October

From their website:

The Undesirables are a refreshing and infectious songwriting duo who kick out heat like an old woodstove. Guitarist/harmonist Sean Cotton and lyricist/singer Corin Raymond deliver a brand new vibe with roots clout.

It all began in Sean's basement in Georgetown, Ontario. Corin & Sean met while still in high school, and their fast friendship was sealed by a mutual love of raw, unadulterated American roots music. Pouring over album liners of small-town staples like The Doors and The Rolling Stones led them to the songwriters that would truly rip their hearts out; guys like Howlin' Wolf, Blind Willie McTell, and Slim Harpo. They discovered the blues together, and soon were on a steady diet of southern sounds: gospel, old-school R&B, rag and the music of New Orleans. To ask The Undesirables to list their influences is to spark a conversation that will leave you smiling at their enthusiasm and knowledge, and respect for those who came before.

It was in Georgetown, 10 years ago, that they wrote their first song, California Wine - still a requested favourite. As a songwriting team, they each brought an ingredient the other lacked. Sean, who was playing lead guitar in his father's country band at age fourteen, brought the music - a unique style of guitar playing that provided solid rhythm, rich colour, and an unexpected fullness of sound. Corin brought the words. His childhood was filled with stories, poems and the songs of Broadway wordsmiths. In his adolescence he devoured Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. He brought a respect for words and a workman-like attitude to writing lyrics. One goal occupied both their minds: to write good songs.

In performance, The Undesirables are a mesmerizing unit. They perform with total commitment. Corin hand-delivers each lyric with entrancing conviction while Sean digs into the guitar with mastery and taste and their voices blend with sibling harmony.

Their sound fills the room like the smell of onions frying on an iron skillet. Hips start swaying accidentally. Spirits rise.

November

Always a favourite at Greenbank. Come and enjoy an evening of Gypsy Swing. First time in Greenbank since 2005. Don't miss this concert.

"Club Django Sextet of Toronto got the fans bouncing with a combination of gypsy and swing jazz that sounded like front porch music - if your friends and neighbors who come over for a jam session are really great musicians. The founder of the band, Andre "Papy" Seguinot, demonstrated his love for the music of two of his heroes, Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. In fact, the band listens to those two's records so much, they titled one of their one original songs "Exact Copy" (sic ...??). With Seguinot on rhythm guitar, Abbey Sholzberg on double bass, Rodion Boshoer on violin, Gerry Duligal on accordion, John Farrel on lead guitar and Tony Oldland on rhythm guitar, the Canadians folk music makers (sic...!) obvioulsly had a ball, swinging with "Minor Swing", waltzing with "I'm Confessin' " (sic ...!) and revving everybody with "Dark Eyes" which they described as the Gypsy National Anthem.

(Mark Bialczak, The Syracuse Post-Standard, June 26 2005)

January

From his web site:

"Browne's soulful singing is matched by the depth of his instrumental powers on various guitars, banjos and fiddles...Reservoirs of musical talent...an encyclopedic knowledge of blues styles and history" 'Sing Out' Magazine

"Michael Jerome Browne is a brilliant multi-instrumentalist and a marvelous interpreter of roots music traditions" 'Real Blues' Magazine

"Browne's passionate vocals and outstanding talents make him one of the best solo acts you will ever see" Manitoba Blues Society

"Unquestionably Canada's finest roots and blues player" 'Scene' Magazine

"Powerhouse display of stunning vocal, songwriting and multi-instrumental talents" The Winnipeg Sun

"Michael Jerome Browne is a country blues master" Holger Peterson, CBC Radio

"Michael Jerome Browne delivers with skillful style and joins our list of the very best" Greenbank Folk Music Society

February

From her web site:

“Canadian songbird Lynn Miles sings lusciously on her fifth country-tinged, folk-pop album. Smart lyrics abound as she expounds on love lost and gained, sketched with dark hues and rising tempos.” - Billboard Magazine

Born outside Montreal in Sweetsburg, Quebec, Lynn Miles grew up in a musical home. Her father played the harmonica and listened to his jazz collection while her mother was a lover of both opera and country music. Miles’ mother recalled once that she knew when Lynn had finally fallen asleep in her crib: Lynn stopped singing. During her elementary school years, Miles learned guitar, violin, flute and piano. She began performing in public at around the age of sixteen and when she was in her early twenties she studied with an opera singer to strengthen her voice and enrolled for a time at Carleton University in Ottawa where she studied classical music history and theory. Years later, Miles put this training to good use while serving as a voice teacher at the Ottawa Folklore Center. While at the center, she taught voice to many students including a then fourteen-year-old Alanis Morrisette. The lessons came just prior to the making of Morrisette’s first album.
Read more . . .

March

From his web site:

Listening to Stephen Fearing's latest release, his eighth studio CD, is a bit like greeting and old and dear friend.

Despite its intimacy there's a complete lack of awkwardness at being invited into Fearon's world, it as if being privy to these, gentle, personal stories is the most natural thing in the world.

During his 20-year-career, Canadian-born Fearing has worked with the cream of the folk/rock world, Clive Gregson produced his 1989 album Blue Line while Richard Thompson and Sarah McLachlan guested on 1994's The Assassin's Apprentice. To these names you could add artists of the calibre of Ralph McTell and Tom Paxton, Fearing displays the same pinpoint emotional and observational accuracy as all of them, what he aims at, he hits.
Read more . . .

April

From Jenny's web site:

What do you do to follow up an eponymous debut solo cd that you produce and release yourself, which successfully distances you from your Bluegrass past, while keeping the roots firmly planted? It also wins you a 2000 Juno award for roots/traditional album of the year: solo. Well, you take a deep breath and thank life for sending you such talented people to work with (Dan Whiteley, Joey Wright, Amy Millan, to name a few). You also get married, have a baby and move to the country from your hometown of Toronto. Read more ...

May

From Ken's web site:

KEN HAMM is a Western Canadian blues and roots music artist with an international reputation. Emerging from early coffeehouses and Northern Ontario bluesbands, to festivals and concert halls, Ken has been playing professionally since the late 1960’s. He has a reputation as a dynamic, moving performer, mixing hot slide fingerstyle acoustic blues with original songs based on his travels and encounters.

Although Ken is as comfortable playing a house concert in your living room as playing on main stage, recent performances have included Edmonton Folk Festival, Calgary Folk Festival, Saskatoon Jazz Festival, and Vancouver Island Musicfest.

Recent reviewers of LIVE 05, his latest release, have recognized Ken as "a shining example of how talent and feeling can transcend time and region." In his music, "country, blues and folk merge into a pure roots style that is Hamm's own."