Jenny Whiteley – The Original Jenny Whiteley

JENNY WHITELEY

The Original Jenny Whiteley

Black Hen Music

jennywhiteley.com

I first met the Original Sloth Band – Chris Whiteley, Ken Whiteley and Tom Evans – in the early-1970s. They had a wonderfully eclectic repertoire of songs gathered from old-time jug band, jazz, blues and folk sources.

Chris had an infant daughter back then who would grow up to be – like her father, uncle, brothers and cousins – an excellent musician, singer and songwriter and who now has five solo albums to her credit. Jenny Whiteley’s first recording projects – long before she started making solo albums – were in the 1980s when she sang with dad and uncle on their Junior Jug Band LPs.

Jenny’s fifth solo album, The Original Jenny Whiteley, is a homage to her dad. Whether on songs like “Stealin’, Stealin’” or “Things are Coming My Way,” which were on Original Sloth Band LPs back in the ‘70s, or on other vintage songs, or even her own original material,  they were all, she notes, “influenced in some way by his music.”

The Original Jenny Whiteley is a delightful 11-song romp. Among my favorites are the already mentioned “Stealin’, Stealin’” and “Things are Coming My Way,” the latter featuring harmony vocals from Chris and Ken; her own songs “Banjo Girl,” reprised from Jenny’s 2006 album, Dear, and “Higher Learning”; the traditional classic “In the Pines”; and Uncle Dave Macon’s “Morning Blues,” a favorite I first heard on the Jim Kweskin Jug Band Jug Band Music LP in the ‘60s.

Aside from Jenny’s own vocals and guitar, most of the backup on The Original Jenny Whiteley is by multi-instrumentalists Sam Allison, who produced the album, and Teillard Frost, who, as Sheesham & Lotus, are highly reminiscent of the Original Sloth Band.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Montreal Folk Fest on the Canal – June 15-19, 2016

Folk Fest Sur le Canal, by now my favorite summertime event in Montreal, returns for its ninth year with lineup that includes several interesting indoor concerts in venues near the Lachine Canal and three days of outdoor concerts along its banks featuring many performers I’ve enjoyed for years and others I’ve not heard before.

For a second year the outdoor events are taking place at Lachine Canal Park’s Centennial Esplanade near the corner of Saint Patrick and Pitt Streets.

The festival traditionally opens with a gala concert featuring a legendary folk artist. This year it will be John McEuen, a mainstay for a half-century with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a solo performer and collaborator-extraordinaire known for his virtuosity on banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar. John performs Wednesday, June 15, 8:00 pm, at the George Vanier Cultural Centre (2450 Workman).

John McEuen

On Thursday, June 16, 8:00 pm, the festival presents a concert called The Future is Bright: A Glimpse in the Next Era of Montreal Folk featuring three young performers – Stefanie Parnell, Alexander Brown and Tamara Weber-Fillion – the festival says “are poised to achieve great things.” The concert takes place at Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay (6052 Monk).

On Friday, June 17, 9:00 pm, the festival is presenting A Long Strange Trip: The Songs of the Grateful Dead, a one-time-only event featuring Joe Grass, Andrew Barr, Brad Barr, Steve Hill, Katie Moore, Li’l Andy, Peter Mika, Colin Perry, Notre Dame de Grass and others. With so much great material to draw on this should be a great evening at the Paradoxe Theatre (5959 Monk).

Also on Friday, June 17, from 5:00 pm and again Saturday and Sunday, June 18 and 19, the festival shifts to Centennial Esplanade (corner of St. Patrick and Pitt) for lots of concerts and other activities – all free of charge – featuring a diverse selection of artists.

Sheesham and Lotus and Son

Highlights of the Friday schedule at Centennial Esplanade includes concerts by Sussex, a terrific new Montreal band fronted by Rob Lutes that combines roots and jazz influences and instrumentation, and Sheesham and Lotus and Son, whose music is rooted in old-time folk, blues, country and traditional jazz.

Among the Saturday highlights are concerts with children’s music legends Sharon and Bram; Montreal’s Notre Dame de Grass, one of the best bluegrass bands in Canada; and Joel Plaskett, who moves easily and naturally between roots and pop music.

Lizzy Hoyt

Sunday’s highlights includes concerts with Shtreiml, perhaps Canada’s most creative klezmer ensemble; acclaimed Montreal songwriter Katie Moore; Calgary-based Lizzy Hoyt, who moves easily between traditional folksongs and her own contemporary material; Richard Shindell, a superb American singer-songwriter (now living in Argentina), whose recordings I often featured on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches radio show; and a collaboration between Socalled, who has creatively combined hip hop and Jewish music, and Yves Lambert, a legend of Quebec traditional music and the former front man of La Bottine Souriante.

Ticket information for the indoor concerts and VIP section in the park, the complete schedule and all the other information you might need are on the festival website.

Congratulations again to Matt Large and Rebecca Anderson of Hello Darlin’ Productions and Carl Comeau of Hyperbole Music for founding the Montreal Folk Fest on the Canal and developing it into the great event it has become.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

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--Mike Regenstreif

Ottawa Folklore Centre celebrates 35 years

This weekend, the Ottawa Folklore Centre – which quite justifiably bills itself as “not your average music store – celebrates its 35th anniversary this coming Sunday evening with an all-star concert that represents more folk diversity than most of today’s weekend-long folk festivals.

Included on the bill are blues artists Terry Gillespie and Jesse Green, singer-songwriters Ana Miura, Missy Burgess and Doug McArthur, folk vaudevillians Sheesham & Lotus, banjo pickers Mary Gick, Ann Downey and Paul Hornbeck, tango accordionist Alicia Borisonik, harmonica player Marc Seguin, bagpiper Ross Davison, drummer Don Gibbons, the Folka Voca Choir, the Bytown Ukulele Group, and the Ottawa Folklore Centre Jazz Band.

Arthur McGregor, the Ottawa Folklore Centre’s founder and proprietor will host the concert. And if I know Arthur, there's going to be some singing along.

The concert takes place Sunday, November 13, 7:00 pm, at the Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank Street in Ottawa (about a 90 second walk from the Ottawa Folklore Centre).

Proceeds from the concert will benefit the May Court Hospice. Call the Ottawa Folklore Centre at 613-730-2887 for tickets or info.

And, as if the concert wasn’t enough, there are some Saturday and Sunday afternoon workshops at the Folklore Centre.

The Ottawa Folklore Centre is an incredible resource: a music store, a music school and the heart and soul of city’s folk music scene. Few cities boast a folklore centre of this calibre. We’re lucky to have it.

Happy Anniversary and congratulations to Arthur and all his crew!

--Mike Regenstreif

Review: Festival Folk sur le canal

I spent much of last weekend having a fine old time at the fourth annual Festival Folk sur le canal at the Terrasse St-Ambroise on the grounds of the McAuslan Brewery on the Lachine Canal in Montreal. Congratulations to my friends Matt Large and Rebecca Anderson of Hello Darlin’Productions and Carl Comeau of Hyperbole Music for putting together another fine event.

For the first time this year, the festival added off-site Thursday and Friday events including a sold-out opening gala with the legendary John Sebastian on Thursday, June 16 at the Georges Vanier Cultural Centre. John’s been a favourite performer of mine since the 1960s, so I was disappointed that I was in Ottawa that night and couldn’t make it (the last time I saw John was in the late-1990s). I did hear from several people who were there that it was a great night.

On Friday afternoon and evening the festival moved onto the canal at Îlot Charlevoix for a free concert and folk jam. Again, I wasn’t there, but everything I heard about the event was very positive.

As noted, I was around for much of the Saturday and Sunday action at the Terrasse St-Ambroise – including a Sunday afternoon shift as the festival MC. Among my personal highlights were sets by several artists I’d never seen before including the Wildwood Flowers, an exciting, mostly-female, francophone band steeped in the traditional country music of the Carter Family; Emm Gryner, a piano-based singer-songwriter with strong original material but who slew me with a stunning version of “Tell My Sister,” a song written by my late friend Kate McGarrigle; Cécile Doo-Kingué, a singer-songwriter and excellent guitarist strongly influenced by African folk music; and Canailles, a wild, punky francophone band that drew on zydeco, bluegrass and blues influences.

Among the artists I’ve heard before that I also quite enjoyed were Rose Cousins, who is quickly becoming one of Canada’s most accomplished singer-songwriters, Cajun band Grouyan Gombo, and road warrior Fred Eaglesmith and his band.

I was sorry that I couldn’t stick around to hear the festival closing sets by the delightful old-time, neo-vaudeville duo Sheesham and Lotus and the great singer- songwriter David Francey.

The perfect weather on Saturday and Sunday helped make Festival Folk sur le canal a great kick-off to summer folk festival season.

--Mike Regenstreif

Festival Folk sur le canal June 16-19

Festival Folk sur le canal returns to the Lachine Canal in Montreal for a fourth year and a more ambitious undertaking. The festival was a one-day affair in 2008 and 2009 and expanded to two days last year. This year it expands to four days.

The festival will kick off on Thursday, June 16 with an opening indoor concert  at the Georges Vanier Cultural Centre (2450 Workman) featuring legendary folk, rock 'n' roll and jugband artist John Sebastian, founder of the Lovin' Spoonful.

On Friday, June 17 the action shifts a few blocks south for a free, outdoor concert presented in collaboration with Parks Canada at Ilot Charlevoix (corner of St. Patrick and Charlevoix) from 4:00-9:15 pm. Artists will include Osmosaic, Hellbound Hellcats, the Jimmyriggers, La chorale Edinburgh, and Belzébuth.

On Saturday and Sunday, June 18-19, the Festival Folk sur le canal returns to its familiar digs and format at the St. Ambroise Terrace, on the Lachine Canal, behind the McCauslin Brewery at 5080 St. Ambroise Street.

Once again the festival has an impressive line-up of established artists and interesting younger artists beginning to make their marks locally, nationally and internationally.

Among the artists I always look forward to hearing again are David Francey, Rose Cousins, Fred Eaglesmith, Sheesham & Lotus and Grouyan Gombo.

There are also a bunch of artists I’ve never had a chance to see before. Folk festivals are a great way to discover new artists, so I’m looking forward to hearing many of them too.

I’m also happy to see that the festival will include several afternoon workshop sessions. Having cut my folk festival teeth at Mariposa in the ‘70s, I’ve always felt that workshops are the heart and soul of folk festivals.

A family-friendly event, the festival will also have music and other activities for kids.

The Festival Folk sur le canal has developed nicely over the past four years. Congratulations to Matt Large and Rebecca Anderson of Hello Darlin’ Productions and Carl Comeau of Hyperbole Music for a doing great job of putting it together and making it happen.

Lots more information, the full schedule, and tickets are available at montrealfolkfest.com.

--Mike Regenstreif