country & western

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country & western

Winterfolk X, Folk, Blues & Roots Festival in Toronto

Posted on February 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hey all, been havin’ a blast going thru pix from this past weekends 10th anniversary of the Winterfolk Blues & Roots festival held in Toronto. A lot of amazing musicians and songwriters all in one place and all at one time, workshops on song writing, smokin’ guitars, exceptional talent, both new and old, a great fest, one for the ‘books!

Wow,—okay—- cool down, take a breath………. it was a very good weekend for music lovers…… that’s good…….. breath…… yeah……ah….

ok, I’m good…

I had the great pleasure as a volunteer at the festival to do ‘sound’ for a few of the performers, it was an exceptional listening experience. One, because I was doing sound and I know what I like to hear in a performance, and two, because of the amazing and inspirational song writing that I heard from our local talent and is developing within our school system. Song Writing Programs I could have only dreamed of when I was in college.

here are a few hi-lite pix from the main gallery, check out winterfolk.com for bios and updates for next year. Main gallery link below these images.

Please leave a comment about the pix or your experience at the festival in the comments section below, enjoy!

Jory Nash

The Wanted Richard Henderson

Jack De Keyzer

Grainne

mw-2012-02-19-19226

Winterfolk X Gallery

www.winterfolk.com

Almost Missed Little Miss @ The Dakota Tavern

Posted on March 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Foy Taylor & Miss Higgins

This is where perusing the local weekly entertainment rag is worth while. I had heard about this lady Little Miss Higgins and heard a few of her songs on CBC Radio2 and thought this is some pretty good guitar playing, I should check it out some time. Then I see in Now Magazine that she is playing a gig at the Dakota Tavern in the west end that very night. Starting early at 7pm! Okay then! lets go.

Miss Higgin's

What a show! Little Miss Higgin’s along with Foy Taylor accompanying on guitar and harmonies put on a very entertaining set of country and blue’s songs. Stories about small towns, touring, some undergarment references and life in general filled in with some good ol’ gutsy guitar playing got people drinking it up, myself included.

Jamz Bee

The Dakota was also privileged to be a stop on the Jamz Bee hosted Jazz Safari tour that evening. Jamz Bee, a social guru, hosts the JazzFM91.1 sponsored group trips to various clubs around town checking out live music.

This gig took place Sept 25th, 2010. Shortly afterwards , Little Miss Higgin’s was part of the Women’s Blues Review at Massey Hall. I’m glad I had the chance to take pictures at the much smaller and intimite Dakota Tavern before the Massey Hall show.

Miss Higgin’s is currently on tour in England and Ireland, returning to Canada in May for a stop in Ottawa then out to the west coast for a few gigs.

my gallery from this show: Little Miss Higgin’s Live @ The Dakota Tavern

little miss higgin's

Photog notes: there was not a lot of light in the Dakota so for most of the shoot I had the ISO cranked up to 3200. I was also using a variable aperture zoom which was not too effective in this situation. It was the only lens I had at the time, this fact helped me understand what it was I was going to require to get better low-light shots in the future.