisingly, this was another highly interactive, energetic and fun workshop, even though several of the performers complained of the early hour and their aching heads. They soldiered on and put on a great show. Romi Mayes continues to impress me more all the time, especially alongside the great Dan Walsh. The D. Rangers could party up a funeral, and Salt was very impressive and engaging. Strangely, it was the veteran rocker Dave Alvin who didn't really seem to get into this workshop as much. He didn't really join anyone else or interact all that much, but he was typically impressive on his own anyway.

After the "West of the West" workshop wrapped up, we headed over to catch the tail end of "Feed Your Head," featuring Eliza Gilkyson, The Mammals, Dan Bern, and Jez Lowe.

Gilkyson has quickly become one of my favourite singer/songwriters with her last couple of amazing albums. I wish someone would bring her to Winnipeg. In the past year, I've travelled to see her in Guelph at the Hillside Festival, and to Minneapolis to see her in concert. She's a really powerful and engaging performer and writer who deserves much more recognition than she gets.

After this we got a bit of a break. We did some negotiating about where to go and what to do, and although there were other options, we opted to go get set up at stage 6. Up right away was one that sounded interesting, called "Emotional Weather Report," featuring Dar Williams, Great Lake Swimmers, Ronnie Hayward, and Lorrie Matheson. I really wanted to see Dar and the Swimmers at some point, but the real reason we rushed into this one was so we could be assured a good spot at the workshop to follow...

Great Lake Swimmers was one of the bands I really wanted to catch at the festival, but this would turn out to be my only chance. I wondered how their lo-fi, dreamy songs would translate at a bustling festival, but here under the tent, we were captivated. The Swimmers were one of a few acts who had played half a country away the same weekend. Amazingly, they, Kathleen Edwards, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Dubblestandart, Feist, and Niyaz all played at the Hillside Festival in Guelph the same weekend! (I went to Guelph last year. Wanna read about it? Click here).

Again, sound problems threatened to derail things as Ronnie Hayward's band struggled to be heard. First he had no vocals, then no bass, and he wasn't impressed.

After this, we were in good position for another can't-miss workshop. It was can't-miss only because it was the one and only workshop featuring Jim Bryson doing his only songs. Jim plays alongside Kathleen Edwards, but he should really be out there getting more famous for his own stuff, because it's brilliant.

Jim and Kathleen performed a great duet on Jim's song "Somewhere Else," which is on Jim's album, "The North Side Benches," and Kathleen's album "Back to Me."

Wish you were there?
View Video Clip 1
View Video Clip 2

Did I mention that there's a really big, really ugly pole placed right in front of the stage? Gotta love that.

Pretty much throughout the workshop there were persistent sound problems (again) and really annoying feedback. Eventually, Jim discovered that the guitar amp he was given was a big part of the problem, and he was forced to find another way to play. He asked Kathleen to borrow her guitar, and much to everyone's surprise, she initially told him no! Eventually she relented and allowed him to use her guitar. Jim's such a good sport.

Both Bryson and Kathleen debuted new songs at this workshop, which totally made it worth going to. Bryson's long awaited follow up to the best album anyone released anywhere in 2003, "The North Side Benches," is almost complete and should be out shortly. I love Jim dearly, but I'm not holding my breath with anticipation of it arriving right away. Genius takes time.

Even more surprising than the great new songs by Kathleen and Jim was the way Lorrie Matheson totally won me over over the course of two workshops. I'd heard his record and thought it was simply "ok," but obviously I just never gave him the attention he deserves. On stage, he was honest, revealing, interesting, fun, funny, and just really charming (it didn't hurt that he was wearing a Rheostatics shirt...).

The highlight of Lorrie's appearance was a really touching song dealing with the frustration of the music business, and a dark time when he considered quitting, but he was "saved" by Jim Bryson. Jim had expressed the same frustrations and doubts to Lorrie, but one night Lorrie sat back and watched a Jim show online (there used to be a link to this great show on Jim's site, but I can't find it now. Visit his site anyway.). Lorrie realized how sad it would be if Jim gave up, and I guess this inspired him to keep going, and I'm sure glad he did. For this touching revelation and for gushing over Jim Bryson (and the Rheos shirt), I give Lorrie tons of credit, but it was his songs and performances that really won me over. I'll be watching for this guy in the future for sure.

After that, some time for wandering. I caught Romi Mayes & Dan Walsh performing on CKUA.

Somehow we managed to waste quite a bit of the afternoon without really seeing much. I wanted to check out "Keep Your Fork, There's Pie," featuring Dan Bern, Stephen Fearing, and That 1 Guy, but the place was jam packed and it was really hot and sunny, so we made a trip over to find some food and refreshments. The weather at the festival had been totally unbelievable. It wasn't too hot, and except at night, when it cools off really quickly and really drastically, it wasn't cold at all. There had been warnings of rain on Friday and Saturday, but nothing much came of that, so I thought we had been truly blessed (I've come to realize that God loves folk festivals, because the weather is usually so damn good at festivals.) With the heat definitely a factor (yes, I blame it on the heat), KK and I decided to find a comfy spot to sit, and that spot just happened to be in the beer garden. I'll repeat again, when we went in, it was hot and sunny. While we were sitting there, the wildest, coldest wind imaginable just came up out of absolutely nowhere and cooled things off. Several people commented that the temperature dropped 15 degrees in a matter of minutes, and I would definitely agree. Everyone was scrambling for pants and jackets as things got colder and windier. It was weird, because it was still a clear, blue sky, so it didn't seem like a storm was brewing or anything. It was really weird, but there didn't seem to be anything to worry about.

We headed over to the last workshop of the day (and the festival), another sure-fire winner, "Dark Horses," featuring The D. Rangers, Kris Demeanor, Elliott BROOD, and Kathleen Edwards. With everyone on the bill being great live performers and big favourites of mine, I knew this one would be good, but again I'd be impressed with just how good it was.

Kathleen played an impressive new song, which you can view here.

Best of all, Kathleen led the performers in a rousing, singalong version of Tom T Hall's "Harper Valley PTA." Check it out!

Kathleen Edwards seemed totally smitten with Winnipeg's D. Rangers, especially mandolin madman, Aaron Goss. She couldn't take her eyes off him. I admit, the first time I saw him attacking his mandolin, I couldn't quite figure him out either. I hope the boys were smart enough to give her a CD or something, because I think that would make an amazing concert bill, if they could open for her.

One of the funniest moments of the workshop was when Jim Bryson decided to play stagehand and help Jaxon out as he went back to sing with Tom "Twisty" Fodey. I was shocked! I didn't know Twisty could talk, never mind sing! The guy's practically a mute. Kathleen at one point played "Six O'Clock News," and everyone joined in, including Twisty on his homemade "Muckbucket" bass. After the song, Kathleen remarked, "so that's what that song sounds like without a bass!" Twisty said, "What am I, chopped liver," and Jaxon laughed and said that in the entire history of the D. Rangers, Twisty had never spoken on stage until then.

Stop shaking that cucumber at me, Mr.

Kris had the whole stage and much of the audience singing and playing along as he did his great ode to seasonal allergies, "Get Down, Airborne Bastard!" Watch a clip here.

The D. Rangers capped things off in style with a rousing singalong version of Hank Williams', "Jambolaya." You know, Winnipeg's a funny, self-deprecating place. We never give ourselves or our own the credit we deserve. Winnipeg artists aren't really much of anybody until they make it big somewhere else. I guess we just have so many great bands and artists that it's easy to take them for granted until they really make waves elsewhere. The D. Rangers are a perfect example. First off, you can catch them playing just about anywhere, anytime, usually for free. Their music isn't always technically sound or very pretty, but damn, can those boys put on a party. I knew they were good, and enjoyed them, but I guess I didn't really give them the respect they deserved until I saw them holding their own alongside some real veterans and greats, and often upstaging them. I really am sorry for not paying them much attention, but their amazing, inspired performances in Calgary definitely impressed me. Well done, boys.

Both days, the workshop stages ended off on such a high note that I was happy to have some time away from workshops so that I could relive and digest the magic that I'd just seen. As much as I truly do love the Winnipeg Folk Festival, there's something so magical and spontaneous that happens at other festivals that doesn't seem to happen as often at ours.

Sunday mainstage featured nothing that I was absolutely dying to see. We walked around and took it easy for a while, before settling in to watch Dar Williams' main stage set. She's another one that used to play in Winnipeg a fair bit, but hasn't been back in a long time. She was entertaining and interesting, but during her set, the weather would be a major distraction, as drops of rain started to fall and everyone did a mad scramble to get on rain gear or get under cover. The rain was soft and harmless at first, but it didn't really seem to be letting up any time soon. We weighed our options carefully. We wanted to see Melissa McClelland's 'tweener set, and were curious to see Matt Good and Ani Difranco, but we had to make the long drive back to Winnipeg in the morning, and still had a lot of packing and stuff to do. In the end, with nothing all that interesting to us on, we headed back to the hotel to relax and pack, and it was a good thing too, because the rain got heavier and heavier until it was pretty much pouring. But by then, we were safe and dry and watching it out the window, glad that we had left when we did.

I'm never quite ready to leave a festival and head back to the real world, but I know that other festivals will follow (EDMONTON NEXT! Super excited about that) and real life is necessary and important. Lucky for me, I'm able to escape the real world as often as I do and catch some of the most amazing music in the world and witness some truly magical musical moments. These are the things that give me strength the rest of the year, and the things that keep me going. I guess music isn't truly my life, but it sure is an important part. I'm grateful for the opportunity to see so much.

I'm also grateful to you for reading this. Sharing music and memories is such an important thing to me, and it's good to know that people might be interested in what I have to share, so thank you. Please check out the rest of the site. I have tons of photos from the rest of my Alberta trip, as well as Winnipeg Folk Festival and a ton of other shows to add here some day, so feel free to bug me and get me moving.

Thanks, and get out and enjoy some great music on your own, will you?

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