In this new era of music, when iTunes downloads and YouTube views are just as important as (or, one could argue, more important than) album sales and radio plays, it's quite the feat for any musician to have their videos played nearly 30 million times on YouTube.

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The Winnipeg Folk Festival has certainly undergone some changes over the years.

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Friday at the Winnipeg Folk Festival is always the first full day, with daytime workshops and concerts taking place at the various smaller stages throughout the festival grounds. While the workshop idea isn't completely unique to Winnipeg, for many artists, it's not only a new idea but in some cases, even intimidating.

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Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the previous day -- especially with our Thursday choice for "Artist of the Day", Good Old War, leading off the night -- we arrived to Bird's Hill Park for Day 2 of the Winnipeg Folk Festival before the first notes chimed off the main stage.

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Arriving to Bird's Hill Park and the Winnipeg Folk Festival grounds a bit late on the first night of the festival unfortunately meant missing some very talented artists in Snowblink and James Vincent McMorrow (luckily this wasn't our only opportunity to hear either of them, as they'll both be part of the "Your Indie Heart" workshop on Friday afternoon).

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2012 Winnipeg Folk Festival Coverage:

• Introduction to the 2012 Winnipeg Folk Festival
• 2012 Winnipeg Folk Festival: Wednesday Photo Gallery & Round-Up
• 2012 Winnipeg Folk Festival: Thursday Photo Gallery & Round-Up
• 2012 Winnipeg Folk Festival: Friday Photo Gallery & Round-Up

ShowbizMonkeys.com tries to bring you loads of coverage from festivals and cultural events, both from our own back yard (Winnipeg Comedy Festival) and around North America (San Diego Comic-Con, Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival). Each festival has its unique charms, and besides hopefully providing interesting things for you to read, listen to, or watch, it's also insanely fun for us. But it's been no secret on these digital pages which festival excites us the most: The Winnipeg Folk Festival -- with its genre-bending (but generally fairly rootsy) line-up of musical acts, the great landscape and climate of the Canadian prairie in July (with a hot sun, and hopefully mosquitoes kept at bay by some friendly dragonflies), and the friendliest group of volunteers and festivalgoers you'll find anywhere -- is the best five days we spend every year.

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During his TD Jazz Lab at the Manitoba Music Conservatory, Lucky Peterson played to the people. Taking requests and telling tales, the Buffalo bluesman gave a preview of his storied career. Joined by his wife Tamara, Peterson encouraged audience participation through a number of classics and standards.

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"Jazz is not just a genre of music," announced Steve Kirby.

The Manitoba bassist had Juss Jazz packed elbow-to-elbow while his hot quartet ended their set. As the evening unwound, venues facilitated genre-spanning performances all under the Jazz Festival banner.

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"I'm so sorry, this is not jazz," proclaimed a flustered patron to his table.

It was midway through Larry and His Flask's set. The man was in a suit and accompanied by two women in fancy dresses. Everyone else in The Pyramid Cabaret was dressed casual, in vests or had facial hair. After killing another shot, the trio departed.

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Emma-Lee has a voice that has to be heard to be believed. Seriously. Her voice is phenomenal. While there are plenty of artists, Canadian and otherwise, who can write well-crafted songs, there are very few who can combine that with a range and tone like Emma-Lee's.

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