2024 FESTIVAL PROGRAM
INN ECHO
Three musicians from different metaphorical worlds, Tuli Porcher (BC), Karson McKeown (ON), and Tom Gammons (USA) converged in Prince Edward Island of all places. It was perfect timing, as they started to create a sound and a journey in music none of them expected. They'd come for the tunes and stayed for the longest session yet. Inn Echo was formed in 2019.
The colloquial term “trad” or traditional can refer to a sound descended from Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Europe, fused with the enthusiasm of today’s generation of players. Inn Echo pays homage to these roots and adds tunes of their own to the repertoire. So on first listen you can hear the history but you will immediately delight in a contemporary current.
For Inn Echo, a lilting fiddle is the voice, with its own accent and expression. Though you won’t hear words being sung, there is a story to every tune, a narrative woven into each melody, and a heart beating beneath it all. All the while a strong and nimble percussive acoustic guitar attack is a foundation on which the fiddles climb. You will hear blues, pop, dub in the music, artfully woven by the fiddles who are master chameleons after all. There’s no denying the Celtic roots within, but this is definitely something new. It starts with a story, and ends with an impulse to stomp, clap, and move along.
DUSTIN DALE GASPARD
After 10 years of performing throughout the deep Southern Gulf Coast of the USA, Gaspard released his full length debut album "Hoping Heaven Got A Kitchen" in March 2022. His blend of Americana, Soul, Folk and Roots gained Grammy consideration for:
Best American Roots Performance, Grammy American Roots Song and Best Americana Album. Written for his grandparents, the record is a “prayer to his home” and delivers an intimate insight into the Cajun native's varying influences. Gaspard’s latest project
“Avec Le Courrant” is a banjo driven bilingual story album detailing the journey of his Acadian ancestors and their exile. This all-new original work will once again combine
Americana with varying genres including traditional folk, blues and contemporary songwriter elements, while heavily utilizing the Cajun French language.
6 HEARTS
Two of Prince Edward Island’s most well-known traditional groups of all time experienced staggering losses in 2022: Vishtèn, with the loss of Pastelle LeBlanc, twin sister of Emmanuelle LeBlanc and wife of Pascal Miousse, who together made up the treasured Juno Award nominated Acadian trio; and The East Pointers, with the loss of Koady Chaisson, cousin to Tim Chaisson and dear friend to Jake Charron, who together made up the powerhouse Juno Award-winning PEI traditional trio. The members of both of these groups have known and performed alongside each other for years, so in many ways it was perfectly fitting that months after their heart-wrenching losses occurred, Emmanuelle, Pascal, Jake, and Tim came together to hang-out and play some music with each other. What turned out to be a truly beautiful and healing experience of emotional communion through music then happened to lead to a one-time show in June, 2022.
“Our first rehearsal in preparation was electric – we all felt the presence of 6 hearts beating, an ethereal energy that resembled the magic that we felt playing with them,” explains Emmanuelle. “That’s when we knew there was something really special taking place.”
That first show was a marvel of otherworldly energy that lit up the room like wildfire: A dazzling fusion of Acadian fiddle, whistle, percussion and singing combining with eastern PEI trad fiddle, guitar, piano and vocals, all merging as a unique and captivating blend of East Coast contemporary traditional music. The one-off has now sprung into outstandingly-received performances at festivals and television appearances for the quartet.
And the name? Naturally, it is 6 Hearts: Four hearts converging in mesmerizing contemporary traditional music, strengthened by the two hearts that remain with them in spirit.
VERANDA
The duo originally met at Barfly, a cozy watering hole regarded as a Montreal Bluegrass institution. They quickly became friends, then musical partners, and soon after started writing music together. And so Veranda was born.
Veranda is the collaboration between Catherine-Audrey Lachapelle and Léandre Joly-Pelletier. After a well-received first EP released in 2019, Veranda presents a new record of original french bluegrass music that blends traditional and contemporary, simplicity and virtuosity. Their music is filled with sweet harmonies and soulful melodies. From high lonesome bluegrass to intimate folk ballads, the duo offers a fresh take on classic Country music. Imagine a place way out in the countryside, with Dolly Parton, Ralph Stanley and Emmylou Harris singing under the pines; that’s where Veranda calls home.
MAUKIN
Fueled by bold musical imagination, Maukin is a sturdy new folk collective from Prince Edward Island. Their rich compositions and melodies, shaped from the cultural clay of their home province by Rowen Gallant (fiddle) and Nick vanOuwerkerk (Pipes/Whistles), draw from their collective Irish, Scottish and Acadian heritages and are brought to life through genre-defying arrangements and accompaniment by Jesse Périard (Guitar) and Caleb Gallant (Bodhran/Percussion). Previously touring and recording as the highly acclaimed trio Ten Strings and a Goatskin, Périard and the brothers Gallant have joined forces with award-winning piper and whistle player VanOuwerkerk to once again explore the frontiers of Atlantic Canada’s folk traditions.
JOURDAN THIBODEAUX
+ LES RÔDAILLEURS
Jourdan Thibodeaux is the guy you picture when someone says the word “authentic.” Straight from the blackjack boggy woods of Cypress Island, Louisiana, Jourdan is one of only a small number of young people speaking Cajun French today, and his soulful singing and fiddling are the perfect medium for his ever-growing repertoire of original Louisiana French songs.
After taking the Louisiana music scene by storm in 2018, Jourdan Thibodeaux et les Rôdailleurs have developed a reputation for pairing ancient traditions with incomparable energy. Preserving a culture while pioneering its advancement, Grammy Award-winning and -nominated musicians Joel Savoy, Cedric Watson, and Alan Lafleur, join Adam Cormier in bringing Jourdan’s stories to life.
From headlining Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, to Jazz Fest in New Orleans, to SXSW, to the Congrès Mondial in Canada, Les Rôdailleurs have surely earned their name.
FIDDLERS BRUNCH
Join Festival Route 11’s world-class musicians for some jigs and reels, toe-tapping, and shuffle-stepping!
MORGAN TONEY
Music’s an almost alchemical force to Canadian Mi'kmaq fiddler and singer Morgan Toney. In just a short amount of time, Toney has invigorated both the Atlantic music communities and Mi’kmaq communities by bringing together the fiery fiddling of Cape Breton Island with the old songs of the Mi’kmaq, some dating back up to 500 years. He calls this fusion Mi’kmaltic (Mi’kmaq + Celtic) and it's his way of celebrating his language and heritage. “There are two worlds of Mi’kmaq music,” Toney explains, “song and fiddle. They had never come together before. People knew of each, but never had I ever seen a collaboration between Celtic and Mi'kmaq culture before. Toney’s debut album First Flight, nominated for 3 East Coast Music Awards and a Canadian Folk Music Award, showcases this unique combination, both in the way he transforms traditional songs like the Ko’jua and the Mi’kmaq Honour Song, but also for the newsongs he’s creating. “Msit No’kmaq” was written partially in Mi’kmaq and features a fiddle break from the great Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. “Kwana Li” is a traditional Mi'kmaq song that Toney added new English lyrics to and “For the Elders” is a newly composed waltz from Toney.
With the immediate accolades and attention, it’s easy to forget that Morgan Toney is so new to the music, having only played the fiddle for a few years. But there’s something deeper at work here. His great-grandfather and three other great-uncles were all Mi'kmaq fiddlers of renown in the community. In a sense, Toney’s coming back full circle. And circles are something he understands. “We are living in circles,” he says. “The earth is a circle. The drum is a circle, how we move around is a circle, how we greet each other. The talking circle is huge.”
