Hush fest Mt. Joy, Band of Horses, Lucinda Williams, Orville Peck among Winnipeg Folk Festival headliners unveiled after months of secrecy By: Alan Small Posted: 6:00 PM CST Friday, Mar. 8, 2024

The secret’s out.

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This article was published 08/03/2024 (580 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The secret’s out.

The lineup of performers at the 2024 Winnipeg Folk Festival is the city’s music scene equivalent of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project; classified information known only to a zip-lipped few.

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Los Angeles indie-rock group Mt. Joy headlines this summer’s folk fest. — Supplied

Los Angeles indie-rock group Mt. Joy headlines this summer’s folk fest.

That is until Friday evening, when folk fest officials made their annual bombshell announcement at the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club, finally spilling the beans to begin a four-month promotional buildup for the event, which takes place July 11 to 14 at Birds Hill Provincial Park.

News that Los Angeles indie-rock group Mt. Joy, Seattle’s Band of Horses and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams are scheduled to play earned hollers of approval from the invitation-only crowd and ended months of speculation among those who make the festival a cornerstone of their summers.

“Mt. Joy is a big get for us,” says Chris Frayer, who, as the festival’s artistic director, books the event’s acts.

“They played here in 2019 and they’ve just catapulted in terms of popularity since then, so we’re happy they’re going to return.”

Taylor Fickes photo
Seattle indie group Band of Horses will play the mainstage in July. — Taylor Fickes photo

Seattle indie group Band of Horses will play the mainstage in July.

Friday’s announcement also included word that Noah Cyrus, the country-pop singer who sometimes shares online gossip space with her older sister Miley, will be one of the 68 performers at the festival, along with Toronto rock group the Cowboy Junkies and husband-and-wife folk-soul duo the War and Treaty.

It also ended months of badgering Frayer has had to endure from friends and family seeking inside information about who will be at Birds Hill this summer.

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American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams — Supplied photo

American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams

“I get it constantly. At every turn, everyone’s asking. Children, adults, the mailman,” says Frayer, who has been with the festival since 2005.

“It’s remarkably inspiring to know how many people the festival reaches and what a big role the festival plays in people’s lives.

“It’s really crazy it all comes down to just four days.”

Predicting who will be at Birds Hill in July is like completing a jigsaw puzzle that’s missing some pieces for music nerds such as Stu Reid, host of the Twang Trust radio show on CKUW 95.9 FM.

Reid devoted his entire program on Wednesday night to artists he thought would be part of folk fest and others he hopes to see there one day.

“Last year was probably my favourite lineup ever, so I’m bound to be disappointed this year,” Reid says with a laugh. “Even if you’re not thrilled with the initial lineup, you’re bound to discover something after you see them live.”

Winnipeg Folk Festival lineup

July 11-14

Birds Hill Provincial Park

Four-day passes $188-$258

Four-day passes with camping $233-$343

Tickets at winnipegfolkfestival.ca

One of his guesses, Canadian alt-country singer Orville Peck, was right on the money. Peck cancelled his 2023 appearance citing his physical and mental health, but has since returned to the road and will play the mainstage in July.

“I always get a few right, but then at the same time, over the last few years, I thought (English singer) Frank Turner was going to play one year — I would have bet money on it — and he ended up not being on the list, so you never know,” says Reid, who also correctly predicted Bonny Light Horsemen, the Grammy-nominated American folk trio of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman, would be at the fest.

Frayer and other key folk fest personnel are ordered to sign non-disclosure agreements every year to ensure the only song they sing in the weeks leading up to Friday’s announcement is Our Lips Are Sealed and the only posts on their social-media accounts are cute pictures of their pets, lest they inadvertently reveal a clue.

Artists and their managers keep a lid on the news too, only adding Winnipeg to their tour itineraries until after the folk festival announces their future arrival.

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Toronto rock band the Cowboy Junkies — Supplied photo

Toronto rock band the Cowboy Junkies

So when Frayer and Morgan Hamill, the festival’s artistic co-ordinator, sign a popular international act, such as the Tallest Man on Earth from Sweden, who will make his folk-fest debut this year, or Shooglenifty, the Scottish Celtic group that hasn’t played Birds Hill since 2004, there is no celebratory high-fiving nor whooping it up in their office on Bannatyne Avenue.

“I keep the jubilation to myself,” Frayer says.

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Canadian alt-country star Orville Peck — Supplied photo

Canadian alt-country star Orville Peck

Guessing which Manitoba acts will play at the folk fest is like forecasting the fickle July weather at the park. So many local acts fit the wide spectrum of music fans of the event enjoy.

Some are naturals: Leith Ross, the Winnipeg folk-pop singer, was a hit in 2022 and returns two years later, joining the likes of blues-rock guitarist Ariel Posen, Ruth Moody of the folk group the Wailin’ Jennys, indie-rocker Roman Clarke, singer-songwriter Madeleine Roger and bluegrass act the Stanley County Cut-Ups.

Zoon, the “moccasin-gaze” project led by Daniel Monkman, will also be at Birds Hill, which isn’t far from home at Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

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Winnipeg’s Leith Ross — Supplied photo

Winnipeg’s Leith Ross

Frayer expects the Anishinaabe artist to perform with the Medicine Singers, a New England group of elders that has recorded with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth to blend Algonquian powwow music with psychedelic rock.

Keeping the folk fest lineup secret isn’t just to honour contracts with artists. The mystery builds the buzz and helps ticket sales; last year the event was so popular, the final day sold out and infrastructure, such as portable toilets, was taxed to the max.

One person who hasn’t bugged Frayer about who’s playing in 2024 is his old boss, Lynne Skromeda, who left the folk fest’s top job last August to become chief executive officer with Manitoba Film and Music.

“Lynne texted me saying she’s so excited for it to come out because this is the first time in 11 years she doesn’t know the lineup.”