The Peterborough Folk Festival — Canada’s longest-running, free-admission annual folk festival — has officially announced the full lineup for its 36th edition, which runs from August 14 to 17 and includes a weekend in Nicholls Oval Park featuring three stages of live music from 28 performers, more than 45 artisan vendors, and a children’s village.
Headliners at this year’s festival include Basia Bulat, Joel Plaskett, Whitehorse, Jeremie Albino, Goldie Boutilier, Shub, Bells Larsen, and Colin Linden. The festival also features 12 local performers, including The Silver Hearts, Benj Rowland, Jeanne Truax, Caitlin Currie, Tapes In Motion, Beau Dixon, and more.
The lineup for the festival, which is committed to full gender parity and strong diversity, features Indigenous artists, artists of colour, and artists from the LGBTQ+ communities.
Montreal-based singer-songwriter Basia Bulat will kick off the festival on Thursday, August 14 with a ticketed concert at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough. The three-time Polaris Music Prize finalist and five-time Juno nominee, whose distinctive voice and songwriting is influenced by R&B and soul music as well as classic folk, is also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, performing on electric guitar, piano, autoharp, ukulele, bass, and charango.
Jeanne Truax, the Peterborough Folk Festival’s Emerging Artist of the Year, will open for Bulat.
Assigned seating tickets for the concert are available for $58 at markethall.org.
Following a series of live music events on Friday, August 15 at various downtown Peterborough venues, including the Pig’s Ear Tavern, the free-admission weekend festival runs on Saturday and Sunday (August 16 and 17) on the hillside at Nicholls Oval Park on Armour Road south of Parkhill Road East.
VIDEO: “Infamous” – Basia Bulat
Featured performers on Saturday include Joel Plaskett, Jeremie Albino, Goldie Boutilier, Shub, and Bells Larsen.
Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett has been performing for over three decades, emerging from the East Coast indie rock scene with his band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s and later gaining widespread acclaim with The Joel Plaskett Emergency and his solo work. With his music spanning blues, folks, rock, country, and pop, Plaskett has picked up multiple nominations and awards from the Junos, the Polaris Music Prize, the East Coast Music Awards, Music Nova Scotia, and more.
Toronto-based singer-songwriter Jeremie Albino combines blues, folk, country, and soul with gritty, heartfelt storytelling. The son of a Filipino father and a Québécois mother, he cut his musical teeth busking on the streets of Toronto before releasing four roots-driven studio albums, including 2024’s Our Time in the Sun, produced in collaboration with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia as Kristin Kathleen Boutilier, Goldie Boutilie moved to Los Angeles at the age of 20 to pursue a music career. After releasing her first album in 2013 under the name of Kay, she moved to Paris and began DJing under the name Goldilox, releasing her second album under that name in 2018. In 2020, she changed her stage name to Goldie Boutilie, subsequently releasing three EPs between 2022 and 2024. Her blend of alt-country, pop, rock, and disco has earned her the praise of Zane Lowe and Elton John, and she has performed at iconic festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits.
Formerly known as DJ Shub, Shub has been at the forefront of a movement over the past decade that has reshaped the landscape of Indigenous electronic music. A former member of the Juno award-winning band A Tribe Called Red, Shub has spent years blending the rhythms of powwow music with modern beats, scratching, and bass-heavy production and is now emerging as a composer and storyteller. Hiawartha First Nation is sponsoring Shub’s appearance at the Peterborough Folk Festival, where he will be joined by powwow dancer Kelli Marshall of Hiawatha First Nation.
Raised by a family of artists and writers in Toronto, Montreal-based indie-folk singer-songwriter Bells Larsen was encouraged to shape his acumen as a storyteller into lyrics when he was given a guitar on his eighth birthday. A proud trans and queer artist, Larsen released his debut album, Good Grief, in 2022. For his sophomore album, 2025’s Blurring Time, Larsen recorded vocals both before and after starting testosterone for his transition, harmonizing his “high” and “low” voices to represent his past and present self. Longlisted for the Polaris Prize in 2025, Larsen was recently forced to cancel an upcoming U.S. tour this month due to the Trump administration’s new visa policy that directly targets trans people.
VIDEO: “Storm” – Jeremie Albino
Featured performers on Sunday include Whitehorse and Colin Linden.
Since forming Whitehorse in 2011, husband-and-wife musicians Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland have become known for blending gritty blues, folk noir, and cinematic rock as well as for their dynamic live performances. Their lush harmonies, layered loops, and inventive instrumentation that push the boundaries of traditional folk and roots genres have earned them critical acclaim and multiple Juno Award nominations.
Virtuoso blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Colin Linden is a Canadian music icon known for his deep knowledge of blues and Americana and for his distinctive slide guitar style and soulful vocals. As well as being a solo artist, Linden is a member of the acclaimed roots-rock band Blackie and the Rodeo Kings along with Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson. Beyond performing, Linden is a Grammy award-winning producer who has worked with artists like Bruce Cockburn and has contributed to major projects including the TV series Nashville and the soundrack for the Cohen brothers’ films O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Inside Llewyn Davis. He has been nominated for an astounding 25 Juno awards, winning nine.
Also on Sunday, the Peterborough Folk Festival will welcome back the ever-popular Sharon, Lois & Bram Singalong featuring Sharon Hampson with her daughter Randi, who will perform beloved Sharon, Lois & Bram favourites like “ABCD Jig,” “Hey Dum Diddeley Dum,” “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain,” and, of course, “Skinnamarink.”
Other family-friendly programming at the festival include Songs of Scratch Garden, who make their live performance debut on Saturday, building on their wildly popular YouTube channel.
Along with the music, the Children’s Village will offer free activities, workshops, and performances from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including crafts, story time, face painting, interactive workshops, and a children’s parade each day.
VIDEO: “4 Cars” – Colin Linden
The performers at the Peterborough Folk Festival on Saturday are Joel Plaskett, Goldie Boutilier, Jeremie Albino, Bells Larsen, Shub,, My Son The Hurricane, Grievous Angels, Songs Of Scratch Garden, Sister Ray, Quinton Barnes, Doghouse Orchestra, The Silver Hearts, Benj Rowland, Jeanne Truax, Lancelot Knight, Swindlers, Caitlin Currie, and Tapes In Motion.
Sunday’s performers are Whitehorse, Lemon Bucket Orchestra, Colin Linden, Inn Echo, Beau Dixon, Sharon Lois and Bram Singalong with Sharon and Randi, Kay Silver, Babe Chorus, Fittonia, and the Jethro Blues Jam All-Stars.
In addition to the musical acts at Nicholls Oval Park, after-parties will be held each weekend evening with selected festival performers at venues in downtown Peterborough, including The Jet Airliners featuring Jeanne Truax at Jethro’s Bar + Stage and The Silver Hearts at Pig’s Ear Tavern.
Although admission to the weekend festival is free, the Peterborough Folk Festival — which is a registered charity that is entirely run by volunteers — encourages donations to help offset a portion of the costs of running the festival.
A suggested donation of $25 (which is eligible for a tax receipt) can be made on-site during the festival or online at the festival’s website.
For more information about the 2025 Peterborough Folk Festival and to make a donation, visit www.peterboroughfolkfest.com.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a sustaining partner of the Peterborough Folk Festival.
