Folk'n Blues Song Circle hosted by Charlie A'Court
2026-08-19 20:00 - 22:00 (America/Halifax) | The Frolic’n Folk Pub & Grill, 4115 HWY 223, Iona, Nova Scotia, B2C 1A3, Canada
Grab your harmonicas, slide guitars, and storytelling hats—it’s Blues Song Circle night at The Frolic & Folk! Picture this: cozy pub vibes, frothy local pints, hearty pub grub, and three killer bluesmen trading licks, tales, and soul-stirring originals in a laid-back, round-robin jam. No set lists, no egos—just pure, raw blues magic where the songs circle like old friends swapping secrets. Whether you’re a die-hard blues fan or just popping in for the atmosphere, this is the kind of night where the walls sweat Delta heat even on a cool Cape Breton evening.

Meet the Circle:

Charlie A’Court (Nova Scotia powerhouse)
Born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Charlie grew up in rural Canada with a guitar in his hands and a voice that could shake the rafters. A 6x East Coast Music Award winner and multiple Music Nova Scotia honoree (including Entertainer of the Year nods), he’s built a reputation for mighty, soul-drenched vocals, fierce guitar work, and songs that blend blues, folk, soul, and roots with heart and grit. He’s toured Canada, Australia, and beyond, and even runs a scholarship to support young Nova Scotian musicians. Expect big energy, emotional depth, and riffs that hit you right in the feels.

Jon Hines (Cape Breton’s swampy blues king)
Hailing from Judique, Cape Breton, Jon is an award-winning national touring artist known for his gritty slide guitar, haunting vocals, and storytelling that feels like a back-porch session in the Mississippi Delta. A two-time Maritime to Memphis Blues Challenge winner (and International Blues Challenge semi-finalist), Music Nova Scotia Blues Recording Artist of the Year, and two-time ECMA nominee, his releases like Memphis Sun have topped Canadian roots charts. Fresh off Australian tours and packing venues with that raw, funky East Coast blues fire—think Elmore James meets Sonny Landreth with a Cape Breton twist.

Frank Sultana (Australia’s award-winning blues troubadour)
All the way from Kiama, New South Wales, Frank brings authentic pre-WWII Delta fire down under (and now across the ocean). A late bloomer who quit the 9-5 to go full-time blues in 2018, he’s a multi-instrumentalist with a dark, gritty voice and raw slide guitar that channels Skip James, Son House, and Blind Willie Johnson. In 2023 he became only the third Australian to win the prestigious International Blues Challenge (Solo/Duo) in Memphis—then recorded at Sun Studio! With multiple Sydney Blues Society awards and a string of killer albums/EPs, Frank delivers haunting, emotional originals and traditional mojo that travels perfectly across the Pacific.

Come early, stay late, and get ready for a night of foot-stompin’, soul-cleansing blues at one of Cape Breton’s coziest listening rooms. The Frolic & Folk Pub knows how to throw a proper musical gathering—don’t miss this one! Who’s ready to holler? See you at the circle.

Trivia Night at The Frolic
2026-08-20 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-08-27 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-09-03 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-09-10 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-09-17 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-09-24 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-10-01 20:00 - 22:00, 2026-10-08 20:00 - 22:00 and 1 more date
Come test your wits & win prizes!
3 Rounds – 12 general knowledge questions each round.
Play solo, or form a team. Funniest team name gets showered with accolades.
Hosted by your man – Ruarí Aonghas Lonce Murphy, every Thursday Night

Céilidh Matinee
2026-08-22 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-08-29 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-09-05 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-09-12 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-09-19 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-09-26 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-10-03 17:00 - 20:00, 2026-10-10 17:00 - 20:00 and 1 more date
Get a taste of local celtic music & culture with our Saturday ceilidhs (kay-lee).
Expect to see world-renowned talent & budding entertainers from all over our native Cape Breton.
General admission seating $5 cover
First come first serve at the pub. No reservations. Minors allowed up until 10PM

Cape Breton Celtic Trad Sessions
2026-08-23 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-08-30 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-09-06 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-09-13 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-09-20 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-09-27 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-10-04 16:30 - 19:30, 2026-10-11 16:30 - 19:30 and 1 more date
Come and enjoy a casual gathering of musicians who have come together to play traditional Cape Breton celtic music.
Anyone is welcome to join in, or just sit back and enjoy the tunes.
Sundays at The Frolic 430 – 730pm
Full kitchen and bar service.
Minors allowed till 10pm

J.P. Cormier
2026-08-26 20:00 - 22:00
Nobody really knows who J.P. Cormier is for sure. That’s to be expected, believe me.
In 1974 he was a five year old boy, discovering an innate talent for playing the guitar, I had a little hand in that, guiding him through the beginning stages. He learned faster than I could teach.
By the mid eighties, not out of his teens, he was a sideman for bands and artists of many different genres in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and all across the deep south. As he travelled and worked he added more and more instruments to his arsenal of capabilities. He became indispensable to the bands he worked for.
In the early Nineties, he became a sideman for one of Canada’s favourite sons, Stompin’ Tom Connors and also became a staple of the recordings at Studio H in Halifax. His work with the CBC there, spanned musical, production and arranging duties.
All this before he was 20.
In the mid nineties he reentered the musical scene of his beloved East Coast and the Island called Cape Breton. He exploded onto the trad music scene there as a fiddler, performing some of the most difficult music ever produced by legends like Winston Fitzgerald and Angus Chisholm with a facility that stunned onlookers. Especially those who knew he wasn’t born there, but born in Ontario to Cape Breton parents. Somehow, some way, his music was the real thing, sounding like he had been steeped continually in a handed-down brew of family tradition from the old country.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
His previous gig was in Nashville playing mandolin and banjo in a grammy nominated bluegrass gospel band and performing on the Opry, and playing television shows with the likes of Waylon Jennings. All those people also thought he was one of them, American, reared in the ways of bluegrass, old time and Americana music. They knew he was from Canada, but it just didn’t seem possible.
Then in 1997, something amazing happened.
An album released in Canada, out of nowhere, called Another Morning. This time it was him as a songwriter and a lead singer.
And what a songwriter he turned out to be. Some of the performances on that album are literally part of the musical vocabulary today in the East Coast. Songs like the title cut, and Kelly’s Mountain, The Molly May (co written with his cousin Gervais) and others. It inspired, 25 years ago, some of the biggest names in the business today. People like Dave Gunning, Matt Andersen, David Myles, Joel Plaskett, all of which will tell you: that record changed things.
The Canadian industry thought so too, and it received a juno nomination and won an ECMA.
And that was just the beginning.
36 years later after stepping on stage as professional union musician for the first time at the tender age of 13, JP is still going, and frighteningly, still getting better.
16 albums followed the success of Another Morning, winning 12 more ECMA’s, another Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award and 5 Music Nova Scotia Awards. Each album was a snapshot of each thing that he can do. There are fiddle albums, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, tribute records, songwriting collections, a purely astounding spectrum of talent and musical vision.
His catalogue of recordings and the 150 or so records he’s produced on other artists, resemble the tapestry he weaves in live performance. Where he used to carry 3 and 4 piece bands, he tours alone now.
Just him and the instruments.
People still leave his shows confused, amazed and wondering what they just saw. Did they see a storyteller? A Songwriter? Arguably one of the best guitar players in the business today? Someone who crosses the lines between different instruments like there are no lines? Who was that masked man, anyway?
Accolades aside, and there are many from people like Chet Atkins, Marty Stuart, Waylon Jennings, Gordon Lightfoot; JP sees himself as just a performer. He’s shy, but has a razor sharp wit and lightning sense of humour. He can be reserved or edgy to the point no return. He speaks for soldiers, first responders, other artists, the forgotten and lost. He speaks sometimes only for himself and refuses rebuttal.
Of all the things he is, foremost he is an entertainer. I think one of the best. After you’ve seen what he does, I’m certain you will too.

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True Mountain Laurel
2026-10-02 20:00 - 22:00
Born out of late-night harmonies, shared voice memos, and a long-standing friendship rooted in mutual admiration, Haley Blais and Sam Lynch have formed the supergroup True Mountain Laurel. Their debut collection of songs, Angel So Bad, is a tender, dust-swept exploration of all the feelings that fall through the cracks. Equal parts folk reverie and country yearning, the project pulls from their respective solo careers. Sam’s poetic introspection and Haley’s razor-sharp lyrical intimacy blend into something softer, stranger, and wholly their own.

What began as casual writing sessions in between Sam and Haley’s respective tour cycles has slowly transformed into a collaborative ritual: trading lines and melodies over coffee and recording scrappy voice note demos at the end of the day. The songs emerged not from pressure or plan but from a desire to make music the way they first fell in love with it — no clocks, no ego, just two voices in a room.

Influenced by artists like Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and early 2000s Canadian singer-songwriters, the project is less about genre and more about feel. Acoustic guitars, brushed drums, pedal steel, and the occasional jangly piano support lyrics that feel diaristic without being confessional: capturing the ache of growing older, the strangeness of still wanting more, and the joy of finding home in another person’s voice.

There’s a looseness to these songs that feels intentional. Where Sam’s solo work leans cinematic and atmospheric, and Haley’s leans into the clever and orchestral, here they meet in the middle: warm, minimal, and a little bit rough around the edges. Live, the project takes on an even more intimate form without setlists or rigid arrangements. Just two friends singing the truth as they feel it that night.

Haley and Sam’s combined fan bases, critical momentum, and industry support make Angel So Bad a viable, marketable, and artistically rich body of work with strong touring and streaming potential across Canada and internationally.
For Haley and Sam this is neither a rebrand nor a pivot. It’s a postcard from two artists returning to the campfire that first called them to sing.

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