The Sound Cafe will be bringing artist interviews from the Summerfolk Music & Crafts Festival on August 16th, 17th and 18th, 2024.
Summerfolk Music & Crafts Festival is an annual folk festival held in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada during the third weekend in August. Summerfolk attracts performers and fans from across North America and the globe to Kelso Beach Park located on the west shore of Owen Sound on Georgian Bay. The festival was founded in 1975 by brothers Tim and John Harrison and is nationally renowned for its music and craft excellence. It was also a founding member of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals now known as Folk Music Ontario.
Folk is not an exclusive term and Summerfolk welcomes all music lovers. Over the years, audiences have met musicians from every continent. With music from Mongolia to Mozambique, Chile to China, and Georgian Bay to the Georgia Strait, Summerfolk stages are just as likely to feature traditional songs from around the world as contemporary songs from around the block – sometimes in the same workshop. The festival that began with an audience sitting on garbage bags in a muddy field in 1976 has grown to a four-day festival with seven musical stages and an Artisan’s Village where dozens of vendors sell handcrafted wears. Now, the festival hosts thousands of attendees and hundreds of volunteers annually.
Since 2007, Summerfolk has reserved performance spaces for young performers through the Young Discoveries Showcase offering winners a chance to play at the festival. The contest is open to performers under the age of 21 and features two rounds of judged performances.
Many performers who have played at Summerfolk have gone on to great commercial success, such as Leahy, Valdy, The Rankins, The Arrogant Worms, and Natalie MacMaster. Other more commercial Canadian talent have also graced the stages over the years such as Gowan, Rik Emmett, Blue Rodeo, Moxy Früvous, and Bruce Cockburn. One of Summerfolk's most famous and revered performers was Stan Rogers.
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David Francey is a Scottish-born Canadian carpenter-turned-songwriter, who has become known as “one of Canada’s most revered folk poets and singers” (Toronto Star). Born in Ayrshire, Scotland to parents who were factory workers, he moved to Canada when he was twelve. For decades, he worked across Canada in rail yards, construction sites, and in the Yukon bush, all the while writing poetry, setting it to melodies in his head and singing it to himself as he worked.
A truly authentic folk singer, Francey is a documentarian of the working person who never imagined earning a living from his music. But when he was in his 40s, his wife, artist Beth Girdler, encouraged him to share his songs and sing in public. The reaction was instant. His first album Torn Screen Door came out in 1999 and was a hit in Canada.Since then, David has released thirteen albums, won four Juno Awards and has had his songs covered by such artists as The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, James Keelaghan and Tracy Grammer.
David Francey Plays The Ampitheatre, Sunday August 18th.
Terra Lightfoot (born August, 1986) is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario who has released four albums with the independent music label Sonic Unyon Recording Company and is distributed by Universal Music Group in Canada and The Orchard outside of Canada. She performs in a folk and roots rock style known for bold vocals and electric guitar riffs.
Lightfoot has a multi-octave mezzo-soprano singing voice that has been compared to that of Joan Jett and Dusty Springfield. Her electric guitar style has been described as similar to John Fogerty and Van Morrison. The songs for which Lightfoot is best known are described as bluesy-rock power ballads.
Terra Lightfoot Plays The Amphitheatre, Friday August 16th.
Australian Blues & Roots artist Lloyd Spiegel has been touring the globe for 30 or so years. Hailing from Melbourne, Victoria, the 14 time Australian Blues Award Winner has one of the most interesting stories in music, having grown up on stage, learning from and touring with the founding fathers of modern Blues.
Spiegel’s guitar wizardry, powerful lyrics and knack for humorous story telling delivers a truly unique performance that reinvents the genre and dispels the cliches associated with the Blues.
Lloyd Spiegel Plays The Amphitheatre, Sunday August 19th.
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