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Are You Gone – the first album in a decade from Sarah Harmer – is a deeply
personal and momentous collection of songs motivated by life’s beauty,
love’s mysteries and the climate crisis. Two decades since her heralded debut
“You Were Here”, Sarah returns with a deepened, electric exploration of
nature and human nature.

The first single “New Low” is more than a return to music for the celebrated
singer-songwriter and environmental activist. It is a definition of form, a
call-for-uprising in light of the damage being done to our democracy and our
living world. Inspired by the increase in community action after the Québec
mosque shooting, the Women’s March, and climate rallies, Harmer calls out
the “grey area” of personal and corporate responsibility and indifference,
after meeting with the principal of Queens’ University to discuss fossil fuel
divestment and receiving feeble excuses for inaction. Singing over its
heedless pace and razor-sharp guitars: I wanna see if we can take this from
flame to fire Heat is fleeting but hearts are beating hard.

From the opening frame of “St. Peter’s Bay,” Harmer conjures the essence of
the album. An ‘end of the night, end of the love affair’ story set against a
hockey game on the frozen bay off of Prince Edward Island, the song pits
the hardness of winter against the fragility of the relationship. As guitar
melodies and drums swell into a haunting and bittersweet refrain Still we
had a good skate, didn’t we babe, “St. Peter’s Bay” makes instantly clear
that this is Harmer’s most sonically detailed and darkest record to date, still
crisply capturing the glint of outdoor ice in the northern night.

Are You Gone is also about stepping away – quieting one’s own voice for a
matter of time, and using that force in different ways. If you’re too tucked
away, and you can’t see the sun, Harmer muses on the breathtaking “Just Get
Here,” imagining the Canadian poet Al Purdy’s A-frame cottage, a haven for
writers in 1960’s rural Ontario. Like generations of poets before her, Harmer
gleaned the magic of the place while visiting a writer-in-residence there in
summer 2019. “I decided on the album title while staying for a night,”

Harmer recalls, “thinking about time and time capsules, and our need for
isolation but also for community.”

The result of an unshakeable inclination to make music alongside a lifestyle
more attuned to privacy and local activism, Sarah wrote Are You Gone
gradually over the last decade as she traded music for grassroots organizing.
Between co-founding the citizen’s organization PERL (Protecting
Escarpment Rural Land) and leading the coalition’s successful efforts to stop
a massive quarry on the Niagara Escarpment, she became a fixture in local politics and advocacy. She kept her musical chops up playing casually with
friends and the odd small show. Finally, in 2017, while pondering the ghosts
of loss, capitalism’s gluttony and music’s potential as a public platform,
Sarah was moved to get to work on her most sophisticated record to date.

On “What I Was To You” she recounts an early friendship with beloved rock
star Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip. Harmer traces an effortless melody
with emotional range that deftly rolls between the late Downie’s ambling,
ecstatic solo work, and the oblique chorus blasts of his band. Looking back
on stories of the fellow musicians’ time coming up together in the Southern
Ontario scene, “What I Was To You” simultaneously captures the intimacy
of their friendship and the feeling shared by the legions of souls touched by
Downie, during and beyond his lifetime-

Are you gone?
Good for you to go
I hardly know what that took.
So long, I’ll be walking with you if you happen to look

Harmer nurtured the twelve songs of Are You Gone close to home. Some
lingered for ages – like the undeniable melody of “Take Me Out” – while
others appeared behind the barn at dusk like the sweet, autumnal “Squeaking
Voices,” and the homebound “Little Frogs.” Each story paints a different
picture over the course of this album’s making, threading Are You Gone with
both personal intimacy and the shared strands of life.

Featuring eleven originals and one cover, the eerie “Wildlife” by Kingston
songwriter Dave Hodge, Sarah co-produced the album with Marcus Paquin
(Aidan Knight, Arcade Fire, Timber Timbre) in Toronto, Montreal and
Kingston. Long-time musical collaborators included Jon McCann on drums, Ben Whiteley on bass, Gord Tough on guitar, and Christine Bougie, Kevin
Fox, Benji Perosin and Jason Euringer on steel, cello, trumpet, stand-up bass
and harmonies. Howie Beck recorded additional tracks and mixed the album
in the spring of 2019

On album centrepiece “The Lookout,” Harmer takes us to a tempting height,
Something to be warned about knowing with certainty that the ground will
fall away. With spare piano and the strain of distant strings, the entire album
suspends in this moment – a heartbreaking chorus doubling as reprieve, with
a closing refrain that hangs in the breathless space: The beauty of the place
was blocked by the way I held you too close.

The melody for penultimate track “Shoemaker” was written looking out the
porthole of a ship in the Canadian high arctic in 2015 while on an
educational trip with students from around the world in, and developed after
Sarah discovered an old book and census of her great-great Glaswegian
grandfather who made an immigrant’s crossing to Canada in the early 19th
century. “Shoemaker” calls to mind the softly ominous, slowly shifting
chords of Sparklehorse before transforming into a gorgeous, crescendo show
of Sarah’s vocal range.

“See Her Wave” wraps the album with an acoustic shanty send-off to
another dear friend who moved on. See her wave she’s on her way.

These songs are the inner ramblings of twilight, conversations with the
critters in the air and on the lawn, floorboard creaks of a loved one in the
next room. Some are restorative and some rock. Within them there are
answers to where Sarah has been and what it means to come back now.
Whether to the loyal fans that have followed Harmer’s work over the
decades or to the newly initiated, Are You Gone is a resounding statement of
purpose and a dedication to the indelible spirits around us

From the mountains of Utah to the trenches of Vimy Ridge, Elliott BROOD’s songs have travelled the gore and glory of history in equal measure for nearly a decade. With the stomp and thrash of their early albums, Elliott BROOD carved their niche drawing from history and memory. As heavy and harrowing the past can be, for Elliott BROOD, it is also a generous companion, giving the gift of appreciation for times of peace and grace.

With Keeper, Elliott BROOD’s seventh album, the trio deals with the past in more personal terms. The title, which speaks to loyalty and longevity, sets the tone for an album that explores the strength of conviction, and how that strength is tested, again and again, over time. Thoughts of worthiness and dedication, and their emotional flip sides, inform a collection that sees the band exploring those battlefields much closer to home.

From the Polaris Music Prize short listed breakout album Mountain Meadows to the JUNO Award winning Days Into Years, the well-traveled trio of Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet and Stephen Pitkin have created a body of work that is at once meticulous and boisterous, substantial and entertaining.

The only good thing about not shopping in record stores anymore is you won’t have to figure out what genre to look for Danny under. If that were the case, you could try looking under, rock, pop, folk, world or even classical.

His own self-described musical A.D.D. has kept his music fresh for decades. Maybe it has something to do with being born next to a candy factory, or his ambidextrous brain, but his thoughtful lyrics & charming performances have earned a devoted fan base, multiple nominations for Junos, The Polaris Prize, CBC’s “Heart Of Gold”, and most recently winning the CFMA’s “Producer of the year” and “Oliver Schroder Pushing the Boundaries” Awards.

But Danny considers his career highlights to be the unique real life moments like performing for Jane Goodall’s 85th birthday party, touring with Stuart Mclean and working with charities close to his heart.

“When I was eleven, I spent a month living in Khartoum, Sudan. It was there I was exposed to a very different world…and music”

In 2015, his adventurous spirit took him to the country of Belize where he tracked down one of his favourite Belizean bands; The Garifuna Collective (a unique Afro-Amerindian cultural group) and convinced them to create an album together. That album (“Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me”) was called “One of the finest musical works of our time” by Billboard’s Larry Leblanc, landed Danny’s 3rd Juno nomination (World Music Album Of The Year), and a sold out summer tour of North America with The Garifuna Collective.

While in Belize, Danny also founded the DM Ocean Academy Fund that helps raise scholarships for a small non-profit community high school. To date, Danny & his fans have raised over $125,000.00 for the school.

In 2016, Danny returned to Canada to record “Matadora,” his most deeply humanist album to date. This ten-song collection explores the environmentalist, pacifist, romanticist, archivist, and space enthusiast in Danny.

Then it was off to the Canadian high Arctic where Danny recorded “Khlebnikov” (possibly the most northern album ever recorded/above 80°) aboard the legendary Soviet-era Russian ice-breaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov during an 18-day arctic expedition curated by Astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield. Once home, Danny’s recordings were arranged for brass & strings by film composer Rob Carli. The result is a suite of atmospheric and haunting songs about the Arctic, our planet, and our place in it.

When he’s not performing he’s fighting for musicians’ rights, the environment, making short films, producing, running his studio or filming his comedy/sci-fi/music show “Dan’s Space Van”

With a soulful voice and captivating stage presence, Julian Taylor is a rising star in the Canadian folk scene. His unique blend of blues, roots, and folk music has earned him a growing fanbase and critical acclaim.

Julian is a Toronto-based, award-winning singer-songwriter, radio host, and label owner. Over the course of his esteemed career, which spans 20-plus years as the leader of Staggered Crossing, Julian Taylor Band, and his solo work, Julian has established himself as one of Canada’s greatest troubadours.

He’s earned three Juno Award nominations, along with a pair of Canadian Folk Music Awards for Solo Artist and English Songwriter of the Year, five Native American Music Award nominations, plus a nomination for Canada’s most prestigious music accolade, the Polaris Music Prize.

Alysha Brilla is a 3X Juno Award nominated artist, songwriter, and music producer with a special interest in sound as a healing modality. Brilla is the first female artist in Canada to receive multiple Juno Award nominations for her self-produced albums. Brilla’s work is driven by a deep belief in music’s power to transform ourselves and our world.

Brilla’s unique global roots x folk fusion is inspired by growing up with parents from two different cultural and religious backgrounds; an Indian-Tanzanian father and a European-Settler Canadian mother.  Alysha’s music connects rhythmic sounds with esoteric lyricism; transporting listeners to a place suspended between the earth and the stars.

Thanks to a growing collective of music fans worldwide, Brilla regularly tours internationally including across Australia, Singapore, Tanzania and Chile. In addition to live performances of music, Brilla has conducted creative wellness workshops in schools for the past ten years; promoting storytelling through music and mentoring in self-expression through the arts with a focus on developing skills in songwriting and music production.

Mountain Head begins with the Hannah Brothers, and a mountain. The mysterious duo wandered through the wasteland and arrived at a mountain, which they scaled. At the top, they discovered a shaman who changed the brothers’ lives and way of thinking forever. Descending the mountain, they channeled Johnny Cash, Flavor Flav, and Billy Gibbons. Dressed in black denim, rocking solid gold grills and long beards, their eyes were obscured by heavy shadows from the brims of their black hats. The most startling change was their music, full of subterranean grooves, plump cavernous bass lines, and a jangly, grungy guitar. Their sound blends psych-rock, alt-rock, and elements of electro-pop and jangle pop into unique and potent sonic concoctions. Mountain Head’s goal is to travel to your city and steal your head by means of mesmerizing vocals and contagious melodies. They’re skull bandits, but polite ones, because after they steal your head, they give it back to you. According to Mountain Head, the only way to hold on to your head is to lose it.

– Randy Radic

2 times Juno Award winner and 4 times Juno Award nominated.

Singer-songwriter/guitarist Donné Roberts was born in Madagascar. Now based in Toronto, Canada. He’s earned a matchless reputation for his compositions, strong catchy melodic lines that makes his audience sing along with him during live performances, strong message on the lyrics, also the excitement and the high energy and professionalism of his live shows.
Donné Roberts is a passionate performer. When he hits the stage, he carries with him an energy that immediately exhilarates the crowd even if they’ve never heard his music before. Donné performs mainly in Malagasy mother tongue from his birthplace of Madagascar. Yet this never proves to be a barrier to the audience, providing living proof that music truly does transcend languages.
Donné came to wider recognition in Canada after he released his albums “Rhythm Was Born”, “Internation” and the most recent release “OYA” was released in October 2021. Also got recognitions for his contribution as one of the members of the African Guitar Summit project, which won a JUNO Award in 2005 and was nominated for another one in 2007 and also as a former original member of Okavango the African Orchestra that won a JUNO Award while he was a member in 2017. Also known as one of the African musicians in Toronto who’s been invited to collaborate and co-write songs with various Canadian musicians such as the Sultans Of Strings, Amanda Martinez and more.

Donné was raised and educated in Moscow, Russia, speaks and sings in Malagasy, French, and English. In Moscow, he was the first black VJ on MTV Russia.
From touring as a backup singer for Ace of Base (Swedish pop group) to a stint as the first black VJ on MTV Russia, Donné has led a prolific and varied artistic life since he left his home country of Madagascar as a boy.
Touring Canada, he introduces his music to new fans that might be unfamiliar with the kinds of rhythms his music conveys and his fusion of seemingly dissimilar sounds.

His success led to CBC Radio asking him to compose the theme song for their popular morning show Fresh Air, which still runs today. Also, he was invited and co-wrote a theme song with Yukiko Tsutsui (Japanese singer songwriter) for ABS TV & Radio station Japan after his successful tour with Yukiko Tsutsui in Japan in 2018.

International touring artist and award-winning songwriter Matt Epp is the quintessential troubadour of the Canadian prairies, who has won the admiration of an audience that spans the globe. A stark and confessional songwriter endowed with an infinite capacity to engage an audience, Epp’s performances encourage a sense of connection and community, where every listener leaves as a friend. He is one of the gifted forerunners defining the future landscape of Canadian music – no doubt contributing to his Grand Prize win at the International Songwriting Competition in 2017. A seasoned collaborator and activist, Matt’s music has been on regular rotation on CBC, Sirius XM, and community radio for over a decade.

Rolling Wave is Epp’s 13th studio album; mostly recorded alone in a converted old rural ‘Art Church’ on Lake Huron’s shores during the second winter of the pandemic. It opens with the jubilant Made For Love (watch it’s playful almost nude prancing-in-the-snow accompanying video), then settles into the album’s mystic single Live Free and the sensual bluesy groove of Touch Yourself – celebrating a distant lover’s self-pleasure. The album sweetens with the innocent dream of Treehouse and Mexican ocean sounds of the love song Architect Eyes. Blade Fine Edge brings this collection back to Epp’s poignant lyrics and a sombre vision of the future, recalling the prettiness and spirit of Bruce Cockburn’s songs; with the stand out line “It’s hard as rock / to make change with talk / this is why we sing”. The lush and shadowy stalk of The Girl Who Walks The World was composed for a large land-based multi-disciplinary performance and film project called ‘Wandering With Wonder’ and will be performed with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra during the album release tour in May. The playful John Prine-esque Inside Out Man was born during an introspective psychedelic journey, and the album closes with an earnest and prayerful Americana jam, Present Moment, which was channeled during a spiritual reflection on death, presence, and interconnectedness. Epp’s lightest album to date, Rolling Wave marks the transition into a new era for both the artist and his offerings.

Matt Weidinger has established himself as a full time musician since the age of 16 having surpassed thousands of hours in the trade. During his formative years, Weidinger found a home within the thriving blues scene in Kitchener-Waterloo, playing regular club gigs with its leading practitioners while still in high school. Since then Matt has worked his way up to being one of the most sought after and well known entertainers in Ontario. He is a singer/songwriter and a multi instrumentalist. He has three original albums under his belt and although considers the Hammond Organ, his instrument of choice, is equally comfortable on piano, guitar, bass and mandolin. He joined forces with Lance Anderson in 12-piece band called “Matchedash Parish” whose debut album Saturday Night earned them a 2020 Maple Blues Awards nomination for New Artist of the Year.

The Greatest Short Story Never Told

In case you didn’t know, Ontario is big. Bigger than Texas, actually. A lot of that vast, wild space is ingrained in the music made by Ontario artists, and one of the most revered, Fred Eaglesmith, has often said that he would rank Ontario songwriters equally with those from Texas. It’s all just sometimes hard to notice, with Toronto being the centre of the universe and all.

The members of the band Ontarians don’t live in Toronto, which is precisely why their name suits them to a tee. Their turf is mostly the northern half of the province, from Collingwood to Sault Ste. Marie. But with the release of their debut album, The Greatest Short Story Never Told, they’re more than happy to represent the southern half as well. Indeed, the approach that Ontarians take isn’t dissimilar from the sound that ruled Toronto’s Queen Street West during the glory days of the Horseshoe Tavern, the Cameron House and the Rivoli, when a distinctive brand of country rock was created by former punks seeking to express themselves in a more personal and substantive way.

Of course, much has changed since then, but The Greatest Short Story Never Told is a clear reminder that well-crafted songs played by musicians with genuine chemistry will never fall out of fashion.

Further proof is that it’s taken Ontarians two years to get to this point, 2020 restrictions notwithstanding. The seeds were planted in 2018 when roots rock scene veterans Frank Deresti and Craig Smith decided to try writing some songs together, a process that soon led Frank to make regular trips from Sault Ste. Marie to Craig’s studio near Collingwood where the pair laid down tracks and sent them off to their keyboardist Jay Stiles in Austin, Texas to add his parts. Chris Johns later overdubbed some drums, before Craig’s painstaking mixes made everything gel into one seamless package.

“This was a true collaborative effort for Craig, Jay and myself,” Frank says. “Between glasses of Pernod, car troubles and lots of laughter we wrote songs about various stages of life we found ourselves in—past, present, and a hypothetical future. When Craig and I sat down to write with a clear goal in mind, it was like a reservoir of creativity was released that had been building up for a long time.”

That flood resulted in standout songs such as “Forest For The Trees,” the only one written and recorded with all three principles together in the same room, “Photographs and Epitaphs,” the first one written for the project, stemming from its prophetic opening line, “Some songs will write themselves…,” and the album’s first single, “Time,” a slice of classic alt-country in the spirit of Neil Young, The Band, and early Wilco.

“The general guiding rule has been ‘anything goes,’” Craig says. “Frank and I pursued any idea either of us came up with, as long as it felt good. And even though the album took two years to finish, when we were together in the studio there was a real sense of urgency to be productive. We didn’t have the luxury of living in the same city, so I think all of that concentrated effort really comes across on the album.”

Prior to the formation of Ontarians, Frank Deresti criss-crossed the country as a sideman for over a decade and released four albums under his own name beginning in 2012, all while holding down several high profile teaching positions at Sault Ste. Marie’s Algoma University and the Algoma Conservatory of Music.

Craig Smith cut his musical teeth in the underrated ‘90s singer/songwriter scene in Kitchener-Waterloo where he made two solo albums before moving to Collingwood and building a scene there through production work and booking artists at CROW Bar.

Jay Stiles has been hired to work on many projects over the years, and since his move to Austin, that network has grown exponentially. Along with being a part of Ontarians, Jay is also working with Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson on a new reggae project.

With the release of The Greatest Short Story Never Told, Ontarians are fully prepared to invigorate the roots rock world with their timeless sound. As Frank says, when something just feels right, it can’t be denied. “We started with a little idea of what direction we thought we could take, but it became apparent pretty quickly that we complemented each other’s approach to writing in every way. We haven’t stopped writing actually, even with this first album finished. We want to have enough material to put on a great show when the time is right, and we’re all hoping that time comes soon.”

Now, with his upcoming music, Dre shares his journey of recovery, inspiring others with his resilience and unwavering determination. Through his songs, he conveys a message of hope, reminding us all that strength can be found even in the face of adversity.

While still maintaining the spokesman role for Parkdale culture for which Dre is known and loved, his remarkable story serves as a testament to the transformative power of music and the human spirit. With his upcoming music, he continues to captivate audiences, offering a profound and uplifting experience that resonates long after the final note fades away. As a true embodiment of hope and strength, Freeman Dre stands as an inspiration to us all, reminding us of the remarkable resilience we possess within ourselves.

“Fantastic stuff” ~ Bob Harris, BBC Radio

“Freeman Dre is a musical alchemist” ~ Eric Thom, Sing Out Magazine

“Few are able to cover this much lyrical ground” ~ Ben Conoley, Canadian Musician

“Highly entertaining live” ~ Kerry Doole, Exclaim Magazine

“Dark, yet affectionate” ~ Sarah Greene, NOW magazine

“This is my album of the year, without a doubt!” ~ Jeff Gilbert, No Depression

With 15 major releases under his belt, and his latest album Simple Complex recorded at Fang Studios in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and mixed by Joel Plaskett, Nepean, Ontario-born Matty (Graven) is a passionate wordsmith of song who wears his heart on the sleeve of his melodies. “Simple Complex” is charting across many college radio stations in Canada and the USA and was #3 on CKCU FM’s top 50 albums of 2022 and he is nominated for a FACES Ottawa award for “Country Artist”. His last record Years (2020) was produced by Jim Bryson (singer songwriter and producer of Kathleen Edwards award winning album “Total Freedom”) and helped put his music into new realms. Having toured across Canada thrice, he always has uplifting words and self-love promoting songs of support for anyone at his shows and his dedicated fan-base (who have dubbed themselves as  “Graventown”). Graven always tries to create a highly accepting and inclusive community and his music has become a safe-haven for anyone and everyone who wants to be their real-self without judgement.

“The power of Soul can never be extinguished”
There’s still a misconception that the only authentic Soul music came from Detroit, Memphis and Muscle Shoals. But since that heyday in the 1960s, it’s been proven repeatedly that Soul music can be made anywhere, and at any time, so long as the artist is able to lay themselves bare and tell their story…

In The Face of Racism, a Love Story

If my parents had not stood up to racism almost 60 years ago, I would not exist…

My mother emigrated from Jamaica in the 1950s. She had come from a life of privilege, well educated and untouched by prejudice. In the early 1960s, when she was ready to buy her first new home, she met my father, George Hubbs, who was the real estate agent for the builder and possibly the whitest man in Canada.

My mother chose a home to purchase and signed a full-price offer. My father presented the offer to the builder, telling him the buyer was a well-qualified Jamaican nurse. The builder told my father that he would not sell to a Person of Colour, Black, Jamaican … you get the picture.

Here’s where the story gets interesting. My father, outraged, went back to my mother and told her exactly what the builder had said. My mother decided to take the builder to the Human Rights Commission, and my father testified for her. She got her house. He got fired from the building site, losing his job. They started dating, got married, and in 1965, I was born.

This wasn’t my mother’s first challenge finding housing as a Black woman in Canada. Before buying her home, many an apartment that was available when she phoned was suddenly gone when she got to the door. However, I grew up oblivious to any of this. My mother didn’t tell me anything about the racism she’d encountered until I was in my 20s and able to handle it. I grew up hearing only that I had “the best of both worlds.”

Henry Taylor is a Kitchener-Waterloo-based singer-song writer with folk rock albums dating back to 1998. Over the course of his career, he has played at some of the most iconic music venues in Toronto, including the Mod Club, Lee’s Palace, the Rivoli, the Cameron House, the Dakota Tavern, the El Mocambo, and the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

Henry put out his first solo album ‘Midnight Lights’ in 2011 as The Henry Taylor Band. The album comprises eleven original songs and was recorded, mixed and produced by Henry Taylor at Sauna Studios in Toronto, Ontario. Songs from this album were featured in a televised Toronto Marley’s hockey game on CBC in 2012.

Henrys’ next album, ‘Settled for Love’, came out in November 2014 under Henry Taylor and the Long Horse Rangers. The album includes ten original songs written mainly by Henry Taylor and Monique Montgomery. It was recorded with Graeme Moore on lead guitar, Charlie McKittrick on drums/harmony vocals, Michael Ruttle on bass, and Henry Taylor playing rhythm guitars/lead vocals/harmonica/organ. The album was recorded, mixed and produced by Henry Taylor and mastered by Noah Mintz. ‘Settled for Love’, an eclectic mix of rock, blues, folk, and country, was featured in live shows at the Cameron House and the Rivoli as well as the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.
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In 2015, Henry performed at Dauphin’s Countryfest as a semi-finalist in CMT’s ‘Chevy from the Tailgate’ song writing competition.

In 2017, Henry released ‘Live Wire’ with the Long Horse Rangers, featuring music written with song writing partner Monique Montgomery. The album was recorded, mixed and produced by Henry Taylor and mastered by Noah Mintz. Songs from this album were featured at the Mod Club, and ‘Live Wire’ was officially released during Toronto Indie Week at the Dakota Tavern in 2017.

Now back in his hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo, Henry plays regular shows at the Rod, Gun, and Barber in Toronto, and locally at The Falls Road Pub, the Edelweiss Tavern, and the Duke of Wellington.

Henry’s fifth studio album, ‘Good to See You’, was released on May 27, 2022. This album has been picked up on local radio and featured on several podcasts – most recently on Jeff Woods Radio’s Records & Rockstars: Episode 140.

Miranda Journey is an indie rock-folk singer-songwriter from Collingwood, ON.
Miranda grew up in a musical family where she was inspired to pursue her love for the arts from an early age. She began singing, songwriting, and performing at the age of 8 and was performing professionally by the age of 16.
Over the past several years she’s performed at shows, festivals, and collaborated in musical projects with other aspiring artists.

In 2018, Miranda released her first acoustic EP “Skin and Bones”. In 2019 she began releasing a series of singles such as “Oh My!” and “Headspace”. These songs will also be debuting on her upcoming album ‘The Art of Coping’. The album’s release date is set for April 7th, 2023.

With major influences like Angel Olsen and Liza Anne, Miranda’s quirky performances, signature vocals, and lyrically-driven songs leave the audience captivated and wanting more. She continues to explore new ways to infuse throwback sounds with new, experimental ones. Considering herself to be “New Retro”, Miranda strives to stay authentic to her sound while never putting limitations on what she can create or how she can evolve.

Introducing the talented Jolie Smith, also known as “JoJo” to her nearest and dearest. With a voice that resonates from the depths of her soul, it’s no wonder she leaves listeners spellbound. At only 20 years young, JoJo is an old soul who transports her audience to a bygone era with her nostalgic and familiar sound, reminiscent of legends Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake. But don’t be fooled by her vintage vibes, JoJo’s music is a breath of fresh air that defies current trends.

As soon as you hear JoJo’s celestial vocals paired with her exceptional acoustic guitar skills, you’ll be hooked like the rest of her fans. Her music has a way of captivating crowds wherever she goes. Without a doubt she’s a rising star.

An interactive performance by Saikou Saho, a masterful drummer from the Gambia. Featuring the healing power of the drum, the beat, the Rhythm of the Motherland. Saikou will share his twenty-five-year journey as a teacher, performer and stable culture keeper in Toronto and aboard.

I think back to my first yoga class which led to my first yoga instructor course and the first class I taught. It was a tremendous ah-ha when I realized that joy for me comes from being in service to others – helping them find joy and love themselves, build strength and acceptance through music, movement, reflection and play.

I am a Yoga Instructor with 700+ hours of formal teacher training: Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, Prenatal, and Restorative Yoga, Ayurveda and 300+ hours of Vipassana Meditation training. Additional experience includes work in Senior Care, as well as Birth Doula and Palliative Care study. I have been guiding yoga since 2016, with the absolute honour of teaching in studios, schools, hospitals, retirement homes, hospices, residential homes, corporate settings, and on yoga retreats. Bodhichitta, the Sanskit word used to describe an awakened mind, motivated to work towards the liberation of all beings, is a daily motivation for me. Through movement, meditation, and music, health, happiness, and healing in community is possible.

Jeff Woods has long been at the center of conversation around music, having interviewed hundreds of artists and created thousands of radio shows. A Blue Mountains transplant, it’s from his home studio that Jeff hosts the acclaimed Records & Rockstars series, and The Blue Hotel Podcast. Most at home behind a microphone, he’s thrilled to be your emcee for the 2023 Four Winds Music Fest.