Come celebrate the Nick’s 40th birthday with Mississippi blues man Harry Manx, who creates musical short stories that wed the tradition of the blues with the depth of classical Indian ragas. Harry studied in India with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, inventor of the 20-string Mohan Veena, which has become Harry’s signature instrument. Harry is the recipient of seven Maple Blues awards, six Juno nominations and a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Solo Artist. A successful touring performer, Manx has brought his breathtaking solo shows across Canada and into the USA, Australia and Europe. He has appeared at many prestigious festivals, world class theaters, concert halls and infamous blues clubs around the globe. Playing the Mohan Veena, lap steel, harmonica, stomp box and banjo, Manx quickly envelops the audience into what has been dubbed “the Harry Zone” with his warm vocals and the hauntingly beautiful melodies of his original songs.

Harry Knight

John Wort Hannam

In 2001, John Wort Hannam quit his teaching job and spent 10 months at his kitchen table, wearing a lucky hat, writing his first ten songs. Those songs would become his first recording, Pocket Full Of Holes.  Seven recordings later he has a few feathers in that lucky hat.  Feathers that include a JUNO nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Album of the Year, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award and a Kerrville Texas New Folk Win.  On Acres Of Elbow Room, John has further found his lyrical style.  He has the same lucky hat but a new sound. With his firecracker band – Jason Valleau on upright bass, Jon May on drums, Scott Duncan on fiddle and Stephen Fletcher on keys, John is making waves in a new soundscape. He’s spent years learning the craft of songwriting and is taking those tools to write some of his most personal songs.

Emily Triggs

Le Vent du Nord is a leading force in Québec’s progressive francophone folk movement. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while enhancing its hard-driving soulful music with a broad range of global influences. Le Vent du Nord features Nicolas Boulerice on hurdy-gurdy, Simon Beaudry on guitar and bouzouki, Olivier Demers on violin, Réjean Brunet on button accordion and André Brunet on violin. Since its inception in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord has earned several prestigious awards, including a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos, a Félix at ADISQ, a Canadian Folk Music Award, and Artist of the Year at the North American Folk Alliance Annual Gala. On stage these friends create intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.

Ellen Doty

David Francey is a Scottish-born Canadian carpenter-turned-songwriter. He grew to understand the people while working for decades in Toronto train yards, the Yukon bush, and as a carpenter in the Eastern Townships, 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. His first album Torn Screen Door came out in 1999. Since then, he has released eleven albums and won three Juno Awards. In concert David is a singer and a storyteller. His wry humour and astute observations combined with his openhearted singing style have earned him a loyal following.

Amy Bishop