The Mariposa Folk Festival announced their line-up recently for this summer’s event, which will as usual take place at Tudhope Park in Orillia, Ontario in early July – this year the 5th to the 7th. I’ll be there covering things for Roots Music Canada. Lots of good stuff to take in that weekend, some of which I’ll be previewing here from time to time.
First up is a string band hailing from Prince Edward Island called Gordie MacKeenan and His Rhythm Boys. The group is made up of Gordie MacKeeman (fiddle, acoustic guitar, feet percussion, vocals), Peter Cann (guitars, banjo, vocals), Thomas Webb (guitars, bass, banjo, steel guitar, vocals), and Jason Burbine (bass, percussion, guitar, vocals).
Discogs lists five albums by the group coming out every few years beginning in 2010. The most recent is called Dreamland and it came out in 2019, which appears to be a kid’s album based on the subtitle: Folk for Little Folk.
Their website says that “the roots quartet features all-star pickers and singers, with everything from down-home country to reckless rockabilly to intricate bluegrass.” By the look of things, they are an exciting live show with hot fiddling and picking and the occasional bit of Canadian clogging and step dancing.
They have garnered a bunch of awards including the “Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year” at the 2014 East Coast Music Awards. Tom Power, host of CBC Radio’s Deep Roots, called them his “Best Discovery Band” that year at the ECMAs.
Though the tune below is from an earlier recording, it probably gives a better sense of what they do than the most recent material. My guess is they will be a pretty heavy draw at this years Mariposa.