The Iona Heights Inn

2 For 1 Pasta Sundays
2018-04-01 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-03-25 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-03-18 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-03-11 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-03-04 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-02-25 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-02-18 16:00 - 21:00, 2018-02-11 16:00 - 21:00 (America/Halifax) and 2 more dates | The Frolic’n Folk Pub & Grill, 4115 HWY 223, Iona, Nova Scotia, B2C 1A3, Canada
2 for 1 Pasta Sundays
$13.99 + tax. Every Sunday 4-9PM
Choices of pasta:

Pesto Chicken Penne (cream base)
Maple Curry Chicken Penne (cream base)
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (garlic & oil)
Italian Shrimp (oil base)
Chicken Picanté (tomato base)

(All served with garlic toast. Whole grain available)
Dine In Only. Beverage Purchase Required

Paddy's Day in Iona
2018-03-17
Come get your green on at The Frolic’n Folk this Paddy’s Day.
To tickle your earballs we have:
2-5PM Shelly Campbell & Joel Chiasson

6-9PM Brenda Stubbert, Kolten Macdonell & Blanche Sophocleous(proper Irish spelling)
Food & Drink Specials, and we have prizes to be won!
$10 cover (kids free)
Sláinte y’all

Hector’s Point Snowshoeing
2018-03-11 13:00 - 15:00, 2018-02-25 13:00 - 15:00, 2018-02-11 13:00 - 15:00
“Hector’s Point Snowshoe Walk” at 1pm. This hike will see you walking around the snowy Highland Village. It will be approximately 3km and will end back at the Frolic’n Folk Pub. There you will receive a cup of Jill’s Hot Chocolate or for those that are 19/over a 10oz pint.
Walk is for all ages.
Shorter routes available if need be.
$15 per person including snowshoes rentals, or $10 if you bring your own (please use coupon code snow on the checkout page to reveal the discounted price). Space is limited.
Meet at The Frolic’n Folk Pub just inside the Inn
Walks begin at 1pm. It is best to arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled walk in order to check in.
*Weather permitting

Moonlight Snowshoe Walk
2018-03-02 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-02-02 19:00 - 21:00
Join us for our special “Hector’s Point Moonlight Walk” – a moonlight snowshoe hike around the Highland Village. It will be approximately 3km, and end at the pub with a 10oz pint (for those that are 19/over), or a cup of Jill’s Hot Chocolate.
Walk is for all ages.
Shorter routes available if need be.
$15 per person including snowshoes rentals, or $10 if you bring your own (use coupon code snow in the checkout page to reveal the dicounted price). Space is limited.
Meet at The Frolic’n Folk Pub just inside the Inn
Walks begin at 7pm. It is best to arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled walk in order to check in.
*Weather permitting

New Year's Eve with Pretty Archie
2017-12-31 21:00 - 2018-01-01 00:00
Pretty Archie is a Country/Folk/Bluegrass band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Long time friends Brian Cathcart (Lead Vocals, Guitar), Matt McNeil (Lead Guitar, Mandolin), Colin Gillis (Harmonica, Bass, Vocals) and Redmond MacDougall (Banjo, Percussion, Vocals) make up this quartet. Always jamming together growing up, they guys decided in May 2012 to form a band. The band chose the name Pretty Archie after a local (Cape Breton) character known for playing with 2 strings outside shopping malls in any weather and not always (or ever) in key. The guys thought the name Pretty Archie embodied the love of playing and performing music along with representing their hometown.
Pretty Archie’s newest release ‘Sing Alongs & Love Songs’ was made available on September 23rd 2016. Bringing on Jamie Foulds to produce this project, Pretty Archie continues to push the genre lines of Folk, Bluegrass, Country and Blues creating a uniquely Pretty Archie sound. The 10 song album is a collection of their best songwriting to date, addressing themes of love, loss, life and the forces that drive all three.
Pretty Archie’s first full length album was recorded in January 2013 at the famed Grant Ave. Studios in Hamilton, Ontario with well known producer/engineer Bob Doidge. The debut 11 song LP ‘Steel City’ was released on March 9th 2013 and is available on iTunes. ‘Steel City’ was nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s 2013 Country/Bluegrass Album of the Year. Pretty Archie recorded their second album ‘North End Sky’ at Soundpark Studios. The highly anticipated ‘North End Sky’ was released January 27th 2015 and was featured on CBC Radio 2’s “East Coast Music Hour” as an album to look for in 2015. ‘North End Sky’ was nominated for ECMA’s ‘Country Recording of the Year’. ‘North End Sky’ was also nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s Americana/Bluegrass Album of the Year (2015).
Pretty Archie has had the opportunity to be a showcasing artist at Nova Scotia Music Week, East Coast Music Week and NXNE 2014 along with playing some of the best Canadian venues; The Horseshoe Tavern, The Dakota Tavern (Toronto, ONT), Festival of Lights Boreal (Sudbury, ONT), Stan Rogers Folk Festival (Canso, NS), The Ironwood Stage and Grill (Calgary, ALB) Fairmont Banff Springs (Banff, ALB) and many more across Canada. Pretty Archie is known for their entertaining, high energy, foot stomping shows.
Pretty Archie’s honest, heartfelt writing connects listeners with a saltwater perspective on modern living. Their fun loving and at times heartbreaking music finds common ground in the blurred genres of Country, Folk, Bluegrass and Blues. Their unique sound has lead to the band developing a following that grows after each show they play.

Nudie
2017-11-17 20:00 - 22:30
After soaking up musical experiences in Toronto, Montreal, Phoenix, Austin and New York, roaming troubadour Nudie now hangs his Gibson guitar in Charlottetown, PEI. Why so much traveling? “That’s what the world’s for” quips Nudie, whose name is a nod to Nashville’s rhinestone cowboy tailor Nudie Cohn. Nudie’s decades long performing career has landed him on the stages of the Philadelphia, Montreal and Ottawa Folk Festivals, Willie Nelson’s end-of-tour party in 2006, a support slot with Marty Stuart & The Fabulous Superlatives, and official showcases at Folk Alliance and Americana Music conferences. His authentic songwriting style steeped in heartbreak and twang is captured on his 2008 debut with Nudie & The Turks, and 2 solo albums. His latest offering, Everything’s Different In The Night (out April 22, 2016), is a collection of songs about relationships, and stories from the road, including “Mr. Why’d You Come To Texas”, a duet with Sylvie Smith (Evening Hymns) about not knowing how to two-step, and “Train You Took My Baby”, inspired by a trip across Canada. Nudie continues to captivate audiences with his upbeat and charismatic performances, with plans to tour throughout North America in 2016.
“When someone recommends an album to you and calls it a mixture of Chris Isaak and Dwight Yoakham, you sit down, shut up and listen.” – The Coast, Halifax
Listen Here

Petunia - The Minimalist Jugband
2017-10-13 20:00 - 22:30
Petunia is more than just an entertainer, he’s a modern musical enigma. Imagine that David Lynch and Nick Cave had a hillbilly baby, that yodeled… or Tom Waits meets Elvis at Woody Guthrie’s hobo junction. This is just one way of describing the man known simply as Petunia. He’s an adventure seeker, a poker player, and a mysterious stranger. He’s been referred to as “The Savior of Country Music”, and a man who exists in a different era, bringing the past forth as something new to be celebrated and not forgotten.
Petunia grew up in rural Quebec, in exactly the sort of surroundings that a country musician would find idyllic, with old dilapidated barns, secret forts, and acres of unspoiled land. As an adult, the wandering spirit took a firm hold on his life, so he set out on the road, playing every major street corner across Canada and throughout the NYC subway system, before graduating to full fledged touring musician. When he’s not on the road playing shows, Petunia is also involved in the theatre world; building side projects, writing scores, acting, or collaborating with theatre artists. He currently resides in Vancouver BC, and works with several sets of sidemen across Canada, the US and Europe in addition to his own Vancouver based band, The Vipers. A restless wanderer, a musical historian, and a quirky yet amazing talent, Petunia is simply a Canadian treasure joining the greats from north of the 49th.
Have a listen

An Evening with Oh Susanna & Ben Kunder
2017-09-08 20:00 - 22:00
Suzie Ungerleider began performing as Oh Susanna in the mid-1990s, crafting a persona that matched the timeless qualities of her music, sounds that drew from the deep well of early 20th Century folk, country and blues, yet rooted in her finely-honed storytelling skills. This Canadian songstress has a voice that can pierce a heart of stone. Her superbly crafted songs often tell stories of troubled souls who rebel against their circumstances to attain a quiet dignity. These are tales of longing and love, of small town joys and pains, of our simple feelings and strong passions. These are tales that look into our beautifully flawed human hearts.
From kicking down gravel strewn alleys to evenings tinged with salt air, Oh Susanna’s new album A Girl In Teen City, traverses to the most personal place yet: a conjured, vivid past.
“Here is my story of A Girl in Teen City. Trying to find out who she is while trying to be something she isn’t. Falling in love, getting drunk, having her heart broken, hanging out with friends in bedrooms, basements and parking lots, sneaking into shows in burnt out warehouses, watching the waves, walking home over bridges and railroad tracks in all that endless rain.” — Oh Susanna/Suzie Ungerleider
Watch & listen

Pretty Archie
2017-08-30 20:00 - 22:30

J.P. Cormier
2017-08-23 20:00 - 22:30
J.P. Cormier is a man with many musical talents. He is a skilled songwriter, a gifted singer, & an extraordinary musician who has accomplished success with more than one instrument. During his long career, he has won many competitions, including the Canadian Open Guitar Championship, the Southern U.S. Fiddle Championship, & the Southern U.S. Banjo Championship. He has also worked with a number of big-name artists and appeared on the ever-popular Grand Ol’ Opry over 24 times. His debut album, Out of the Blue, was released when he was only 16 years old.
Cormier was born in London, Ontario, Canada. When most kids were just starting kindergarten, he was already showing a strong interest in music. Soon that interest proved to be an impressive natural talent. He taught himself to play the guitar. It would only be the first of many string instruments he would master in the coming years.
Not long after Cormier’s ninth birthday, he won his first guitar competition, holding his own against musicians of all ages. He landed his first steady professional job when he was only 14. It was a weekly bluegrass television show called Up Home Tonight. Two years later came the release of a debut album filled with instrumental bluegrass music that showcased his guitar skills. After some time appearing at a number of festivals, Cormier became the mandolin player for the famous bluegrass-gospel group the Sullivan Family. He spent a number of years afterward touring with the group, and with other major artists.
In 1997, Cormier, all grown-up, finally finished a sophomore offering, Another Morning, for his fans. The award-winning recording was followed by a third full-length album, Heart & Soul. Along the way to making a name for himself, Cormier has performed with countless artists, the list reading something like a who’s who in music, including Alan Jackson, Marty Stuart, Bill Monroe, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Kitty Wells, and many others. If his musical career had crashed to an end with the start of the new millennium, Cormier would still have touched enough parts of the music world to ensure that his legacy lasted long after.

Steve Poltz
2017-08-16 20:00 - 22:30
Born among the hearty seafaring folk of Canada’s Halifax, Nova Scotia, Poltz has lived most of his life in Southern California, where the sun treated his rocky Canadian DNA like clothes in a dryer. Naturally a spectrum of cultural and emotional tensions arose and he eventually sought refuge in the art of songwriting, where he tapped into an unforgettable and often horrifying depth of unhinged genius.
Among the music cognoscenti, Steve Poltz is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific songwriters of our time. His songs have been among the longest running ever on the Billboard Top 100 and they regularly appear in movie soundtracks, television shows, and even the odd commercial. His touring schedule is ferocious, ping ponging between continents with enough frequency to earn him manic followings in scores of different accents and languages.
Any musician who has traveled as extensively as Poltz will have their share of colorful road stories, but Poltz’ adventures read like a bucket list. Starting out auspiciously, Poltz recalls meeting Elvis Presley at a small airport and beaming proudly as The King hugged his sister for an inordinately long time. Growing up in Palm Springs, California, he trick-or-treated at Liberace’s house and was Bob Hope’s favorite altar boy. In an alcohol-soaked haze, he infamously accosted David Cassidy, who had summoned him to Las Vegas to write a hit song for the aging Tiger Beat cover boy.
His rich and colorful legacy is the stuff of legend, but it is his distinctive style of songwriting that has caused the world to offer up its stages, clubs, and alleys. Poltz’ sound is entirely unique- from his inhuman fingerstyle techniques to the inimitable melodies that roll from his guitar like cool waterfalls, you know a Poltz song as soon as you hear it. To see Steve to perform live is one of the most entertaining shows a human could ever see. Frenzied, aggressive, hilarious, and heartbreakingly sincere, his live performances have become bona fide events, with sub-cultures popping up all over the globe to entice him to come and tour. As relentless as he is in concert, he is also the guy who famously co-wrote the timeless ballad “You Were Meant For Me” with platinum-selling songwriter Jewel. Of course, because we’re talking about Steve Poltz, it should surprise no one to learn that the song was written on a lazy Mexican beach, where Poltz and Jewel were soon snapped up and sequestered by Mexican Federales and required to witness and eventually assist in a large marijuana bust on the beach. Don’t believe it? See for yourself in the pictures on his web site.
Music fans have adored him since he first fronted the hallowed punk-folk legends, The Rugburns, whose live shows earned the band a following that is best described somewhere between the terms “cult” and “crazed substance-abusing fanatics.” Once touring over 300 days a year, the Rugburns occasionally reunite for wildly popular sold-out shows.
Poltz’ solo body of work is an impressive collection of ballads, rockers and uniquely melodic acoustic numbers that reflect his incomparable style of alternate tunings and savage finger picking techniques. Guitar geeks fall prostrate at his feet trying vainly to learn how to play his stunningly gorgeous and deceptively complex songs. To see him play guitar is a visual feast so frenetic that close proximity to his playing exposes one to risk of seizure.
His albums reflect the depth and expanse of his influences throughout the years (One Left Shoe, Chinese Vacation, Traveling and Unraveling). He has also released a children’s album (The Barn), a performance DVD (Tales From The Tavern) and a collection of other recordings that defy categorization, such as Answering Machine – a 56-track collection of 45 second “songs” culled from his answering machine’s outgoing messages. Neil Young has ranked it as a favorite album.
Steve Poltz’s latest recording project brought him back to Halifax, where he collaborated with Joel Plaskett, an award-winning Canadian songwriter, performer, producer and eminently kindred spirit. The two holed up in Joel’s Scotland Yard studio with a 2 inch,16 track analog tape machine, a 24 hour work ethic, their comfy clothes, and all the mojo they could conjure. The result was Dreamhouse,” Steve’s most accomplished and focused album to date. Critically acclaimed across the globe, it has been singled out by some critics as the 2010 Album of the Year.
His live shows have captivated audiences far and wide with a mix of singing, storytelling, shredding, and the occasional spoken word rants which have been known to incite riots. He can take an audience from laughter to tears and back again in the space of the same song. Steve Poltz transcends the word “talented.” He is unforgettable in all the right ways.

Old Man Luedecke
2017-08-09 20:00 - 22:30
Old Man Luedecke, is one of Canada’s best loved and most intriguing roots singer-songwriters. “An original, he is a musical singularity to be savoured and shared”, says the Vancouver Folk Festival. His memorable melodies, poetic sense and easy charisma appeal to anyone searching for new growth from old roots.
Old Man Luedecke was born in Toronto but has made his home for years right here in the music rich maritime province of Nova Scotia. Here his music has been wholeheartedly adopted and is becoming representative for its traditional storytelling folk elements. It speaks to a new generation of people craving such meaning in their music.
Luedecke is a young man with an old soul who doesn’t sugar coat his fears and this lets his songs breathe with a fresh breeze of bittersweet hopefulness. He channels a refreshing energy from folk giants like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger with maybe a hint of Loudon Wainwright III. But it’s Luedecke’s contemporary lyrics coupled with the irresistible rhythm of the old time banjo that connect and make him so loved with his audiences. Anchored in his music’s melodic confidence is an ability to tap into a common muddled and dark search for meaning. This keeps people singing his songs and praises after he’s traveled on.
His performances are exciting and totally entertaining. His uncliched banjo playing sparkles beautifully and dynamically. This coupled with his thumping foot creates a complete sound. People are drawn into singing along. His singing is his own. Clear and unadorned it is totally emotive and suits the sincerity of his tunes. In the breaks between songs come wild and charming stories of meeting heroes and easygoing but gripping musings on things ridiculous and sublime that may have a wink of contemporary vaudeville. Equally at home on festival main stages, theatres and living rooms, he can hold court in the occasional indie rock bar. Luedecke has been a featured performer at all the major folk festivals in Canada and Australia and an increasing number of American festivals, like Strawberry in California. He has appeared with and shared the stage at concerts and soft seaters with such performers as Feist, Tim O’Brien, Joel Plaskett, David Francey, Buck 65, The Be Good Tanyas and Jill Barber. He’s shared festival stages alongside Bela Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Jack Elliot, Kris Kristofferson, Ashley MacIsaac, and countless others.
Old Man Luedecke has received great recognition for his works, including Juno Awards (The Canadian Grammy) for “Proof of Love” and “My Hands Are On Fire and Other Love Songs.”

Villages
2017-08-02 20:30 - 22:30
“We didn’t want anything to do with it,” says Matt Ellis, who sings and plays guitar in Villages and grew up in Cape Breton. “Our siblings played the fiddle or the pipe—we wanted to play something loud. But it’s in you, man. You can’t escape it.”
That’s how Ellis ended up fronting his own traditional band, along with his brother Travis, Jon Pearo and Archie Rankin, a group of men you may also know as the excellent rock band Mardeen (or as Ellis puts it, “all the same crew”). That band, a longtime local favourite known for ear-hooking melodies and high-octane live shows—Mo Kenney’s 2014 hit “Telephones” is a Mardeen original, from its 2008 debut—began writing acoustic-based, trad-leaning songs a few years back. Less stomp-shout, more swaying-sing-along. Last November, Villages was the hot ticket at Nova Scotia Music Week and production has begun on a full-length album. (The single “Hymn After Hymn,” produced by Joel Plaskett, is up now at thebandvillages.bandcamp.com.)
“In this style of songs, the story is as important as the melody. We’re not trained at all, it’s in the air,” says Ellis. “It’s kinda like, why not? There are two sides of me that are so fun to express. There’s no one thing that I’m proud of or not proud of. But there’s this side of us that we feel is important.”

The rollicking folk of Villages and driving power-pop of Mardeen are so distinct, genre-wise, that the quartet has no problem moving between them in terms of writing or performance, pursuing both projects with equal focus and fervour. Mardeen’s fanbase and indie points do transfer somewhat, making for a Celtic band that’s cool to like. “We have your approval and we have our parents’ approval,” Ellis says. “It’s nice to be either getting people interested in this kind of music—that are our age—and to honour the people that inspired us.” This week’s IDOW show will offer a preview of the album currently in progress in Ellis’ basement, and there’ll be no confusing it for a Mardeen show. “It’s a very obvious thing that when the melody comes to me,” he says, “if it’s full of salt water—oh, that’s Villages.”

Mo Kenney
2017-07-26 20:00 - 22:30
Mo Kenney never had that archetypal I-want-to-be-famous moment. But somehow she was always going to make albums, play live and get noticed in her native Canada and way beyond.
Maybe the clues were there in the way she saved up her lunch money to buy records, begged her parents to book guitar lessons for her and made demos in the modest recording facility at a school she wasn’t even attending. Now, Kenney’s brilliantly accomplished ‘In My Dreams,’ one of Canada’s most acclaimed records of 2014, is about to become one of the freshest and most inventive releases on the international stage this autumn.
And stage is the word, because the artist, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, views staying on the road and playing for as many people as possible as her life’s work. The reward is in the recognition she’s enjoying from her discerning album audience.
‘In My Dreams’ is already an award-winning follow-up to Kenney’s much-decorated, self-titled debut of 2012. The new set swiftly secured an ECMA (East Coast Music Award) for Pop Recording of the Year, to sit alongside the same trophy that was bestowed upon its predecessor, which also took a Canadian Folk Music Award for New/Emerging Artist of the Year and no fewer than three Nova Scotia Music Awards.
The sophomore set is produced, as was Mo’s previous album, by Joel Plaskett, the Canadian rock icon who can fairly be described as her great mentor and key creative collaborator. It was recorded in his bespoke studio, New Scotland Yard, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and for his label, New Scotland Records.
In an undeniable progression from the sometimes acoustic folk-pop of the first record, the rockier framework of the new one reflects the fact that Mo is working more often with a band, in the studio as on stage. It’s also a perfect showcase for her incisive lyricism. “That’s something that’s changed a lot from when I started writing, when I guess there was a lot more covering up of the truth,” she says. “I’m more direct now, and I like it that way.”
The album’s flagship song ‘Telephones’ arrives with a suitably engaging and amusing video and provides an imaginative take on the traditional romantic predicament. It was first written and recorded by Canadian East Coast rock band Mardeen in 2008, and suggested by Plaskett as potentially rich material for Kenney. “I don’t think very many people knew of it,” she says. “But it was kind of a perfect fit.”
Mo is now reaping the rewards of the musical inquisitiveness that started at an early age. She’ll happily admit to the poptastic pre-teen period we all go through, when she momentarily favoured Danish hitmakers Aqua. There was even a stage when she was at home to hard rock, in the form of AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne.
But then Kenney realised that instead of just listening to the guitar, she should be playing it. Unlike many artists who were dragged kicking and screaming to their first instrument, she begged her parents to arrange guitar lessons for her. “I’m not sure why I wanted to play guitar so badly,” she says. “I don’t even remember asking my mum to put me in lessons, I was that young.”
When she started to experiment with her music, fate took a hand. “There were a few bands recording at this school in downtown Halifax,” she recalls. “I didn’t go there, but I knew some people who did. They had a little makeshift studio where everybody could just go in and make demos, and Joel came to talk to us one day about the music industry, trying to give us advice on being a musician.”
“So we played him one of our songs each and that was it, he went away. I think that was about 2007, I showed him my song, he really liked it and then I didn’t hear from him. In 2010, I got a call from his manager, who’s now my manager, inviting me to a songwriting camp.”
When Plaskett went on to sign Kenney to his label, she had the platform from which to create that debut album, and to find out about the music business. “It was a huge learning curve,” she admits. “I had an idea in my mind what it was going to be like, and it was totally different. I was just really fascinated by how everything works.”
As well as having toured in Canada with Plaskett, Ron Sexsmith and extensively in her own right, Mo is already no stranger to international audiences. She has played Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape and Green Man Festival in the UK, where early in 2014, she toured for six weeks with her good friend, Scottish artist, Rachel Sermanni. Kenney is heading back to Britain, Ireland, and Germany in support of ‘In My Dreams.’ The stage is literally set for her.
“Besides writing, the aspect of being a musician that I like most is playing live,” says Kenney. “I love touring, so if I can build up audiences all over the place, then I can stay on the road forever, which is what I want.”

Saturday Ceilidh
2017-07-22 17:00 - 20:00
Kenneth & Marion MacLeod
Get a taste of local celtic music & culture with our weekly ceilidhs.
Expect to see world-renowned talent & budding entertainers all from our native Cape Breton.
General admission seating ranging from $5-$10

David Francey
2017-07-19 20:00 - 22:30
David Francey is a Scottish-born Canadian carpenter-turned-songwriter, who has become known as “one of Canada’s most revered folk poets and singers” (Toronto Star). Born in Ayrshire, Scotland to parents who were factory workers, he moved to Canada when he was twelve. For decades, he worked across Canada in rail yards, construction sites, and in the Yukon bush, all the while writing poetry, setting it to melodies in his head and singing it to himself as he worked.
A truly authentic folk singer, Francey is a documentarian of the working person who never imagined earning a living from his music. But when he was in his 40s, his wife, artist Beth Girdler, encouraged him to share his songs and sing in public. The reaction was instant. His first album Torn Screen Door came out in 1999 and was a hit in Canada. Since then, he has released eleven albums, won three Juno Awards and has had his songs covered by such artists as The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, James Keelaghan and Tracy Grammer.
Francey also had the honour of receiving the prestigious SOCAN Folk Music Award as well as taking home the Grand Prize in both the International Acoustic Music Award and in the Folk category for the John Lennon Songwriting Award.
“David’s straightforward songs tell honest stories of real people and real places. Poetic perception and a keen eye for the heart of the matter are trademarks of the man and his music. His songs and stories are a direct connection for audiences seeking depth and meaning in the day-to-day.” Shelter Valley Folk Festival
David Francey was born in Ayrshire, Scotland where he got his first taste of the working life as a paperboy. At age 10 he was devouring the newspapers he delivered, establishing a life-long interest in politics and world events while developing the social conscience that forms the backdrop of his songs.
He was twelve when his family immigrated to Toronto. He says he can trace his love of the land, the history, and the people of his adopted country to weekend family drives exploring southern Ontario. Music played a large part in these family outings. They sang traditional Scottish tunes as they drove through the Canadian countryside. Dad and sister Muriel sang melody, while mother and David sang harmonies.
His attachment to Canada grew with travel. He hitched across the country three times, then thumbed his way to the Yukon. This attachment surfaces in his songs of rail lines, farms, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. He grew to understand the people while working in Toronto train yards, the Yukon bush, and as a carpenter in the Eastern Townships. These experiences colour his first CD, Torn Screen Door, with songs like Hard Steel Mill, Gypsy Boys, and Working Poor and his second, Far End of Summer, with Highway, Flowers of Saskatchewan and February Morning Drive.
In concert David is a singer and a storyteller. His wry humour and astute observations combined with his openhearted singing style have earned him a loyal following.
David lives with his wife, artist Beth Girdler and in the quiet but charming Lanark Highlands in southern Ontario. They are visited often by their son Colin, daughters Amy and Julia and grandkids Tristan and Alice.
David Francey

Saturday Ceilidh
2017-07-15 17:00 - 20:00
Keith Mullins
Get a taste of local celtic music & culture with our weekly ceilidhs.
Expect to see world-renowned talent & budding entertainers all from our native Cape Breton.
General admission seating ranging from $5-$10

Evans & Doherty
2017-07-12 20:00 - 22:30
Kevin Evans and Brian Doherty have been an integral part of the East Coast music scene for thirty years, twenty-six of those years as the popular duo Evans & Doherty. To capture the essence of an Evans & Doherty performance, take a lively blend of traditional, original and contemporary songs, add a liberal sprinkling of stories and humour, then sit back and enjoy these fine entertainers.
As a songwriter and producer, Kevin has enjoyed many successes. His song “Christmas Memories” achieved platinum status in Canada for John McDermott. He has also had songs recorded by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy, and Canadian legend Stompin’ Tom Connors. Evans & Doherty along with Jimmy Sweeney, have a recording titled “Sailing Ships & Sailing Men”, the musical companion to a one-hour radio program written by the trio and broadcast on CBC’s Atlantic Airwaves. The program deals with life at sea and the songs used by sailors while they worked.
Equally at home in a pub setting, concert hall, festival or convention, Evans & Doherty are first-rate musicians, singers, songwriters, promoters and producers. They also possess the ability to entertain any audience, any place, any time.
