2012 Performers

Singer-songwriter Alex*Cuba hails from Artemisa, Cuba (1 hour west of Havana) and resides in Smithers, B.C. (14 hours north of Vancouver). Musically, he lives everywhere in between. His trademark sugarcane-sweet melodies, pop-soul hooks and rock chords subtly subvert commonly held notions of what Cuban music is. Alex is on the vanguard, crafting a cross-cultural sound that mirrors his geographical journey

http://www.alexcuba.com/

Scions of an ancient Celtic line, Dawn and Margie Beaton’s first foray into the musical life began with step dancing lessons at the age of four – learned at their Grandmother’s knee.  By age five they were integrating Celtic fiddle into their repertoire.  Award winning performers, over the intervening years they have appeared at concerts, ceilidhs, and festivals, both internationally and at home in Cape Breton.  With the regular addition of step dance during a performance and a contemporary approach towards traditional Gaelic music, the Beaton sisters put their distinctive brand on the music they play, whether it be a heart wrenching lament or an exilarating reel.  They are truly unforgettable.

http://dawnandmargie.com/

Alt-Country road-warriors, Cuff the Duke, blend traditional country and folk music with indie rock elements to synthesize a sound uniquely their own.  Originally from Oshawa, Ontario, the Toronto based band has just released its fifth album, Morning Comes.   Billed as part one of a two part album, Morning Comes examines love, loss, and loneliness – classic country themes that the band handles with a new slant, creating a hybridized musical sensibility that innovatively portrays the bittersweet savour of heartbreak and recovery.  Part lonesome cowboy / folk hero and part hipster, Cuff the Duke will leave you crying for more.

http://www.cufftheduke.ca/

Declan O’Donovan is an alternative roots/blues musician from the Yukon Territory that has been impressing audiences of all types with his high energy live show and his skill as a pianist. He has studied piano in a variety of genres, and has been an active songwriter and performer for nearly two decades. With a wide range of influences, his music has been compared to the likes of Leon Russell, Randy Newman and Tom Waits.

http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=332530&name=music

Delhi 2 Dublin continues to break the mold one album after another, busting genres as they go. It’s as if the band has been sent on a mission to further spread their sound across the planet and out into the galaxy. They describe the 2010-release of Planet Electric “…as the buzz of the world that they are plugging into some large socket to electrify the people, to charge up their energy”.

 http://www.delhi2dublin.com/

Get up off of that thang – we’ve got Five Alarm Funk back in the house!  A horn powered – percussion fuelled – sonic and visual juggernaut, for more than six years the band has brought their relentless and unforgettable live show to clubs and major festivals across Canada and the United States.

Five Alarm Funk on stage is an unstoppable celebration of pure energy.  The 10 musicians perform intricate and airtight arrangements with delirious dance moves and full on headbanging action.  Choreographed arm movements coincide with melodic climaxes while the 4 percussionists create a true spectacle.  You won’t be able to sit still.

http://fivealarmfunk.com/

Hazmat Modine draws from the rich soil of American music of the 20′s and 30′s through to the 50′s and early 60′s, blending elements of early Blues, Hokum Jugband, Swing, Klezmer, New Orleans R & B, and Jamaican Rocksteady. The band is fronted by two harmonicas which use call and response, harmony, melody, and syncopated interweaving rhythms. The band includes tuba, guitar,and percussion, claviola and Hawaiian steel guitar. The band’s sound reflects musical influences ranging from Avant-garde Jazz to Rockabilly and Western Swing to Middle-Eastern, African, and Hawaiian musical styles.

http://www.hazmatmodine.com/

Juno nominated Canadian Indie Rock Band just back from their ‘Meet the Mayor’ tour, these guys have a wickedly ironic sense of humour which permeates their musical and visual work.  Denizens of the world, men about town, hard to describe.  Check out their website and videos and you’ll see why. 

http://hollerado.com/

Award winning Delta Blues musician and folk artist, Super Chikan, received his first musical instrument in early childhood.  The rudimentary instrument, a ‘diddley bow’, was a piece of wood with a length of baling wire strung end to end.  Though basic in design, ‘Chikan Boy’ (as his friends dubbed him) learned to play and improvise on the diddley bow until buying his first guitar at age 13.  In the years following Super Chikan continued to develop as a musician so that by early adulthood he was composing his own songs.  Convinced by friends to record, he released his first album in 1997.  In 2011 he was nominated for the Blues Music Awards BB King Entertainer of the Year.  In addition to his work as a musician, he is also a celebrated American folk artist whose colourful pieces include musical instruments ingeniously crafted out of found material.  He’s a national treasure.

http://www.superchikan.com/

Two-time Juno-winning banjoist Jayme Stone makes music inspired by folk traditions from around the world.  His latest album, Room of Wonders, explores music from Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy and North America.  The repertoire includes a movement from Bach’s French Suite, a Moorish sword-fighting dance and Stone’s lush, edgy originals.

Stone thrives on unexpected inspiration: Japanese poetry, Brazilian literature, instruments he found while traveling in remote Malian villages. He finds it with influences as diverse as Anouar Brahem, Bill Frisell, and Toumani Diabaté. His Juno Award-winning albums, most notably Africa to Appalachia, both defy and honor the banjo’s long role in the world’s music, turning historical connections into compelling music.

 http://jaymestone.com/

Roots Blues Traveler Markus James joins forces with four West African music masters to cook up what NPR Music calls “Rock with a West African twist”.  Thundering West African percussion meets voodoo-trance North Mississippi-style guitar riffs, with vocals in English and Mali’s Bambara languages. While Markus James’ original Blues-based collaborations, recorded in Mali West Africa and in Mississippi, have received widespread critical acclaim, his live shows with the Wassonrai -West African artists based in Northern California -are uniquely wild affairs, only available at their club and Festival appearances, with some songs ranging to 20-30 minutes, in the spirit of the traditions they are based in.

 http://www.firenzerecords.com/

Exquisitely bittersweet boy / girl duets weave through newstyle prog-folk. This cello, guitar, drum trio pulls unexpected beat memories from the places your heart has heard before. A sound that has been described as “a more thoughtful, elegant indie”, and “dynamic, quirky folk.” Raleigh’s debut LP, New Times in Black and White (released May 2011) took the band on two cross Canada tours and was recognized by the Calgary Herald as one of the top local releases of the year.
“Unlike so many bands that prefer a softer voice and hushed tones, the results speak volumes.”

 http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=291575

With their most recent work, We Walk This Road, brilliant multicultural American funk and soul group, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, explores the relationship between gospel, blues, and rock, playing everything from 1920’s blues up to modern-day songs by Prince.  Trained as a steel guitarist in the House of God Church,  frontman Robert Randolph, makes the instrument, aka known as ‘Sacred Steel’, integral to the band’s music.  With dynamic live shows that interactively use music and movement to pump up the people, the band is famous for its high voltage performances that leave audiences euphoric.   In the past they have opened for the likes of Eric Clapton and the Dave Matthews band, appeared multiple times on David Letterman, and have become Headliners in their own right –  we are very excited to have them for the particularly celebratory 20^th Anniversary of Roots and Blues!

http://www.robertrandolph.net/

Shred Kelly is a formulation of friends and foot stompin’ good times born in the East Kootenay’s of British Columbia. Hailing from the town of Fernie, the six-piece band is best known for mixing clawhammer banjo riffs that tear the fabric of space and time with a ghostly mandolin, high voltage guitars, fierce drums, and hauntingly sweet harmonies to produce a sound that has been properly coined “Stoke Folk”. Singing songs about powder days, tornado destruction, and a sincere distaste for work, these ski bums, are consistently turning doubters into sweaty folk rock believers on the dance floor.

http://www.shredkelly.com/