They’re nice people who play folk music. Oh yeah, Pharis and Jason Romero have also won four Junos and seven Canadian Folk Music Awards. Their newest record, Tell ‘Em You Were Gold, just won the 2023 Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year! From the small town of Horsefly B.C., they’re raising a family and building custom banjos.  They started out together playing mostly traditional music. Over the years they’ve moved their original songwriting and nuanced singing into the forefront, and audiences have embraced their intelligent songs, the sounds of their instruments and their clear approach to being two people while singing like one.

Folk musician, ethnomusicologist, and folk music scholar Mike Tod is a wry and raspy tenor bringing old-time music to modern audiences. His repertoire weaves through the traditional musics of the Americas, from cowboy songs of Alberta’s coulees, to traditional ballads of the Appalachian Mountains. He sings well-worn traditional songs, researches their roots, and shares them in a fashion that seems old yet contemporary. It sets a precedent for a sound that is both rooted in history and relevant to the present day. 

$30 advance tickets for our remaining concerts for the 2022-2023 season at the Nick are on sale through Eventbrite. If your circumstances should change, refunds are available up to 24 hours prior to our events.

***There will be tickets available at the door for tonight’s concert***

Here’s our upcoming lineup:

March 25    Pharis and Jason Romero  with opening act Mike Tod        

April 15      Julian Taylor with opening act Wyatt C. Louis 

We are now sending out regular email bulletins about our upcoming performances.  To subscribe click here:    SUBSCRIBE NICK EMAILS

Gunning and Cormier

Dave Gunning is best defined as a master craftsman who, with a dozen albums and ten East Coast Music Awards, has diligently sharpened his skills, developing into a poetic storyteller and emotionally convincing singer with few equals.  J.P. Cormier is outstanding, be it guitar, fiddle, mandolin or banjo, be it singing or songwriting. He’s earned twelve East Coast Music awards.  Their second CD, Leather and Dust will be released shortly. Great friends, frequent collaborators, co-writers and touring partners, they are two songwriters, interpreters, guitar players, and singers at their peak. It’s the power of the song, the highest quality from the past to the now.

Amy Nelson

Calgary’s Amy Nelson is a conduit of voices from the past, reverentially channeling the sounds of depression-era blues and Appalachian mountain music through the raw reality of an Albertan feminist. Haunting and honest, gritty and passionate, Amy finger-picks her way through guitar and banjo tunes that bind together wit, beauty and truth.

$30 advance tickets for our remaining concerts for the 2022-2023 season at the Nick are on sale through Eventbrite. If your circumstances should change, refunds are available up to 24 hours prior to our events.

Here’s our upcoming lineup:

March 11   Gunning and Cormier  with opening act Amy Nelson   

March 25    Pharis and Jason Romero  with opening act Mike Tod        

April 15      Julian Taylor with opening act Wyatt C. Louis 

The Nick is held in the Crescent Heights Community Hall, 1101 2nd St. N.W.  Doors are 7:00, showtime is 7:30.

We are now sending out email bulletins about our upcoming performances.  To subscribe click here:    SUBSCRIBE NICK EMAILS

The dignity of labour has been a theme central to the folk music tradition forever. Working as a dishwasher, Braden’s formidable focus of conscience and care illuminate his portraits of characters from the restaurant milieu, a journal of character sketches, personal landscapes and after-hours confessions. His subjects: an aging line cook who breaks into song when the work gets tough, a tattooed omniscient waitress, a pool shark with anger management issues. His raucous fiddle and folk guitar playing are emancipatory. Braden’s latest album Kitchen Days won the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Album of the Year. 

Shawna Caspi crafts lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, often using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. She spent years on the road, supporting her warm, clear voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment.  After taking a break from the road to rest, reflect, and write, Shawna’s fifth album, Hurricane Coming, nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for 2023 Contemporary Album of the Year, is a collection of raw, deeply personal songs set against a backdrop of colourful cinematic soundscapes.

$30 advance tickets for our remaining concerts for the 2022-2023 season at the Nick are on sale through Eventbrite. If your circumstances should change, refunds are available up to 24 hours prior to our events.

Here’s our upcoming lineup:

February 25   Braden Gates with opening act Shawna Caspi

March 11   Gunning and Cormier  with opening act Amy Nelson   

March 25    Pharis and Jason Romero  with opening act Mike Tod        

April 15      Julian Taylor with opening act Wyatt C. Louis  

Jennifer Berezan

Jennifer Berezan is a unique blend of singer/songwriter, producer, and activist. Over the course of ten albums, her music has been shaped by her lifelong involvement in environmental, women’s, and justice movements as well as Buddhist practice.  Celebrate the release of Jennifer’s new album Belonging.  Though her songs often confront universal issues, her perspective is informed by a refreshing and honest intimacy. Raised in the prairies of Alberta, the healing power of nature is also at the heart of her work. 

Amy began her music career around campfires, at block parties and in church choir. Amy Bishop’s voice is a combination of smooth pavement and rough gravel, with the ability to charm listeners with her sweet tones; yet stun audiences with the ability to hit any high note. She has an instinctive ability to craft stories into song and deliver them with sincerity and passion, all qualities that make her an undeniable Canadian talent. Amy released her latest album, Perfect & Broken, in 2022.

$30 advance tickets for our remaining concerts for the 2022-2023 season at the Nick are on sale through Eventbrite. If your circumstances should change, refunds are available up to 24 hours prior to our events.

Tickets will be available at the door for tonight’s performance.

Here’s our upcoming lineup:

February 11    Jennifer Berezan  with opening act Amy Bishop

February 25   Braden Gates with opening act Shawna Caspi

March 11   Gunning and Cormier  with opening act True Blue   

March 25    Pharis and Jason Romero  with opening act Mike Tod        

April 15      Julian Taylor with opening act Wyatt C. Louis  

In 2001 John Wort Hannam spent 10 months depleting his savings and writing the songs that would become his first recording Pocket Full Of Holes. Since then he’s earned 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. John has just released his eighth full-length recording Long Haul which has received three 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award nominations. He’s spent years learning the craft of songwriting and is taking those tools to write some of his most personal songs. He has, quite literally, found his voice.  John will be accompanied by Jason Valleau on stand up bass and Ryland Moranz on things with strings.

Mallory Chipman is an award-winning singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer from Treaty Six Territory. A true raconteuse, Chipman is revered for the way she artfully weaves story into song and expresses both power and vulnerability through her music.  She seamlessly traverses styles including folk, jazz, country, pop, rock, and experimental music. Alongside her solo folk music project, Chipman plays with art-rock band,  Mallory Chipman and the Mystics and alt-country outfit The Goddamsels. 

***Tickets for tonight’s concert will be available at the door.***

$30 advance tickets for our remaining concerts for the 2022-2023 season at the Nick are on sale through Eventbrite. If your circumstances should change, refunds are available up to 24 hours prior to our events.

Here’s our upcoming lineup:

January 28    John Wort Hannam  with opening act Mallory Chipman

February 11    Jennifer Berezan  with opening act Amy Bishop

February 25   Braden Gates with opening act Shawna Caspi

March 11   Gunning and Cormier  with opening act True Blue   

March 25    Pharis and Jason Romero  with opening act Mike Tod        

April 15      Julian Taylor with opening act Wyatt C. Louis  

2022-2023 Nick season tickets are available and will now cost $168 each for six concerts. As of January 28, season tickets will no longer be sold.

Season tickets may be purchased by an E-transfer sent to <info@thenick.ca>.  Please include your email address, mailing address and phone number.  Your E-Transfer will be automatically deposited.