2018
June 8th & 9th, 2018. The Emily Burgess Band
Emily Burgess graduated with honours from Humber College’s
prestigious music program at twenty-two years old, majoring in guitar.
Direct from the hallways to the roadways, Emily began touring Canada and
the U.S with the JUNO nominated 24th Street Wailers. 7 years later, she
is highly regarded as one of Canada’s finest emerging guitarists. Emily
has shared the stage and traded riffs with guitar greats Jimmie
Vaughan, Kevin Breit, Garrett Mason, Suzie Vinnick, Sue Foley, and Sam
Weber, among others. Burgess wrote two songs and took guitar duties for
2015’s JUNO nominated album “Wicked” by The 24th Street Wailers.
Since 2014, Emily has toured year-round with ‘The Baddest Band in the
Land’, The Weber Brothers, bringing her constantly evolving approach
and style to the band.
As a guitarist for the Women’s Blues Revue Band since 2014, Emily has
had the opportunity to take her place alongside many of Canada’s top
musicians at Toronto’s legendary Massey Hall every November.
In November 2017, Burgess released her debut solo album ‘Are We In Love?’, produced by The Weber Brothers. CBC music journalist Bob Mersereau calls the album “Empowering” and “A Big Winner”. John Valenteyn of The Maple Blues Newsletter writes “…she has a knack for writing attractive tunes that feature her biting lead guitar…a combination not often heard”. He adds that the album is “Gorgeously produced”.
Joined by the dynamic combination of brothers Rico and Marcus Browne
on bass and drums respectively, The Emily Burgess Band is currently
performing in support of the new album.
June 15th & 16th, 2018. The Weber Brothers Duo
To many, The Weber Brothers are the baddest band in the land. To many
others, their story sits like an ancient volume in an old bookstore,
dust covered, tucked away behind hundreds of newer, shinier books.
Untouched. Waiting to be discovered. Regardless of what side you’re on,
there’s an undeniable truth. In the rough and tumble world of rock and
roll, The Weber Brothers have been around the block.
Ryan and Sam Weber left their Baltimore, MD home one night as
teenagers, with the aim of meeting their idol, rockabilly legend Ronnie
Hawkins, and ten hours later showed up at his doorstep. “The Hawk”, the
elder statesman of rock whose former protégés (Robbie Robertson, Rick
Danko, Levon Helm, et al.) went on to reshape music history as “The
Band”, was duly impressed by the pair’s immense raw talent, and promptly
invited them to audition for his storied backing band, The Hawks. Mere
months later, after surviving the intense musical apprenticeship of his
fabled “Rock ‘n’ Roll Bootcamp,” they were in: full-blooded Hawks. By
the ages of 18 and 21 they had already performed alongside Kris
Kristofferson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Jeff Healey and the Tragically
Hip to name a few.
Over the past 16 years they’ve recorded 12 independent albums and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
In October 2012 the brothers were invited to the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame American Music Masters Tribute to Chuck Berry in Cleveland where
they shared the stage with Merle Haggard, Lemmy Kilmister, Darryl “DMC”
McDaniels, Rick Derringer, Joe Bonamassa, Earl Slick, Steve Jordan and
the father of Rock and Roll himself, Chuck Berry.
2016 saw the release of “Before We Arrive: The Story of The Weber
Brothers”, a feature length documentary chronicling the pair’s musical
journey, which the Toronto Independent Film Festival dubbed “Best
Documentary” for 2016.
Also known for their talent as studio musicians, the brothers have
recorded on dozens of outside projects, including work with Gordon
Lightfoot, Kris Kristofferson, Ronnie Hawkins and Willie Nelson.
Between their renowned musical ability, high-energy, awe-inspiring
performances and lessons learned first hand from rock n’ roll pioneers, a
reputation as the “baddest band in the land”, “heroes of this
generation” and “the future in the big shoes of the past” now precedes
them. Whether it be their unrivaled power as a full rock band, or their
undeniable chemistry highlighted in a head-to-head duo performance, The
Weber Brothers always deliver.
“If it’s looked at as a passing of the torch or a keeping of the flame, then we’re the guys to do it,” says Ryan Weber.
June 17th, 2018. Morgan Davis Solo Rescheduled . Date to be determined
Morgan Davis is an award-winning Canadian blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
He was born and spent his childhood in Detroit, Michigan, before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1968.[1] He moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2001.[2]
His song "Why'd You Lie" was a hit for Colin James and featured on James' 1988 debut album. "Reefer Smokin' Man" was described as a "blues cult classic".[2] Davis' principal major label release, Morgan Davis, on Stony Plain Records, was produced by Colin Linden.[3] Davis was the recipient of multiple awards, including a Juno Award, for his 2003 release, Painkiller, on Electro-Fi Records.
Awards
- 2005 Maple Blues Award, Songwriter of the Year
- 2004 JUNO Award, Blues Album of the Year: Painkiller
- 2004 Maple Blues Award, Recording of the Year: Painkiller
- 2004 Maple Blues Award, Male Vocalist of the Year
- 2004 Maple Blues Award, SOCAN Songwriter of the Year
- 2004 Maple Blues Award, Producer of the Year (with Alec Fraser): Painkiller
- 2000 Toronto Blues Society, Acoustic Artist of the Year
- 1999 Maple Blues Award, Producer of the Year: Blues Medicine
- 1999 Maple Blues Award, SOCAN Songwriter of the Year
- 1996 Toronto Blues Society, Blues with a Feeling Award
- 1995 Jazz Report, Blues Band of the Year
- 1994 Jazz Report, Blues Artist of the Year
June 22nd & 23rd, 2018. Sean Pinchin
Born in 1981 in Toronto, Sean Pinchin haunts the GTA with his sultry
sounds and elegant verse. Pinchin found his calling in folk and blues’,
finding the community and the music spoke to his lifestyle and his
heart. A self-proclaimed “typical” ginger and Taurus, his down-to-earth
and easy going personality compliments the energetic charisma he
projects on stage.
June 29th, 2018. Duncan Ross Cameron
Duncan Cameron is a Celtic singer and multi-instrumentalist currently living in Sudbury, Ontario.
His late father Stewart Cameron’s
mastery of Scottish ballads was his first inspiration, and in his
teens, Duncan started singing with his family. At folk festivals The
Cameron Family performed not only music and storytelling, but also
traditional mummers' plays.
He chose the fiddle as his first
instrument, but now also plays mandolin, guitar, Irish bouzouki, tin
whistle, harmonica, bodhrán and English concertina. Traditional Irish,
English and French-Canadian groups have contributed much of Duncan's
repertoire, but classical, country, and other popular styles of music
have also added to his creative approach.
He has toured, recorded with, and composed music for many groups including The Pierre Schryer Band (Juno nominated in 2004), Fig For A Kiss (nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2006) and The Irish Descendants. In addition Duncan has been part of several theatrical productions, notably Drayton Entertainment's "Sorry … I'm Canadian" in 2008 and "Cotton Patch Gospel" in 2006, as well as the Mirvish production of "Needfire" in 1998.
His solo performances and his solo CD, The Whistling Thief
(2000) have also garnered attention. His strong vocals (in both French
and English), intricate arrangements, and sense of humour truly
transport the listener.
June 30th, 2018. Sam Despatie
I was surrounded with music right from conception, for sure, because
both my parents play guitar and sing, and from when I could speak I was
singing all the time, whether skipping
around the house or skipping around outside. I was always surrounded
with music, and grew into a songwriter at the age of 15. Actually, the
title track for "Time To Move On" was a poem I'd written at the age of
15, and then re-worked it a few years later and ended up just loving it.
It was inspired by Bilbo Baggins' song in Lord of the Rings, which was
getting really popular at that time. All of the other stuff I write is
either from movies or books that inspire me or from my own experiences
in life. The only thing I struggle with as a songwriter is writing
something happy; it just cripples me to try to write a cheerful song!
And composing was a real struggle until I got better at playing guitar.
When I was 12, I started taking fiddle and stepdance, and that just
changed my life in a great way because I'd never thought of myself as
particularly musical or talented at that time, and it opened the doors
to performing for me, and I was hooked! I don't get to sing at
performances often because the atmosphere is wrong for what I do, but I
love doing open mic nights and variety shows whenever I can. I'm not in
this to be famous; I just have a message to get out there and that's my
way of doing so!
