MusicOntario at Folk Music Ontario 2018

September 27-30, 2018 - Mississauga, ON

MusicOntario will return to the 32nd annual Folk Music Ontario Conference in September at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites, 5875 Airport Road, Mississauga, ON. 

Building A House Concert Touring Network, Presented by MusicOntario - Friday, September 28, 2018, 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm (Ontario B room)

Are you the kind of artist who loves the intimate nature of performing for a small group of dedicated and appreciative fans at a house concert or other small venue? Do you wish you could book more of them but aren’t sure how to connect with the network? This is your chance to learn directly from some house concert and concert series host themselves! They’ll talk you through making the connections, how they book their concerts and give some expert tips on how to spread your music across the Concert circuit!

PANELISTS
Amie Therrien
Nicole Colbeck
Sandy Irvin
Tim Osmond

Hands on Sound Workshop, Presented by MusicOntario - Friday, September 28, 2018, 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm (Erin Mills room)

Are you a musician looking to brush up on all things sound engineering? Join one of FMO’s own sound techs, Catherine Sabourin, to discuss all things gear, and how to make sure you get the best sound production experience at every gig, whether you’re the one onstage or on the team behind the scenes. Dig into all of the nitty gritty – whether big picture or the basics, this session welcomes questions from folks at any stage of their career in the music biz.

SPEAKER
Catherine Sabourin

MusicOntario is excited to host private showcases on Friday, September 28th and Saturday, September 29th in room 225! 

Friday, September 28th

11:30PM Slocan Ramblers

The Slocan Ramblers are Canada’s bluegrass band to watch. Rooted in tradition, fearlessly creative and possessing a bold, dynamic sound, The Slocans have become a leading light of today’s acoustic music scene. With a reputation for energetic live shows, impeccable musicianship and an uncanny ability to convert anyone within earshot into a lifelong fan, The Slocans have been winning over audiences from Merlefest to RockyGrass and everywhere in between.    On their much-anticipated new album Queen City Jubilee, The Slocans showcase their unique blend of bluegrass, old-time and folk with deep song-writing, lightning fast instrumentals and sawdust-thick vocals. With their trademark raucous energy, this new album presents The Slocan Ramblers at the top of their game – writing and playing tunes to keep you up all night. This is roots music without pretension, music intended to make you feel something – say hello to your new favourite band.

11:50PM Sugar Brown

Sugar Brown is a blues musician, singer, and composer based in Toronto. He has released three nationally acclaimed albums of blues music (Sad Day, 2013; Poor Lazarus, 2015; It's a Blues World (Calling all Blues!), 2018). In 2013, he was awarded Best New Artist by the Toronto Blues Society, followed by two Maple Blues nominations in 2015. In 2017, he was a Finalist at the Memphis International Blues Challenge. Sugar Brown was born in the U.S. and learned his blues as a sideman for the legendary bluesman, Taildragger. He has been living in Toronto since 2001 and teaches at the University of Toronto.

12:10AM Tragedy Ann

Guelph, Ontario folk duo Tragedy Ann inspire chills, provoke smiles, and remind you to breathe. With occasional nods to alt. blues and handshakes with contemporary folk-rock, Liv Cazzola and Braden Phelan intertwine the storytelling power of Tom Waits with the musical nuance of Mandolin Orange, craftingomething simultaneously familiar and fresh. Rooted in passionate vocal harmony, Tragedy Ann’s songs tackle topics from love-drunkenness to hospital visits with equal intimacy. Cazzola’s multi-instrumental menagerie and Phelan’s dynamic guitar flavours provide lush backdrops to these powerful narratives, reminding you that you do indeed love the accordion—you just never heard it played this sweetly. After successfully releasing their debut EP Stumbling in 2016, the pair are preparing a new LP, titled Matches, to be released in September.

12:30AM Benjamin Dakota Rogers

Benjamin Dakota Rogers is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and composer. Benjamin’s sound is hard-driving powerful contemporary folk. Accolades include two Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, winner of three international songwriting competitions.  Benjamin’s latest album Whisky & Pine ranked #6 on the Top 10 albums of 2016 on Folk Roots Radio. Benjamin is currently working on his new album due out March 2019 while on tour promoting his latest album, Whisky & Pine.

12:50AM Annie Sumi 

Annie Sumi is an ethereal-folk artist with a unique ability to capture the subtleties of nature and spin them into melodies. Her latest release, "In the Unknown", is a collection of stories that speak to the journey of the human-Spirit. Since the release of her debut-album, "Reflections", in 2015, she has received nominations for "Best Singer-Songwriter" (TIMAs, 2015), "Contemporary Roots Album of the Year" (Hidden Roots Collective, CFMAs, 2017), and more. Her live performance is vulnerable; she consistently gives her heart to the stage, and inspires the audience to feel something.

1:10AM Amélie et Les Singes Bleus

The Toronto based band, Amélie et les singes bleus, is a gathering of musical antics, a fusion of styles similar to Paris Combo or Pink Martini that pays tribute to French music from everywhere.  Four times nominated for the Trilles Or (French-Canadian equivalent to a Juno); their spontaneous show allows you to enjoy and relive great melodies.

1:30AM Brooklyn Doran 

Hailing from remote Kenora, ON, singer-songwriter Brooklyn Doran’s unique sound combines the glassy lakes and peaceful forests of her hometown with the passionate intensity of Toronto’s city streets.  Doran has played over 150 shows across Canada and her most recently EP “These Paper Wings” has been streamed over 40,000 times.

1:50AM Campbell Woods

Campbell Woods released his debut record, "Oxford Street" in the spring of April 2017. He's been on the road ever since, performing everywhere from Vancouver to Halifax to Nashville to Austin. As a songwriter he's been compared to the likes of Townes Van Zandt and John K. Sampson. Powerful songs, simply delivered. "Oxford Street" debuted at no. 4 on the earshot folk/roots radio charts and has been nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award.

2:10AM Madison Galloway

Madison Galloway is an emerging voice in Canadian folk music. At just 18-years-old, the multi-instrumentalist songstress is making a name for herself as a must-see act, consistently turning heads with her authentic, engaging performances. Taking to the stage with guitar, harmonica, and ukulele, Madison charms audiences with her captivating instrumental proficiency, soulful voice and her signature blend of folk-rock and blues. Madison has toured relentlessly in support of her debut EP, Who Knows Where, performing at local concert halls and prominent festivals including the Mariposa Folk Festival, Riverfest Elora, Toronto Redpath Waterfront Festival, and Ottawa’s Bluesfest, while opening for acts such as 54-40, The Sadies, Alysha Brilla, Coco Love Alcorn and The O’Pears.

2:30AM Angela Saini

Toronto-based folk pop artist Angela Saini is all about second chances and empowering others.  Her ability to combine humanistic and honest themes laden with catchy hooks and memorable melodies make her entertaining as well as relatable, two amazing qualities for any musician to have. With two European and five Canadian treks under her belt, BBC Radio is calling Angela Saini “massively talented” after the release of her sunshine-soaked single “Living on The Bright Side.”  Currently in rotation on the Pop Adult station on Stingray Digital across Canada, Angela is a 2017 Toronto Independent Music Award Winner and blogTO named her in their “Top 5 Folk Acts to Watch.” Her new album "Hope on the Stereo" is set for release late 2018.

Saturday, September 29th 

11:30PM Emily Rockarts

Emily Rockarts is starting to catch on in Canada’s bustling music scene. Her songs explore the wide-eyed optimism of moving to new cities, the expansive depth of oceans, and the stratospheres of space. "Mapmaker", Emily Rockarts' debut release from April of 2016, is a collection of songs that is as sweet and light-hearted as it is thoughtful and full of longing. After a successful national tour in promotion of "Mapmaker", Emily is writing her first full-length album anticipated for release in 2019.

11:50PM Johnson Crook

What the quartet—Noel Johnson (rhythm guitars/vocals), brothers Nathan (lead guitar/mandolin/vocals) and Trevor Crook (drums/vocals) and Jared Craig (bass/vocals)—share is a love of pure, honest music stemming from their small-town backgrounds. Drawing inspiration from groups like the Eagles and the Avett Brothers, each member of Johnson Crook contributes equally, injecting their unique personalities into the overall sound. That special chemistry is heard on their new record “The Album” released through Coalition Music (Records) Inc. Every stop brings with it a story that could become a new song, and as a group founded on the principles of equality, Johnson Crook’s creative potential is limitless.

12:10AM Sultans of String

3x Canadian Folk Music Award winners/3x JUNO nominees Sultans of String thrill audiences with their global sonic tapestry of Flamenco, Middle Eastern folk, Celtic, Gypsy-jazz, and Cuban rhythms celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with kinetic guitar, while bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Throughout acoustic strings meet electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound. Since forming 10 years ago, Sultans of String have hit #1 in on national radio charts, #6 on Billboard (World-Music), 1st place in the ISC (out-of-15,000 entries), plus invitations to perform/record with such luminaries as The Chieftains, Alex Cuba, and Sweet Honey in the Rock. Sultans of String have been criss-crossing North America and UK for the last several years at many taste-making forums such as JUNOfest, and London’s Trafalgar Square, and performed on CBC’s Canada Live, BBC-TV, BBC-Radio, and internationally syndicated shows WoodSongs and World Café.

12:30AM Melanie Brulée

Since her debut Francophone release Débridée in 2015, award winning bilingual artist Melanie Brulée has played numerous festivals across Canada, mentored developing artists, been featured on several television shows and has spent significant time co-writing in Nashville for her upcoming release.  Her songs have seen regular airplay on CBC/Radio-Canada, Sirius XM and Stingray satellite. Exploring a deeper Spaghetti-Western/Americana sound with her new project Melanie Brulée & Her Bad Manners, her new Anglophone material sounds like a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack dipped in tobacco and laced in leather. New album Fires, Floods & Things We Leave Behind to be released fall 2018.   www.melaniebrulee.com

12:50AM Mikhail Laxton

Mikhail Laxton is an Australian-born and raised Indigenous artist who re-located to Canada in 2016 and now resides in Ottawa, Ontario. Mikhail is recording his debut EP in Summer/Fall 2018, produced by Maia Davies. It will be released on acronym Records world-wide in early 2019.

1:10AM Gillian Nicola

The first thing that strikes listeners about Hamilton’s Gillian Nicola is the strength of her vocals. This rising singer/songwriter ranges from acoustic folk singer-songwriter to textured and electric Americana, and reflects a layering of influences and sounds. After multiple tours supporting her 2016 EP, “No Place to Call,” Nicola spent early 2018 at the Alberta’s Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity composing her full-length debut, set for release later this year. A classically trained vocalist, Nicola’s 2013 EP “Chasing the Wind” was nominated for two Hamilton Music Awards and a Toronto Independent Music Award. In 2017, her single “Oh Marie” was nominated for the Ontario Arts Council’s Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award. Nicola is also a community organizer, hosting Open Mic Nights and Songwriters Circles, and lends her talents to various non-profit organizations, such as Girls Rock Camp Toronto.

1:30AM Zachary Lucky

Zachary Lucky is unapologetically old-school country, armed with a husky, baritone voice - He {carries himself like a younger Richard Buckner or a heartier Doug Paisley and} often receives comparisons to songwriters such as Gordon Lightfoot and Kris Kristofferson. He sings of Canadian places and people as knowingly as he might Townes Van Zandt or the Rio Grande. It's a relatable show on many levels, and conjures universal feelings that have passed through our collective timelines. Already hailed as a master storyteller by outlets ranging from No Depression to The Globe and Mail, and recently nominated best solo artist of the year at the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Lucky’s Everywhere A Man Can Be is his most powerful statement to date.

1:50AM Big Little Lions

Big Little Lions turn helpless apprehensions into hopeless optimism with their latest album Alive and Well - a collection of songs that manage to capture this moment in time in a way only a songwriter can. The pairing of two individually successful songwriters - Helen Austin and Paul Otten, Big Little Lions have continuously been recognized for their writing. Including 1st place in the International Songwriting Competition, Song of the Year in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and Ensemble of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Award. Alive and Well is their natural progression and comes at a time when the role of the songwriter seems as important as ever. With Austin based on Vancouver Island, BC and Otten based in Cincinnati, OH the duo proves that borders do not divide us and that art can bring us together. Alive and Well was released on released Feb 23, 2018 and followed by a North American tour.

Listen now on Spotify! 

MusicOntario is also proud to sponsor the following panels and workshops during the conference: 

Friday, September 28th

• 2:30PM - 4:30PM Hands on Sound Workshop
  
• 2:30PM - 3:30PM Building a House Concert Touring Network