Fully clothed 'lovable goofballs' delighted folk fest fans 25 years ago; drummer excited about band's return

Twenty-five years ago this month, Barenaked Ladies released their debut CD, Gordon.

A quarter-century ago, the Scarborough, Ont., band also played the Winnipeg Folk Festival for the first time, and the two experiences are indelibly linked in drummer Tyler Stewart’s mind.  

“If I rewind 25 years and think about what 1992 was like, it was the craziest year of my life,” Stewart, 49, recalls. “The Gordon album came out that summer — either it had just come out when we played the fest or it was about to come out — and I remember we were a pretty big deal then... We thought, ‘Holy crap, this is our first album and it’s No. 1 and we’re playing all these big stages, big arenas all of a sudden.’ It felt like that was gonna be the way it was forever: ‘OK, we’ve arrived; we’re rock stars now.’”

Newly minted rock stars they may have been, but at the time, the then-quintet — Stewart, keyboardist/percussionist Andy Creeggan, standup bassist Jim Creeggan, singer Steven Page and singer-guitarist Ed Robertson — wore the folk mantle easily. The band members all played acoustic instruments, their strummier songs — If I Had $1,000,000, Brian Wilson, Be My Yoko Ono — were made for campfire sing-alongs, and at the festival they shared the main stage with the likes of Richard Thompson, Loreena McKennitt and the Oysterband.

Serving up solid series of performances

Of all the things I thought I would take away from the Winnipeg Folk Festival this year, a borscht recipe was not one of them.

But, the Folk School hosted a workshop Friday afternoon all about the beet-based soup, led by DakhaBrakha, a folk-punk quartet known for their energetic amalgamation of Ukrainian folk and world music.

This was not a stereotypical DakhaBrakha performance.

First of all, the three women in the group were set up on stage as a vocal trio, while the lone male, Marko Halanevych, was off to the side explaining all things borscht — from the ingredients to the order in which one should prepare them. A translator was on hand to help out, though by the amount of Ukrainian shoutouts from the crowd at Birds Hill Provincial Park, it seemed the majority of people in attendance were well-versed in the language.

Thousands of fans ‘folk fest happy’ as annual bash kicks off

It’s hard to imagine a more jovial group of people than the ones who make their way out to Birds Hill Provincial Park for the opening day of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. They’ve been waiting 350-some days to get back here, and Thursday, it was finally time to be “folk fest happy” once again.

And that type of happy comes in many forms — for some, it’s a bra covered in tiny artificial sunflowers or a belly-dancing skirt, for others, it’s piggy back rides and naps in the grass under a setting sun as the first round of musicians take their turn on Main Stage.

Some ominous skies early in the evening were looking to put the kibosh on that plan, but it wasn’t long after the opening blessing by elder Mae Louise Campbell — during which she focused on the importance of water and taking care of the Earth — that the clouds kept right on moving, providing clear skies and perfect temperatures for the rest of the night.

Local duo the Small Glories kicked off the music portion of the night. The pair — made up of JD Edwards and Cara Luft (formerly of the Wailin’ Jennys) — are fairly traditional folk/roots musicians; with only a banjo and acoustic guitar (and occasionally a harmonica) to guide them, they stomped out melodies that told a story even before the lyrics began. Both Edwards and Luft are strong vocalists, but the balance they find in their harmonies is what makes this duo special — they are seasoned musicians and their understanding of dynamics and expert technique is wonderful to watch in a live setting.

Back in the ‘Peg

It’s been more than 15 years since American indie-rock band the Shins have played in Winnipeg.

Back in 2001, they played an opening slot for Preston School of Industry at the Pyramid Cabaret, the same year they released their debut record, Oh, Inverted World. That record was just the first in a line of critically acclaimed releases, but it wasn’t until their song New Slang was prominently included on the soundtrack to the 2004 film Garden State — in which Natalie Portman’s character Sam famously tells Zach Braff’s character, Andrew Largeman, the song “will change your life” — that commercial success fell into their laps in a big way.

The band released another record, the Grammy-nominated Wincing the Night Away, in 2007, before some major lineup changes left frontman James Mercer as the sole surviving member working on the next record. That was before he took a break to focus on a different band, Broken Bells, which he formed with with artist/producer Brian Burton (otherwise known as Danger Mouse).

After a five-year gap, the Shins released their new record, Heartworms, earlier this year; it’s the first record that has been largely self-produced by Mercer since the Shins’ 2001 debut.

Folk Festival best bets

In the Free Press’s interview with the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s artistic director Chris Frayer, he was quick to name Americana/folk-rock singer Brandi Carlile as the artist he thinks will be the biggest surprise hit at this year’s festival.

“I guarantee it,” he says. “Because she’s just so in her wheelhouse to begin with and her live show is amazing… her voice is just insanely good, and I think she’s a festival headliner not a lot of people know because it’s her first time here, but she’s playing Edmonton folk for the fourth year in a row. They’ve had her back every time because people cannot get enough of her.”

Carlile is on the Main Stage Thursday, July 6, at 8:05 p.m., taking the second last headlining slot before the Shins close out opening night. The daytime stages begin Friday.

Choosing which acts to take in when there are so many options available can be an overwhelming feeling, so, if you’re looking for some suggestions, we asked four Free Press reporters — Erin Lebar, Jill Wilson, Rob Williams and Jen Zoratti — to write about the acts they’ll definitely be checking out this weekend:

Winnipeg Folk Festival all about celebrating Canadian music and musicians

Even though the majority of the headliners are big Canadian names and the festival falls only a few days after the country’s big birthday celebrations, you won’t find the term “Canada 150” used at this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival.

“We decided to not be part of the Canada 150, decidedly, for a bunch of different reasons... most of us don’t agree with the Canada 150 in the way it is coming to be, and not only that, we have a lot of indigenous partners and it’s just too political,” says artistic director Chris Frayer.

Instead, the festival is simply focused on celebrating Canadian music and musicians — from all genres and backgrounds — and is doing so in a number of ways outside of the CanCon packed Main Stage lineup.

One of the special projects Frayer and his folk fest team have been working on this year is the Canada Far & Wide: Grands Esprits workshop taking place on the Bur Oak stage Saturday, July 8, at 2:15 p.m. Winnipeg folk has teamed up with four other folk festivals — Calgary, Regina, Vancouver and Canmore — to gather a collective of musicians who will celebrate and perform renditions of key songs from Canada’s history. They will be curated by the five artistic directors.

California band's folk festival performance dedicated to Winnipegger they call 'a mentor figure'

When Michael Stipe of R.E.M wrote the song Stand, specifically the opening line, “Stand in the place where you live,” he was thinking about his good friend Georgina Falzarano, and her home on a quiet Elmwood street in Winnipeg.

“It was based on a conversation with Georgina about directions, which way is north, which way is south, and so on, and Georgina’s response was, ‘I have a really bad time with directions but I know my house faces south,’” explains Falzarano’s partner of 24 years, Norm Spencley, with a chuckle.

That story was just the first in a long line of jaw-droppers Spencley shared while sitting in the house next door to “the place where they lived”; he relocated to the smaller property after Falzarano died last August at age 61 of a stroke caused by complications of rare blood disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), which she had been battling for years.

Spencley described the time she had Thanksgiving dinner with R.E.M. at Al Gore’s house, and the fact she covered 48 states and eight provinces by car while following bands on tour. He provided an endless sequence of personal photographs she had taken of her friends, who just happen to be very famous rock stars.

As Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, we pick the country’s 150 most important songs

It all began with an idea from columnist Jen Zoratti: to compile a list of Canada’s 150 most important songs as our way of celebrating the country’s sesquicentennial anniversary.“That sounds like fun,” we all said, laughing naively.

Around five minutes into our first meeting, we realized this project was not going to be fun; it was going to be a flurry of meetings and emails and long-winded conversations about the relevance of the Moffatts and which Gino Vannelli song is the Gino Vannelli-est. It was a slog, but we made it.

Before you start complaining that we got it all wrong and have no idea what we’re talking about, we thought it’d be useful to explain our process for coming up with what we think is a pretty comprehensive list. (And if you still think we have no idea what we’re talking about, we welcome a discussion in the comments!)

The panel consisted of me, writer Jill Wilson, arts editor Alan Small, copy editor Rob Williams, columnist Jen Zoratti, associate editor Sarah Lilleyman, books and drinks editor Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson, managing editor for Canstar News John Kendle, and writer David Sanderson. We have all written about and/or worked in the music and entertainment industry for years, some of us for decades.

Winnipeg Folk Festival’s Canuck-heavy lineup ties into the country’s 150th

July 1 marks Canada’s 150th birthday, and the Winnipeg Folk Festival is celebrating with a lineup chock full of CanCon goodness: City and Colour, Feist, Barenaked Ladies, Bruce Cockburn and Daniel Lanois all top this year’s bill.

Rain washes out Wilco, but Jenny Lewis shines for Folk Fest’s final night

It seems the 42nd annual Winnipeg Folk Festival was the picture of extreme weather this weekend.

After three solid days of unrelenting, sweltering heat, the darkest storm clouds came rolling in just as headliner Wilco was set to take the stage Sunday night. The wind picked up and the skies opened, dropping buckets of water on everyone, making us all remember that being very, very hot is much better than being very, very wet.

Unfortunately, that meant about three songs in, the show was cancelled, sending the masses home from folk fest just a little unsatisfied. The sunny California vibes of many of this year’s performers just weren’t enough to hold on for one last set.

Fortunately, Jenny Lewis managed to squeak out her performance before things took a turn, dazzling with her charm and top-notch musicianship. She’s just a star, through and through.

Winnipeg Folk Fest 2015 wrap-up

The 42nd annual Winnipeg Folk Festival came to a close as storm clouds rolled in Sunday evening.

Folk Fest sees gentle harmonies and folk legends fill the stages on Saturday

BIRDS HILL provincial park — Day 2 of the folk-fest heat wave was a doozy — the sun glared down unforgivably with only a few whiffs of breeze offering sparse seconds of relief. Lineups for water taps and showers were dozens long, and every show ended with a disclaimer to keep hydrated. Thankfully, as the main stage lineup began, a storm was looming in the distance, causing temperatures to cool and everyone to get a bit more comfortable.

Weather aside, Saturday night was really all about Arlo Guthrie. The recipient of this year’s artistic achievement award from the Winnipeg Folk Festival for his, and his family’s, contributions to the folk music community (including 29 of his own albums), Guthrie, 68, wasted no time proving why he is a folk legend.

He opened with Motorcycle, a classic, quick witted tune before diving into the appropriate Chilling of the Evening as rain drops began to trickle from the sky, finally offering a bit of respite from the unbearable humidity.

Guthrie, not surprisingly, is a storyteller, often taking long breaks between songs to regale the audience with a funny yarn or two about performances past. Picking up where his first story left off, Guthrie slid into Coming Into Los Angeles, a detailed account of the hardships of air travel while you’re carrying drugs. A 60s folk anthem at its finest.

Folk Festers take in Friday’s shows, keep up the vibe despite muggy weather

BIRDS HILL PROVINCIAL PARK — Despite the scorching hot temperatures hovering around 33 C for most of the day, Folk Festers donned their hats and lathered on the sunscreen for the second night of mainstage entertainment Friday night.

Shakey Graves (a.k.a. Alejandro Rose-Garcia) out of Austin, Texas, has had a quick climb to mainstage status. After an impressive tweener set/workshop stint last year, he performed a two-night stand at the Park Theatre in November 2014 — both shows were packed. Now, only a few short months later, he’s back at Folk Fest, this time with his own headlining set.

He began in full one-man band mode, red kick-drum suitcase settled behind him, introducing himself to the crowd with a faultless version of Roll the Bones. Rose-Garcia has the kind of voice that hits you right in the gut — full of texture and emotion. His rasp is endearing, and his songs are simultaneously toe-tapping and heart-wrenching.

The addition of a full band behind him launched things in an almost alt-rock direction, with distortion galore echoing through the park. Things ebbed and flowed from there — trading off between gentler croons and reverb-heavy rock. Each song packed its own punch, bursting with endless energy, the sweat literally pouring from his face as he poured his soul into his performance.

Folkies in bliss again as strong night kicks off beloved Winnipeg Folk Fest

Finally, the day thousands of Winnipeggers wait for all year has arrived.

On the first day of the 42nd annual Winnipeg Folk Fest — a picture-perfect prairie evening — folk enthusiasts from near and far made the trek out to Birds Hill Provincial Park, literally skipping as they strategically placed their tarps in front of the main stage for the opening night’s lineup Thursday.

Los Angeles ensemble Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros headlined the night and brought their chill California vibe to the stage. Singer Alex Ebert spent a lot of time wandering around the stage, bare-footed, rocking a top knot and what appeared to be burlap pants as he chatted to an adoring crowd of fans.

The Magnetic Zeros opened their set with upbeat Better Days before launching into the much more tame 40 Day Dream. Ebert seemed to have an almost hypnotic relationship with the audience, staring them down with an intense amount of eye contact as he crooned from the edge of the stage.