Finest Kind is a folk music trio based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [1] It consists of Ian Robb, [2] Ann Downey and Shelley Posen. [3] The band is known for its three-part harmony renditions of traditional folk songs. [4]
Finest Kind formed in the early 1990s. The band has released six albums in its own name, [2] including Heart's Delight [5] in 1999 and Silks & Spices in 2004. [6] [7] The three also recorded a Christmas album with Canadian actor John D. Huston. Individually, its members have appeared on several solo albums and play with other bands.
Finest Kind performed throughout North America and the United Kingdom for folk song societies, community groups, and at folk festivals, [4] including the Ottawa Folk Festival. [8]
In 2014 Finest Kind performed at the Canadian Folk Music Awards gala in Ottawa. [9] The band retired from touring in 2015. It continues to perform an annual Christmas concert and other engagements in the Ottawa area. [10]
Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, and collaborations.
The Flying Bulgars was a Toronto-based Canadian band, which played music rooted in the Jewish music of Eastern Europe. The band's style incorporated elements of rock, jazz and salsa. 'Bulgar' in the group's name refers to a dance form, not an ethnic group.
Ian Robb is an English-born folk singer and songwriter, currently based in Ottawa, Ontario. He was a founding member of Friends of Fiddler's Green, and a columnist for Sing Out! He is also a member of the Canadian folk trio Finest Kind. He wrote a parody of Stan Rogers song "Barrett's Privateers", titled "Garnet's Homemade Beer". He was the recipient of the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Traditional Singer, for his work on the CD Jiig.
Mark Erelli is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before pursuing a career in music. Erelli has released nine solo albums and three collaborative albums. His self-titled debut album was released in 1999, the same year that he won the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk Award. His first recording for the Signature Sounds label, Compass & Companion, spent ten weeks in the Top Ten on the Americana Chart. Erelli has worked as a side musician for singer songwriters Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter. He has performed at various music festivals and shared the stage with John Hiatt, Dave Alvin, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's song “People Look Around”, which he co-wrote with Catie Curtis, was the Grand Prize winner at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. His songs have been recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot, and Red Molly.
Connie Isabelle Kaldor, is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She is the recipient of three Juno awards.
Eve Goldberg is a folk musician, singer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Musically, she draws from a number of different traditions and influences such as blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, swing, and contemporary and traditional folk music.
Canadian blues is the blues and blues-related music performed by blues bands and performers in Canada. Canadian blues artists include singers, players of the main blues instruments: guitar, harmonica, keyboards, bass and drums, songwriters and music producers. In many cases, blues artists take on multiple roles. For example, the Canadian blues artist Steve Marriner is a singer, harmonica player, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.
Beyond the Pale is a Toronto-based Canadian world/roots fusion band. Their style is rooted in klezmer, Balkan and Romanian music but heavily accented with contemporary and North American styles including bluegrass, jazz, reggae, funk and classical chamber music. They are known for unique songcraft, virtuosic musicianship, meticulous dynamics, and exuberant live performances. They are widely regarded as one of Canada's most accomplished and innovative acoustic ensembles. Some have described their sound as being in the same spirit as "New Acoustic Music" and David Grisman's "Dawg" music, but tinged more heavily with an east European accent. The name of the band is a reference to the Eastern-European Jewish Pale of Settlement, from where their music is partially inspired.
Shelley Posen is a Canadian folklorist, singer and songwriter, a member of the folk trio Finest Kind, and a former writer of the 'Songfinder' column for Sing Out! In the 1970s, while still a graduate student, he was the Director of Mariposa in the Schools. He conducted fieldwork and recorded traditional songs extensively in the Ottawa Valley. He was Curator of Canadian Folklife at the Canadian Museum of Civilization/Canadian Museum of History from 2001 to 2015. He has written on traditional song, Canadian sports and cultural heroes, and the folklore of Canadian foods such as the butter tart.
Chris While is an English songwriter, singer and musician, known particularly for her vocals and live performances. She has worked as a solo artist, a songwriter and as a member of a number of duos and groups. Her music is often classified as English folk, but contains strong American influences.
Celtae was a Canadian band, formed in 2001 in Ottawa, playing neo-Celtic music. The band was founded by Nathan MacDonald of Cape Breton Island, and included Matt Holland of Summerside, Prince Edward Island and Tyree Lush of Gambo, Newfoundland and Labrador. Original fiddler Jules Sisk left the band, and was replaced by Dana Arrowsmith of Sudbury, Ontario.
Sultans of String are an instrumental music group based in Toronto, Ontario, combining elements of Spanish flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz. The group's leader is producer and Canadian musician Chris McKhool.
Lynne Hanson is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, Ontario who has released eight solo albums and has toured internationally.
Steve Marriner is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and record producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He first garnered attention in the Ottawa blues scene in his early teens as a prodigy blues harp (harmonica) player. He also plays baritone guitar, electric guitar, piano, Hammond organ, upright bass and electric bass. Since 2008, he has been the frontman, singer, one of two guitarists and harmonica player for the Canadian rock'n'roll-blues group MonkeyJunk. The band's album To Behold won the 2012 Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year.
The Angstones were a Canadian band based in Ottawa, Ontario. Their music combined European and American folk music with humorous lyrics and jazz rhythms. The lineup consisted of Peter Kiesewalter on reeds and accordion, Kurt Walther on guitar, Rob Frayne on sax, John Geggie on bass, and Ian Mackie on drums. Members of this band also performed with Fat Man Waving and Chelsea Bridge.
David "Zeke" Mazurek was a Canadian fiddler based in Prince Edward County, Ontario who performed and recorded traditional and popular music across Canada with several musical groups.
Saskia Tomkins is a British musician and actress, living since 2007 in Ontario, Canada. She plays the violin, viola, cello and Nyckelharpa. She performs and records in several genres, including traditional, modern, jazz and classical music.
Steáfán Hannigan is an Irish musician, author, composer, audio engineer, musicologist and instrument maker. Since 2008, he has made his home in Canada.
Jackson Delta are a Canadian blues musical group from Peterborough, Ontario. They are two-time Juno Award nominees for Best Roots and Traditional Album, receiving nods at the Juno Awards of 1991 for Acoustic Blues and at the Juno Awards of 1993 for I Was Just Thinking That.