The Peterborough Folk Festival has revealed the full lineup of performers at the free festival in Nicholls Oval Park on the weekend of August 20 and 21.

Newly announced performers include Toronto singer-songwriter Lydia Persaud, folk singer-songwriter Ken Yates from London, Ontario, traditional music group The Backwoodsmen, and local musicians Benj Rowland and Melissa Payne.

Previously announced performers include headliners Bahamas, The Trews Acoustic, and Kathleen Edwards, with the latter performing a ticketed concert on Friday, August 19th at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.

Other previously announced performers in the lineup are Odario, AHI, Kelly McMichael, Julian Taylor, Kellie Loder, Georgia Harmer, My Son The Hurrican, Joyful Joyful, Andrea Kain, Murder Murder, I, The Mountain, Michael C Duguay, Sharon, Lois & Bram Singalong with Sharon and Randi Hampson and friends, Lauryn Macfarlane, Nathan Truax, Kayla Mohammed,and The Colton Sisters.

In addition, festival organizers announced Indigenous performers Kelli Marshall and Payge Marshall will take to the main stage prior to the Sharon, Lois & Bram Singalong.

Along with the free weekend of music at Nicholls Oval and Kathleen Edwards’ August 19th ticketed concert, the Peterborough Folk Festival is also presenting the premiere of its concert film We Can Do This with two evening screenings at the Market Hal on Thursday, August 18th.

Festival organizers will be releasing a performance schedule soon. In the interim, the festival is still seeking volunteers to help with this year’s event.

For more information about the Peterborough Folk Festival, or to become a volunteer, donate, or sponsor the festival or become an artisan vendor, visit peterboroughfolkfest.com.

kawarthanow is pleased to be a major media sponsor of the 2022 Peterborough Folk Festival.

One of the most successful Pride events ever in Haliburton County is returning in 2022.

Viva Burlesque, the latest incarnation of 2019’s sold-out Burlesque Ball, will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 26th at Pinestone Resort (4252 Haliburton County Road 21, Haliburton) — on the eve of the final weekend of Minden Pride.

Hosted by Carlotta Carlisle, the adult and licensed event features some famous and beloved stars from Toronto’s drag scene, including Katrinka Kature, Perla, and Vitality Black. The evening will also include dancing, a show tune sing-a-long, several local performers, and more.

“It’s a drag event obviously, but I want to make room for some artful dialogue too,” says Viva brainchild Collin Burke, co-owner of Russell Red Records in Haliburton, in a media release. “I love performance of any kind really and, though drag is always one of the most fun and most provocative kinds of performance, I hope to also bring in some more avant garde tones this year.”

Tickets are $45 per person, available exclusively in person from Russell Red Records at 173A Highland Street in Haliburton or online at www.russellredrecords.ca.

As well as being a go-to local destination for vinyl, new and used music, and state-of-the-art electronic components, Russell Red Records is an inclusive and queer-friendly place.

“We are making Russell Red a hub for all things Viva Burlesque,” Burke says. “Get your tickets, get some party music, get your drag accessories — it will be a one stop shop for Pride and the event,” says Burke.

For more information about other events planned for Minden Pride, which runs from August 22 to 28, visit www.mindenpride.ca.

The Peterborough Folk Festival has announced the premiere of its concert film We Can Do This along with a limited vinyl edition soundtrack featuring 11 songs from the film.

The film will be screened at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough on Thursday, August 18th, the day before the 2022 Peterborough Folk Festival kicks off with a ticketed concert by Kathleen Edwards, also at the Market Hall, followed by a weekend of free musical performances at Nicholls Oval Park by Bahamas, The Trews Acoustic, Odario, AHI, My Son The Hurricane, Georgia Harmer, and Adria Kain, Joyful Joyful, Michael C Duguay, Lauryn Macfarlane, Kayla Mohammed, Nathan Truax, Kelly McMichael, Julian Taylor, The Colton Sisters, I, the Mountain, Murder Murder, Kellie Loder, and Sharon & Randi.

We Can Do This documents the festival’s four-day series of concerts during the pandemic in August 2021 at the Rolling Grape Vineyard in Bailieboro, and features performances by Terra Lightfoot, AHI, Evangeline Gentle, Lauryn Macfarlane, Brooks and Bowskill, William Prince, Whitehorse, Hawksley Workman, Donovan Woods and the Opposition, Melissa Payne, Travis Good, and Greg Keelor and the Family Band.

After Heritage Canada asked live event producers to reinvent artistic presentations during the pandemic, the Peterborough Folk Festival conceived of a film to document musical performances in unique locations using a mobile recording studio. Recording engineer James McKenty and his ‘In Record Time’ mobile studio to capture musical performances using 32 channels of inputs for maximum quality.

The project then evolved to include the idea of recording performances in front of a live audience. Unable to host a live event within the City of Peterborough due to pandemic restrictions, the Peterborough Folk Festival decided to instead host a four-day concert series at the Rolling Grape Vineyard.

The resulting 55-minute film will be screened at 7 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. on Thursday, August 18th at the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough.

VIDEO: “We Can Do This” trailer

Admission is a pay-what-you-can donation to the Peterborough Folk Festival, with tickets available at the door. Donations over $20 will receive a tax receipt.

Accompanying the film is a limited edition vinyl soundtrack album featuring 11 songs recorded live. Only 400 copies will be available to the public, with no plans to create a digital download. The album will be available for sale at the Peterborough Folk Festival as well as at Blue Streak Records in Peterborough.

The album features “Empty House” by Terra Lightfoot, “Sundays” by Evangeline Gentle, “The Lonely Club” by Brooks and Bowskill, “Run” by William Prince, “Broken” by Whitehorse, “Piano Blink” by Hawksley Workman, “We Used To” by Donovan Woods, “Letting It Out” by Lauren MacFarlane, “September Skies” by Melissa Payne, “All The Good Times Are Past And Gone” by Travis Good, and “Lost Together” by Greg Keelor and The Family Band.

We Can Do This was written, directed, and executive produced by Peterborough Folk Festival board chair Malcolm Byard, with the festival’s Ryan Kemp as artistic director and executive producer. The film was produced by award-winning Jim Lambie (The Umbrella Academy), with sound recording, mixing, and mastering by James McKenty. Brittany Brooks designed and illustrated the vinyl soundtrack album.

For more information about the Peterborough Folk Festival, or to become a volunteer, donate, or sponsor the festival or become an artisan vendor, visit peterboroughfolkfest.com.

kawarthanow is pleased to be a major media sponsor of the 2022 Peterborough Folk Festival.

This is a tale of two Canadian pop rock success stories that, while similar in some respects, remain significantly different enough to stand very much on their own.

In one corner, you have JJ Wilde, whose 2020 debut album brought her a Juno Award in 2021 just two years after she launched her music career. Opposite her stands Suzie McNeil, a 2008 Juno Award nominee for Best New Artist of the Year whose work as both a solo artist and collaborator has held our collective attention for close to 20 years.

On their own, each is a musical force to be reckoned with. But bring them together on one stage for one night, well, now you’re onto something really special.

On Wednesday, August 3 at Del Crary Park, the latter will be the case as Wilde and McNeil co-headline another chapter of Peterborough Musicfest’s milestone 35th season. Admission to the 8 p.m. concert, as always, is free.

Kitchener-born JJ Wilde — Jillian Dowding in another life — made quite the first impression in 2019 with the release of her debut EP Wilde Eyes, Steady Hands and the single “The Rush,” which, in May 2020, simultaneously attained the top spot on Canada’s modern rock, active rock, and mainstream rock charts — one of a handful of songs to achieve that feat.

Any doubts about Wilde’s rock prowess after that remarkable debut were put to rest when her 2020 debut studio album Ruthless followed a similar trajectory. Nominated for a 2021 Juno award as Rock Album of the Year, Ruthless brought Wilde her first statue. Not since 1996, when Alanis Morissette took home a Juno for Jagged Little Pill, had a female performer won in that category.

Wilde arrives in Peterborough with new material courtesy of her second EP Wilde, released just last year. The six-song collection includes her powerful cover of the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty classic “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” featuring Brett Emmons of The Glorious Sons, who Wilde has recently been touring with in Canada — she opened for them at the Peterborough Memorial Centre this past April — along with The Scorpions in Europe.

VIDEO: “The Rush” – JJ Wilde

“This EP (Wilde) was created during the pandemic so there is definitely some frustration that leaked into this project from not being able to play shows,” reflected Wilde during a June 2021 interview with Rob Laing of MusicRadar.

“But having the time off to do more writing influenced this record in a very positive way as well. I had more time to sit with the songs than I usually do; to refine and make changes. I also had more time to write just for me. I think there’s a real honesty that comes from that.”

Asked to describe her sound, which has resonated with so many so very fast, Wilde admits to being stumped.

“It’s always hard for me as a musician to describe my sound because music means so many different things to different people,” Wilde said. “It’s all up for interpretation. I would say my music is raw, emotional and from the heart. My songs are all very personal to me. The sound is rock … heavy guitars, big booming drums, and a rumbling bass line.”

While a quickly growing legion of fans eagerly awaits what’s next from Wilde, her commitment is to “keep evolving and growing.”

“I just want my songs to continue to come from a genuine place. The sound will naturally evolve with the songwriting. As I grow as a person, my interests in sounds will change.”

VIDEO: “Wired” – JJ Wilde

Post-Musicfest, Wilde will headline August 5 at the Kitchener Blues Festival and then take a breather before undertaking a busy fall of performances across Canada.

Wilde is walking a path not unlike one well travelled by Suzie McNeil since 2005 when the Mississauga native placed fourth on Rock Star: INXS, subsequently reaping the benefits of a successful and diversified careers as a solo artist and as a collaborator with the likes of INXS, Clay Aiken, Foreigner, and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

McNeil has recorded three studio albums, with her 2007 debut album Broken & Beautiful featuring the singles “Hung Up” and 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics anthem “Believe” and earning her a 2008 Juno Award nomination as Best New Artist of the Year.

Subsequent albums Rock-n-Roller (2008) and Dear Love (2012) followed, the former spawning her top charting hit “Supergirl” and the latter bringing McNeil more commercial success via the singles “Drama Queen” and “Merry Go Round.”

In addition to her Juno Award nomination, McNeil won a 2008 Independent Music Award as Favourite Pop Artist and, in the same year, was shortlisted for two Canadian Radio Music Awards.

Diversity has been the name of the game for McNeil, her varied musical pursuits including using her multi-instrumental talents as a member of her own Nashville-based country-rock band, forays into the Broadway-level musical theatre realm, and commercial jingle recording work.

VIDEO: “Supergirl” – Suzie McNeil

Rarely standing still, she has dipped her toe into a number of new musical waters, ranging from singing backing vocals for Pink on her North American tour to entertaining troops in Afghanistan to performing at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies.

“I love doing this so much,” she told Jim Barber in a November 2018 interview with Music Life Magazine, adding “I love getting paid for it. I love being able to support myself doing something that I love. To me, that was always the goal.”

“I do kind of get bored and like to have new challenges and different experiences. I love musical theatre, so I loved being able to do that with We Will Rock You (in 2007 at Toronto’s Canon Theatre). I love 1970s music, so I loved doing that show. When I look back at my life, I am very proud, and very proud of all the different experiences I have had and people I have been able to meet and work with.”

One of those new challenges manifested itself in 2014 when McNeil teamed up with Elisha Hoffman, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and Marti Fredericksen to form the country rock quartet Loving Mary. That union brought forth the EP Loving Mary – Live in 2015, and a stint with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler as the backup band on his debut country solo studio album We’re All Somebody from Somewhere and its supporting “Out On A Limb” tour in the U.S. and Japan.

Unsurprisingly, working with Tyler remains a career highlight for McNeil.

“He is a very, very generous man,” she said. “He loves music; he is like a little kid with music. He has more energy than I do. He is just a beautiful soul.”

VIDEO: “Hung Up” – Suzie McNeil

“He cares a lot about the small stuff, like people’s birthdays, and I don’t know if that’s because he has been famous for so long that he probably appreciates all those little things more than we do because they feel mundane for us. I do think people who have had fabulousness for so long appreciate the simpler things in life.”

Ahead for McNeil is a fourth solo album that, as indicated on her Twitter feed, “is already written.”

Bet on her fans chomping at the bit to hear what’s next from the singer who has done nothing but surprise over the course of her career.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its milestone 35th anniversary season, each staged Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park in downtown Peterborough.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the entire 2022 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.