On the first full day of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the story was the sun and the heat. And of course the music, which is always the cornerstone of a festival like this, was in strong form, allowing the people in the sun to enjoy everything from blues to folk to roots to a conglomeration of pretty much every genre one could imagine.
The Winnipeg Folk Festival is in full swing, as the 37th annual folk music festival held just outside Winnipeg, Manitoba began with two evenings (Wednesday and Thursday) of music before the full day schedules kick in from Friday to Sunday.
After offering up a "preview concert" last Wednesday night featuring living legend Sonny Rollins (a show I unfortunately had to miss because I was out of town), the newly-named TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival officially kicked off this past weekend.
Dala had quite the year in 2009! Besides playing the Winnipeg Folk Festival (where ShowbizMonkeys.com got the chance to talk with them), they played seemingly ever other folk and bluegrass festival in Canada and the United States last year, steadily growing their fanbase on the way.
At this past summer's Winnipeg Folk Festival, I got the chance to see some incredibly amazing performers, both young folk acts just coming into their own, as well as some classic names in folk and roots music. Between Loudon Wainwright III, Arlo Guthrie, Elvis Costello, and Loreena McKennitt, there was no shortage of legends hitting the stage.
It's not every day you get to meet and speak with a bona fide legend. Sure, I've met and talked to a lot of amazingly talented comedians, actors, and comedians over the last 2 years I've been doing interviews for ShowbizMonkeys.com.
The 36th Annual Winnipeg Folk Festival came to a close on Sunday night with a main stage performance by Celtic folk icon Loreena McKennitt, while over at Big Blue @ Night, Great Lake Swimmers finished things off. Prior to that, Patrick Watson (and his band, now called The Wooden Arms) awed and amazed at Big Blue, while legendary folk singer Arlo Guthrie pleased the big crowd on the main stage.
Multi-genre band Bellowhead were the surprise of the day at the Winnipeg Folk Festival on Saturday, as the UK-based 11-piece band played their unique blend of folk, rock, ska, jazz, soul, and world music to roaring (and dancing) crowds on the main stage. Several spontaneous conga lines were even formed.
The third night of the Winnipeg Folk Festival was a busy day, and for that reason, this is going to be a shorter update tonight. It was a long, mostly cool day out at Bird's Hill Park on Friday, and sleep awaits -- but here we go!
Friday at the fest was all about the singer-songwriter -- at least for this writer.
If you've been following our Twitter updates on the left side of our home page (or directly at twitter.com/showbizmonkeys), then you know what Day 2 of the Winnipeg Folk Festival was like -- the music was great, the atmosphere was awesome, and the weather was all over the place.
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