sep 22–25, 2013 · showcase pei 2013: the schedules 2 performance schedule sun, sep 22 (night)...

The “Big Little” Music Conference with Heart

PRESENTED BY

SEP 22–25, 2013CHARLOTTETOWN / PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

CONFERENCE GUIDE

2SHOWCASE PEI 2013: The Schedules

Performance ScheduleSUN, SEP 22 (NIGHT)

HARMONY HOUSE8:10 PM – 8:30 PM Tim Chaisson

8:35 PM – 9:00 PM Dan Walsh

9:15 PM – 9:45 PM Meaghan Blanchard

9:45 PM – 10:00 PM Meaghan Blanchard & Dan Walsh

MON, SEP 23 (DAY)MARC’S STUDIO

2:05 PM – 2:25 PM Teresa Doyle

2:35 PM – 2:55 PM Nudie

3:10 PM – 3:30 PM Richard Wood / Gordon Belsher

3:40 PM – 4:00 PM Catherine MacLellan

MON, SEP 23 (NIGHT)THE MACK

8:10 PM – 8:30 PM Colour Code

8:45 PM – 9:05 PM The Meds

9:20 PM – 9:40 PM English Words

9:55 PM – 10:15 PM North Lakes

10:30 PM – 10:50 PM Racoon Bandit

TUE, SEP 24 (DAY)TRAILSIDE CAFÉ

2:20 PM – 2:40 PM Drea

2:50 PM – 3:10 PM Jordan Cameron

3:20 PM – 3:40 PM Ten Strings And A Goat Skin

3:50 PM – 4:10 PM Ashley Condon

TUE, SEP 24 (NIGHT)THE MACK

8:10 PM – 8:30 PM Max Keenlyside

8:45 PM – 9:05 PM Dennis Ellsworth

9:20 PM – 9:40 PM Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boys

9:55 PM – 10:15 PM Coyote

10:30 PM – 10:50 PM Death Valley Driver

SHOWCASE PEI 2013: The Delegates 3

JOEL BASKINTHE FELDMAN AGENCY (feldman-agency.com/our-agents/joel-baskin)

Since founding The Pilot Agency in 2006, Joel Baskin has developed a reputation as an honest and relentlessly proactive advocate for his art-ists. His primary concern—both then and since joining SL Feldman and Associates in February 2011—is providing clients with personal attention and the tools to help them reach their goals by continuously adapting his services to meet their evolving needs.

Some of the artists Joel represents include: The Beaches, Autumns Cannon, Tim Hicks, Kira Isabella, Tim Chaisson, Leah Daniels, Platinum Blonde, and Courage My Love.

PHILIP BATTIATOTHE AGENCY GROUP (theagencygroup.com/employee/phil-battiato/)

Philip has spent the last five years in The Agency Group’s New York of-fice. Originally assisting in booking hard rock and metal acts, he’s since focused on building a roster mostly comprised of indie, alternative, and punk bands.

KURT BAGNELLCANMORE FOLK FESTIVAL (canmorefolkfestival.com)

Since October 2012, Kurt has been the director of the Canmore Folk Music Festival, responsible for programming and overall operations. Prior to joining the festival, Kurt spent 30 years at the Banff Centre as the manager of presentations where he curated a performing arts series that included music, dance, theatre, multicultural and family presenta-tions, as well as producing numerous special events and outdoor per-formances. In addition, Kurt was responsible for all aspects of marketing, production, facility management, and artist and patron services for these events.

Over the years, Kurt has worked with various artists in the areas of career development and touring as well as assisting numerous community arts organizations, festivals and arts services organizations in performance, touring, planning and operations related issues.

MIKE CAMPBELLTHE CARLETON (thecarleton.ca)

Mike worked for MuchMusic for 18 years as host of Mike & Mike’s Excel-lent X Canada Adventures, MuchEast and Going Coastal. He’s lived in Halifax for 20 years. Since leaving MuchMusic in 2002 he has continued to remain close to the action on the East Coast. Some highlights include programming the pop/rock talent for the National Arts Centre’s Atlantic Scene festival in 2003, booking the Marquee Club (Halifax’s largest venue at the time) in 2004/5 and producing JunoFest in Halifax in 2006. Until he opened The Carleton, he was also a member of Joel Plaskett’s management team.


YANNICK CIMON-MATTARGET A ROOM (getaroom.ca)

Getaroom.ca has been promoting shows in Québec City for the past 16 years. We work with different venues and different scene as well as with a bunch of corporate clients such as the FIS, Gestev, UCI and more.

MICHAEL CLOERENPHILADELPHIA FOLKSONG SOCIETY (pfs.org) BLUE MOUNTAIN SKI AREA & RESORT (skibluemt.com)

Michael Cloeren is the Director of The Philadelphia Folk Festival—a four-day event held the third weekend in August—consisting of eight stages and 50,000 guests attending annually from the USA and Canada.

Michael is also the Founder and Producer of The Pocono Blues Festival [1992–2010] which is now the Pennsylvania Blues Festival, held the last weekend in July in the beautiful the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

Michael presents Women In The Blues to colleges/universities, a two-part program involving today’s best international Blues artists. It con-sists of an in-class lecture series to the students during the day plus a concert performance later that evening on campus.

SHEA DAHLMRG CONCERTS (mrgconcerts.com)

Shea is the Vice President of MRG Concerts, a promoter with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and London, ON. Having been involved in the music industry for 15 years now, he has been a university programmer, talent buyer, festival organizer, venue operator, and corporate director.

Shea currently books tours across Western Canada, and runs the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver and Adelaide Hall in Toronto.

DIMITRI DEMERSATOMIQUE PRODUCTIONS (atomiqueproductions.com)

Since 2000, Atomique Productions has been Victoria, BC’s leading in-dependent concert promoter, producing an average of 150+ concerts per year. Founded with a passion for music and a mandate to bring a diverse range of national and international talent to the city, Atomique is dedicated to providing quality live musical experiences to the Greater Victoria population. With an eye for up-and-coming talent, Atomique has produced shows for artists such as Queens of the Stone Age, Girl Talk, Feist, Modest Mouse, Leonard Cohen, Kid Rock, The Killers, Mackl-emore & Ryan Lewis, City And Color, Metric, Wilco, Tegan and Sara, and many more.


ERIN DILLONCREATIVE CONTROL ENTERTAINMENT (creativecontrolent.com)

Los Angeles native Erin Dillon has been working as a music supervisor at creative control for two-and-a-half years. She works alongside Joel C. High (Monster’s Ball, Crash) on all Tyler Perry films, among other inde-pendent film productions.

Erin has taken a lead role in creative control’s Event Production division. She has helped produce events throughout North America for artists ranging from Timber Timbre to Melanie Fiona at venues as diverse as Ar-naud’s in New Orleans to The Old School Bar & Grill in Austin, Texas.

A performance pianist for 15 years, Dillon’s knowledge and appreciation for music is vast and eclectic.

JAMES DUFFYPOCKLINGTON ARTS CENTRE (pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk)

I have worked within the music industry for over ten years, working at Pocklington Arts Centre, a 200-seat theatre and 70-seat studio located in East Yorkshire, UK. The venue programmes a diverse range of artists each year, in addition to programming a two-day festival each October. Past performers include Richard Hawley, Rosanne Cash, Roger McGuinn, Josh Ritter, Billy Bragg, Kate Rusby, Tom Russell, Eddi Reader, Low Anthem, Bob Harris, Raul Malo, Beth Orton, The Unthanks, Guillemots, Fairport Convention, Hot Club of Cowtown, Willy Mason, Gretchen Pe-ters, Eric Bibb...

HEATHER GARDNERVAPOR MUSIC (vapormusic.com/heroes/heather-gardner)

Heather’s life-long obsession with music and its love affair with advertis-ing, television, film, video games, and new media led her to Vapor in January of 2009, and she has been going full steam ahead ever since.

Over the past four-and-a-half years, Heather has worked on such proj-ects as the upcoming mini-series The Best Laid Plans (CBC), television series Seed (The CW/CityTV), Rookie Blue (ABC/Global), Less Than Kind (HBO Canada), AAA video game Shaun White Skateboarding (Ubisoft Montreal), and many feature films.

In addition to long-format work, Heather is heavily involved in the world of advertising and has worked on numerous campaigns, including recent spots for Samsung, Nissan, and The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

BEN GOLDBERGBA DA BING RECORDS (badabingrecords.com)

Ben Goldberg has run Ba Da Bing Records for nearly 20 years, releasing records by Beirut, Sharon Van Etten, (CanCon Alert!) Jenn Grant, Spiny Anteaters, and Hawksley Workman. He has worked in management (Breeders, tUnE-yArDs) as well as publicity (for Matador Records and Merge Records). Ben was recently project manager on the Neutral Milk Hotel boxset.


DAVID HAYMANSUPERSONIC CREATIVE (supersoniccreative.com)

David Hayman is Creative Director and Lead Music Supervisor at Super-sonic Creative Inc. ::: Rookie Blue / Saving Hope / Less Than King / Telus Canada Exclusive / Virgin Mobile / CIBC Events / Corona / Nestea + Coca-Cola Canada / Buick / Mazda / Movember / and lead Music Super-visor on numerous studio and independent feature films.

RYAN HEERSCHAPI BOOK SHOWS (ibookshows.com)

Ryan Heerschap has been working as an agent for over ten years. In 2008, Ryan started up his own agency, I Book Shows. With a growing roster of roots, singer songwriters and speakers, I Book Shows now has three agents servicing the roster. In 2010, I Book Shows started doing event sponsorship for Music Festivals, and works with AEG Canada, Wakestock, Live Nation Canada, and more.

DANIEL HIGBEESECRET ROAD (secretroad.com)

Daniel Higbee is the Head of Film/TV in the music licensing department of Secret Road, a boutique music services company in Los Angeles. He used to freelance for music supervisor Jennifer Pyken, assisting her with television projects Las Vegas and LOST.

In 2009, he moved to Secret Road where he pitches a small and growing roster of independent acts and labels, including Ingrid Michaelson, The Civil Wars, Josh Ritter, and Katie Herzig. Landing notable placements in shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Parenthood, Pretty Little Liars and the 2011 Google Chrome “Dear Sophie” ad, Higbee pitches for a variety of film, television, and advertising projects.

STEVEN HIMMELFARBBILLIONS (billions.com)

I am a booking agent for the Billions Corporation. I book tours. I will tell you more in person.

ADAM KREEFTTHE AGENCY GROUP (theagencygroup.com/employee/adam-kreeft/)

Adam is an agent at The Agency Group in Toronto, whose roster in-cludes such artists as Bend Sinister, The Stanfields, Hey Ocean!, Ben Caplan, Cheap Girls, and Teenage Kicks.


CRAIG LASKEYHORSESHOE TAVERN (horseshoetavern.com)

Craig Laskey has been involved with the Horseshoe Tavern since the summer of 1995. The Horseshoe Tavern recently celebrated its 65th birthday on December 5, 2012, and in that time has hosted live shows with everyone from Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip, Joel Plaskett Emer-gency, and Billy Talent to Wilco, Ryan Adams, The Sadies, and The Arkells.

Collective Concerts / ATG concerts formed in 1998. Collective is a full service Indie Concert Promoter. It has promoted shows for everyone from Arcade Fire, Charles Bradley, The Specials, Death Cab For Cutie, The National, Patti Smith, Neko Case and more.

LEE OLSENKCA ARTISTS (keithcase.com)

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Lee Olsen began a career in music playing mandolin in his own bluegrass band, Whetstone Run, for 15 years. He later formed his own talent agency, Lee Olsen & Associates, represent-ing such acts as the Fairfield Four (whom he also manages), Red Clay Ramblers, and The Seldom Scene, among others.

Joining Keith Case & Associates in 1989, Lee was named Vice President of the company in 1995. Lee is the responsible agent for the following bands: The Fairfield Four, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Seldom Scene, and Della Mae.

DAVID MACIASTHIRTY TIGERS (thirtytigers.com)

David Macias is the co-founder and President of Thirty Tigers, a label services, distribution and management company that serves the inde-pendent artist community. Clients include Flogging Molly, The Avett Brothers, Matisyahu, Jason Isbell, Trampled By Turtles, Low, Elizabeth Cook, and others. He also produces albums, including the 2005 Gram-my-winning album Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.

ELEANOR MCGUINNESSPITCH AND SMITH (pitchandsmith.com)

Eleanor graduated from Queens University in Belfast, moved to Dublin and immersed herself in the music scene, promoting clubs and booking national tours for Irish artists.

In 2009, Eleanor moved to Toronto to work on Virgin Festivals across Canada before moving into the agent side of the business as junior agent in Paquin Entertainment for the territory of North America.

Finally returning to Europe in 2010 to open the European Agency Pitch and Smith’s new office in Ireland, establishing herself as an agent and developing Pitch and Smith’s roster of clients in Europe.


SAMI PARBHOOFESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LOUISIANE (festivalinternational.com)

I’m the VP of Programming for Festival International de Louisiane (in La-fayette, LA). I listen and love great music regardless to style or genre. As John Coltrane said: “Damn the rules, it’s the feeling that counts!”

JULIA PHILLIPSBLUE SKIES MUSIC FESTIVAL

Music has always been part of my world. Piano as a child, clarinet in high school. The first band I hired was for my grade 8 graduation. Many years later, I have the honour to book for Blue Skies Music Festival in Claren-don, ON. Always looking for something new and different; supporting the youth coming out to play for the first time; to supporting the folks who have been playing for many years. During the day I support a friend who is disabled and has twins under the age of two.

KRIS POPEFULL CIRCLE FESTIVAL (fullcirclefestival.ca)

Kris Pope has been active in the Canadian music scene for ten years, recording and touring with dozens of acts, including Jenn Grant, Tanya Davis, Steve Gates, and Zac Crouse. As a songwriter, his musical proj-ects Acres and Acres, Caledonia, and Down with the Butterfly have been nominated seven times at the East Coast Music Awards.

His role in publicity/bookings have developed organically. He’s now on the Board of Directors of the Full Circle Music Festival, and is working/playing regularly with Acres and Acres, Zac Crouse, Morgan MacDonald and Steve Gates, as well as laying down some sweet steel licks.

BRIENNE ROSENOISE/RACKET: (noiseracket.com)

Originally from Santa Fe, NM, Brienne learned the film and music industry ropes from two legendary music supervisors in Los Angeles while studying at USC. After moving to New York in 2005, she began independently managing artists and bands, then, years later, started her company, Noise/Racket, in the West Village of New York City.

Since its inception, Noise/Racket has focused on bringing the best new music out to the world through films, commercials, and other creative projects; handling music placement and licensing for large commercial campaigns such as Hershey’s, Milkbone, and Kohler, and also acting as Music Supervisor on various feature films, including the 2013 Oscar win-ning film, Curfew.


SHAWN SCALLENSPECTRASONIC (spectrasonic.com)

As Spectrasonic’s talent buyer, Shawn books over 150 shows a year in Ottawa venues ranging from 80–2,000 capacity, acts as a programming consultant for several local festivals, and produced JUNOfest 2012. His first booking was Fugazi in a community centre basement in 1989 and it’s been all downhill from there.

MARK WATSONWATSON ENTERTAINMENT (watsonentertainment.com)

Watson Entertainment is a full service artist Management Company based in Toronto. The company has received several industry awards in-cluding two JUNO nominations and two gold records since its inception in 1998. They’ve been the driving force behind countless national tours, international sales, media, sync licensing to major films, TV shows, and commercials. Watson Entertainment is not genre specific.

Roster: David Francey, Ashley Condon, John Landry, Eh440, Ann Vriend.

Watson Entertainment also handles artistic direction for several festi-vals, and sits on the entertainment committee for the Burlington Sound of Music.

KIM WINNICKYATLIN FESTIVAL (atlinfestival.ca)

Kim organizes several community and musical events including the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Camp, Whitehorse Connects, and the Atlin Arts and Music Festival. She has previously served on the Board of Music Yukon and is committed to creating events that develop community through music and common experience.

The Atlin Arts and Music Festival celebrated its 10th Anniversary July 12–14, 2013. It is a festival of music, visual art, and film that attracts over 2,500 people to this small community of 300.

BOB JENSENJENSEN MUSIC INTERNATIONAL (jproductions.com)

Bob Jensen, a veteran of the Canadian folk music scene for over 25 years, has worked as a performer, recording artist, record label owner, record distributor, publicist, manager and agent.

In the past 15 years, he and his wife Gail have built JMI into one of the most respected folk agencies in the world, working with legends such as Bruce Cockburn, Pete Seeger, The Chieftains, as well as The Amazing Kreskin, fabled Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney, and many more. The current roster includes artists from Canada, Australia, Chile, Guinea, America, Europe, and the UK. JMI’s mandate is to seek out the finest roots performers from Canada and around the world.

SHOWCASE PEI 2013: The Artists 10

Ashley Condon ashleycondon.com

Raised between two potato fields on Prince Edward Island, Ashley Condon is the grandchild of Bill Leblanc, a Canadian country pioneer who once spent the night in jail with Hank Snow. Like pecan pie—sweet and nutty—Ashley has won audiences over with her larg-er-than-life stage presence and down-to-earth charm. Growing up on everything from old-time country to folk, blues and south-ern rock, her music resonates.

The success of her 2007 EP I’ve Got This Feeling garnered the attention of Ontario native and ECMA-nominated producer Joel Hunt (Teresa Ennis, Old Man Leudecke). The two have joined creative forces for Ashley’s debut, full-length album, Come In From The Cold, released on June 15, 2010. Since its release, Come In From The Cold has been nominated for a 2010 Music Nova Scotia Award and a 2011 ECMA for Country Album Of The Year and a 2011 Canadian Folk Music Award for New/Emerging Artist Of The Year.

This past summer, Ashley played over 50 shows at the Mack The-atre in PEI as a featured artist in the 2012 Charlottetown Festival’s hit show, Come All Ye. Work on her highly anticipated sopho-more album is in the works with an expected release in 2013.

Catherine MacLellan catherinemaclellan.com

Catherine MacLellan’s fine song-writing talent and accomplished performance has been described as transporting. Having toured extensively worldwide, she is loved and respected by audi-ences and peers.

MacLellan’s star has long been rising in North America. Voted Critics Favourite New Discovery by Penguin Eggs Magazine in 2008, her third record, Water In The Ground, reached out to expand her already loyal fan base as she toured in support of legendary artists including Bruce Cockburn in the United States and Steve Forbert in the UK, while also holding her own by showcasing in Boston, Berlin, Cannes, Memphis, New York, London, and Paris.

Silhouette is the highly anticipat-ed newest album from Catherine MacLellan. Receiving extensive airplay, the record captures her best qualities, effortlessly stitching together elegantly wo-ven songs with her memorable blend of heartfelt and powerfully introspective lyrics and catchy melodies.

Accompanied by the masterful Chris Gauthier on guitar, the pair are a compact yet impacting tour-ing unit.

Colour Code colourcode.bandcamp.com

Colour Code is a five-piece ensemble hailing from Char-lottetown, Prince Edward Island, whose sound encompasses melodic harmonies backed by pop-laden hooks. At the forefront are the girl-guy vocals that are carried throughout the band’s songs, effervescently telling stories as they float on top of the string arrangements, driven bass and drums.

Their diverse and unique sound can be attributed to the ever-present violin, upright bass, and a collective of musical odds and ends ranging from glockenspiel to key-tar.


Coyotewearecoyote.bandcamp.com

Coyote is a progressive pop-rock band hailing from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. With an explosive and energetic live show, the group produces a blend of up-tempo indie rock which highlights Josh Carter’s unique and powerful tenor and the harmonies packed around it. Coyote’s songs are generally light-hearted and well-arranged, featuring a good mix of acoustic and electric sounds.

Over two years of performing across the Maritimes, Coyote has become a recognizable name in the indie rock music scene in Atlantic Canada. They have performed at events such as the ECMA Breakout, Rising Star, and Pop Rock Stages, The Evolve Mu-sic and Awareness Festival, Show-case PEI, Halifax Pop Explosion, and the Music PEI Awards Gala. Their debut EP, Tracks, has earned Coyote four Music PEI Award nominations including Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year, and at ECMA 2013 Coyote took home the first People’s Choice Rising Star Award which has se-cured them a showcase at NXNE.

Dan Walshdanwalshbanjo.co.uk

Touted as one of the finest banjo players in the UK as well as being a superb singer, songwriter and guitarist, Dan Walsh is described as ’the real deal’ (Uncut) and

’taking the banjo into the strato-sphere’ (Froots) with a unique and eclectic style taking in folk, funk, bluegrass, jazz, rock and even Arabic.

Having toured the UK many times, Dan is also taking his innovative sound further afield with appear-ances in Germany, Canada, and New Zealand to come as well as recently performing in India as part of a groundbreaking col-laboration project.

Death Valley Driverreverbnation.com/deathvalleydriver

Since 2008, Charlottetown, PEI’s Death Valley Driver has been making the red mud of the Island a little more crimson with the bloody mix of swamp metal.

The band is currently putting the finishing touches on their sophomore album, Graveyard Dead, which was engineered at Lukas Raine Recordings with Dave Skinner.

Their debut album, Choke The River, was released on Dimin-ished Fifth Records. Engineered by Haywire’s David Rashed, the album has gotten rave reviews and had charted nationally on several Loud charts on university radio, peaking so far at number 3.

In February of 2011, Death Val-ley Driver won Music PEI’s Loud Recording Of The Year, as well as being nominated for Group Re-cording of the Year and Best New Artist. They were also nominated for Loud Recording Of The Year for 2011 by the ECMA.

The five-piece has shared the stage with Metallica, Coheed & Cambria, Seether, 3 Inches of Blood, Morbid Angel, Cryptopsy, August Burns Red, Lagwagon, Protest The Hero, Misery Index, Obscura, and many others.


Dennis Ellsworth dennisellsworth.com

Dennis has grown into one of Atlantic Canada’s most potent songwriters, with beautifully po-etic lyrics and a veteran’s sense of melody, tune and arrangement.

The most recent release, Dusk Dreams, was recorded in Athens, Georgia, with acclaimed musician and producer, David Barbe (Drive By Truckers, Cracker, Bob Mould/Sugar). The album consists of ten songs that blend folk, pop, coun-try, lounge, blues, soul, and what-ever else. Critics are calling Dusk Dreams Dennis Ellsworth’s most beautifully crafted release to date. The record garnered Den-nis a position in the international category of the 2012 Mountain Stage New Song Contest.

Dennis Ellsworth has two previ-ous solo recordings, 2010’s Chesterfield Dweller of the Year, which Americana-UK.com called

“heartfelt and heart-achingly beautiful, a timeless album”, and Strange Boat, an EP released in September 2011 and nominated for four Music PEI awards.

A follow up to Dusk Dreams is in development. The record will be produced by Josh Finalayson (Skydiggers) in late January / early February 2013 at The Bathhouse in Bath, ON, and released in Au-tumn 2013 on Busted Flat Records.

Drea dreamacdonald.bandcamp.com

PEI’s Drea Macdonald is ready to rock and roll. The multi-instru-mentalist and singer/songwriter is excited to start performing her recently released first full-length album, In a Heartbeat.

Drea began playing piano at a young age and at 13 she picked up her first guitar. From there, she was hooked. In high school, she was the lead singer of her first band and by the time she enrolled at UPEI Drea was asked to join the Chamber Choir where she strengthened her vocal skills. A few years later, she trav-elled across Canada where she started writing and performing her own songs.

Following two EPs she recorded from 2008-2010, Drea released In a Heartbeat in March 2013. The album features her band, The Wildebeards, who bring a rock edge to her up tempo alternative roots sound.

Whether she’s playing solo with her acoustic guitar or playing electric with a full band, Drea’s confessional lyrics and powerful vocals come together to create a country-infused, folk-rock sound.

English Words englishwordsband.com

The debut album from English Words, Red Potion, is a 33-minute collage of new wave and ’80s alternative, with ’70s synth ambi-ence, bursts of neo-psychedelia and even a hint of Britpop. It all gets pieced together to form a singular vision of original and contemporary DIY pop music, riddled with hooks.

Produced by Holy F**k bassist Matt McQuaid, Red Potion was recorded at the Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport, Nova Scotia by Diego Medina. The music layers creative, punchy rhythms with stylish synth lines, efficiently placed guitar, modest bass drops, and a pallet of unlikely samples which include Pakistani surf rock, movie dialogue, and low-fi ’90s indie rock.

Preceding their debut effort, English Words played tightly wound, guitar-and-drum based indie rock. A four song EP, Cus-tomer Appreciation, was released in early 2010 which saw the band’s single “Rope” climb CBC Radio 3’s R30 chart. The band, both as English Words and for-mer moniker Smothered In Hugs, have played countless shows at home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and have fre-quently toured Eastern Canada playing POP Montreal, NXNE, and the Halifax Pop Explosion.


Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boysgordiemackeeman.com

Hailing from Prince Edward Is-land, the award-winning Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boys serve up old-time roots music with an energy level that practi-cally yanks you out of your seat by the collar. The Rhythm Boys were given the Galaxie Super-nova Award at the 2012 Ottawa Folk Festival for outstanding live performance. Tom Power, host of Deep Roots on CBC, recently called the Rhythm Boys his “Best Discovery Band” at the 2012 East Coast Music Awards. If ever someone was deserving of the nickname “Crazy Legs”, it just might be Gordie MacKeeman. His thrilling dance style mixed with great bluegrass vocals, Peter Cann’s blistering guitar solos, and the lively multi-instrumental talents of Thomas Webb and Mark Geddes, and Gordie MacK-eeman and his Rhythm Boys are a complete entertainment package.

Jordan Cameron jordancameronmusic.com

Jordan Cameron is a solo artist from Summerside, PEI. Now liv-ing in Charlottetown, he’s been a regular of the music scene on the island since the release of his EP, Drawing from Observation, in 2009. He performs using guitar, ukulele, a loop station, and, of course, his voice. His newest re-lease, My What a Lovely Hate, was released in the fall of 2011, and his new project, Your History, is due out in 2013.

Max Keenlysidemaxkeenlyside.ca

A dazzling pianist and formidable composer, Max Keenlyside has made an auspicious entry into the music world. From the age of ten, he has written and performed music in ragtime, stride, and clas-sical styles, gaining a reputation as a top young artist in his field.

In 2009, Max represented Prince Edward Island in the National Artist’s Program, held in the con-junction with the Canada Games. A favourite at jazz and ragtime events around the world, he has headlined several times at the Scott Joplin, West Coast Ragtime, and Blind Boone festivals.

In addition to festivals, Max regu-larly concertizes and has given a solo program for a live audience on CBC Radio. His debut release, KeenlyStride, was issued in 2010 on the Rivermont label. This was followed by Mostly Max in 2012, featuring a plethora of Max’s original compositions alongside the old classics. Max currently performs around North America, and is composing his first Sym-phony for orchestra.


Meaghan Blanchard meaghanblanchard.com

Meaghan Blanchard is a 24-year-old singer/songwriter from Hunter River, PEI.

She draws a lot of her inspiration for performing and songwrit-ing from her grandparents who helped fuel her dreams and inspired her to take on the chal-lenges of becoming a successful performing singer/songwriter.

She’s Gonna Fly, the third album from this artist, will be released in September 2013. The album was produced by John Keane at his studio in Athens, GA. Her most recent album, Chasin’ Lonely Again, was the winner of an ECMA 2011 award. Meaghan’s first al-bum, Changing Things, received four Music PEI 2009 awards.

North Lakes music.cbc.ca/#/artists/The-North-Lakes

Sending reverberations from be-yond the Confederation Bridge, North Lakes are a rock ‘n’ roll band that radiate with swagger and bravado. Taking their cue from ’60s pop and garage rock, the energetic five-piece com-bines vivid lyrical imagery and a colossal roar of musicality to craft punchy, concise rock records.

Their latest album, Grand Prix, captures North Lakes at their most raw. Recorded in a church in Long Creek by Adam Gallant (whose credits include acts such as Boxer The Horse, The Danks, English Words, Al Tuck and more) and produced by Colin Buchanan (Paper Lions), the album is a testament to the galvanized direction and ambi-tion of the up-and-coming Prince Edward Island-based band.

Grand Prix comes on the heels of North Lakes’ debut, Cobra, which earned the band a Music PEI Award for Best Alternative Album in 2011. Since then, North Lakes have been performing steadily throughout the Maritimes and showcasing at industry events such as the East Coast Music Awards in Moncton, New Bruns-wick in April, Music PEI Week in Charlottetown, PEI in January, and Canadian Music Week last March.

Nudiemusic.cbc.ca/#/artists/Nudie

An Island sensation for years, Nudie has toured long and far and played in venues of all sizes across North America. He plays traditional country music the way Hank Williams would have liked it: great songwriting, minimal instrumentation, a strong voice, and an everyman attitude.


Racoon Banditracoonbandit.com

Made up of Fraser McCallum, Roger Carter and brothers Adam and Scott Gallant, Racoon Bandit has released two independent albums, with 2011’s Into the Hills turning heads across the country.

Popular new music site Skeleton Crew Quarterly said about Char-lottetown’s Racoon Bandit, “They show a knack for warm folk-rock arrangements that hide an an-themic bite; something that goes smoothly next to daydreamed campfires and docks at sunset.”

Winners of Music PEI’s Group Recording and Rock Recording of the Year in 2012, the folk-rock quartet blends engaging lyrics, subtle psychedelic tones, and folk, country and rock into one captivating experience.

The group recently released a vinyl EP, RacoonBandit/SisterJack, and are now hard at work on their third full-length recording.

Nominees in 2012 for the ECMAs, Racoon Bandit has shared the stage with many greats including The Sadies, April Wine, Al Tuck, In-Flight Safety, and Erin Costelo.

Richard Wood / Gordon Belsherrwood.ca / guernseycove.ca/bio

Since he was very young, Richard Wood has impressed audiences performing all across Canada, as well as in the US, Europe, and Japan. Richard has played for Canada’s Prime Minister and Governor General, the Queen of England (in Toronto), and for the Emperor of Japan in Tokyo. In the late 1990s, he toured the UK and Europe headlining concert halls and folk festivals. He’s since played at the Lincoln Centre in New York City, Epcot at Disney World, and was a featured performer in the touring fiddle spectacle Bowfire. Richard feels, though, his greatest honour was performing for Canada’s armed forces, once in Bosnia and twice in Afghanistan.

Gordon Belsher began his career as a bassist in rock and dance bands in the ’60s and ’70s, includ-ing a year on the road in the back-up band for rock-n-roll pioneer Buddy Knox. A move to Prince Edward Island in 1978 capitalized on a lifelong interest in traditional music. This has since developed into a successful performing and recording career, both as a solo artist, and as accompanist for several Island fiddlers. First team-ing up with Richard Wood in 1996, this relationship has grown and continues to evolve.

Ten Strings And A Goat Skin tenstringsandagoatskin.com

Ten Strings And A Goat Skin is a young award-winning bilingual trad/fusion trio that celebrates the music of the Irish, Franco-phone, and Maritime cultures. They integrate modern and world rhythms with traditional and original tunes to create a fiery, infectious energy and unique sound that is increasingly catch-ing the attention of Eastern Ca-nadian and International venues and stages.

Milestones saw the group mak-ing waves on both English and Francophone venues at the 2011 and 2012 ECMAs and their debut bilingual album, TRI, was awarded Music PEI’s 2012 Roots Traditional Recording of the Year and was nominated for the 2012 ECMA Roots Traditional Group Recording of the Year. Traveling ever further afield, the group was recently nominated for Music PEI’s 2013 SpinCount Touring Art-ists of the Year.


Teresa Doyle teresadoyle.com

Teresa Doyle is a vocal explorer, singing Gaelic, jazz, folk, Celtic, swing and latin music. Her eleven recordings have met with critical acclaim at home in the Maritimes, across North America, Europe and Japan. This body of work has garnered numerous awards in-cluding three ECMAs, two JUNO nominations and the 2007 Victor Martyn Lynch- Staunton Award for Music, awarded to one Canadian musician to reward excellence in mid-career.

Doyle has attracted listeners at countless festivals and concert venues including: The Mariposa, Winnipeg and Vancouver Folk Festivals, the Montreal Jazz Fes-tival, the 92nd Street ‘Y’ in Man-hattan, England’s Salisbury Art Centre, Sound Symposium, The St. John’s Jazz Festival, Canadian Jazz and World Showcases and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. She has two symphony col-laborations to her credit and has performed with folk legends Stan Rogers and The Chieftains. She gives voice workshops in Canada, Mexico, the U.S., and Ireland.

Her music appears on more than a dozen compilations including three collections by Putumayo World Music in New York and three releases with Rough Guide in the U.K. with releases around the globe.

The Meds themeds.ca

Following a hugely successful Canadian national tour opening for Matt Mays, and EP release in 2012, pop-rock renegades The Meds’ full-length debut is slated for release in 2013.

Through fall 2012, The Meds and Matt Mays played a six-week, 22- show tour that included shows in every province in Canada. Not only was this an unbelievable op-portunity to showcase The Meds to national audiences, the band had the good fortune of playing sold out shows in many of Cana-da’s most iconic venues, includ-ing: The Commodore Ballroom (Vancouver), The Starlite Room (Edmonton), The Pyramid (Win-nipeg), and The Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto).

This unprecedented debut tour has given The Meds the op-portunity to showcase their live rock show, as well as their freshly released debut EP, to a national market. Based on the success of this tour, The Meds will release their full-length album in 2013, and will continue touring Canada in support of their live show and recorded material.

Tim Chaisson timchaisson.com

Based in PEI, Tim Chaisson has developed a strong reputation as a performer/songwriter over the past few years. He has estab-lished a loyal fan base in Canada and Australia and grows his audi-ence tour-by-tour.

Since the release of 2009’s Broken Hearted Beat, Chaisson has been added to the roster of Bumstead Productions, ventured across Australia on three suc-cessful solo tours, hit #1 on the MuchMoreMusic Countdown, and performed to ever-expanding audiences across the globe—from club to festival stages alike. He’s also amassed his share of awards and accolades, including COCA Emerging Artist of the Year and Music PEI Touring Artist of the Year in 2012, on top of being chosen as Musical Director for the Duke and Duchess of Cam-bridge’s highly-publicized Royal Visit to PEI in 2011.

Nominated for four East Coast Music Awards in 2013, including Entertainer of the Year, Chais-son recently celebrated his first ECMA win for Roots/Traditional Solo Artist of the Year to accom-pany his release, The Other Side.

Regardless of whether he’s joined onstage by a full band or simply his guitar, mandolin, and fiddle, Chaisson makes his craft look absolutely effortless—the mark of a true artist.

17SHOWCASE PEI 2013: Messages

Message from Music PEIShowcase PEI Delegates, welcome to Prince Edward Island and our 6th annual buyers confer-

ence! Over the past five years we have welcomed over 150 delegates from around the world to

participate each year in Showcase PEI and discover the wealth of musical talent here on PEI. As

you will find, this conference is all about the music. We have planned live performance show-

cases for you over the course of three days in a variety of venues and settings. We also hope to

help you explore and discover this beautiful, little Island. You just might find it so interesting like

many of our past delegates who have returned to vacation here.

We are very fortunate to have great support from our government and funders for our busi-

ness development activities especially the Province of PEI, ACOA and FACTOR. We also want to

extend a big thanks to the English Folk Dance and Song Society for the partnership that allows

us to continue developing our Artist Exchange Program.

We hope you enjoy yourselves, have fun and have a productive time here on PEI!

Rob Oakie Executive Director, Music PEI

Message from Innovation PEIInnovation PEI recognizes the excellent work of Music PEI, especially through Showcase PEI, in

their efforts to advance the careers of Island artists. This business development conference is an

important event for the Prince Edward Island music industry that creates opportunities and pro-

motion like no other for our talented Island artists. We warmly welcome delegates from all over

Canada, the US and the UK to Prince Edward Island and know they will find business opportuni-

ties but also enjoy all that our Island has to offer.

Allen Roach Minister, Innovation and Advanced Learning

Kent is a proud supporter of Music PEI and Island artists.

Come and visit our new Charlottetown location at 65 Walsh Road.

In support of Music PEI and the Island men and women

who make it happen.

NetworkingShowcase FestivalTrade FairConferenceFilm ScreeningsAwardsvirtualWOMEX

Cardiff, Wales, UK23–27 October 2013www.womex.com

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!FOR MORE INFO VISIT WWW.MUSICPEI.COM

A celebration of Prince Edward Island’s finest musical talents. Featuring the

annual Music PEI Awards Gala, concerts, showcases, workshops and more!

1 800 565 0278 liveatthecentre.com

C O N F E D E R A T I O N C E N T R E O F T H E A R T S C H A R L O T T E T O W N P . E . I .

New package deal –– “The Songwriters Series”: 3 shows for $80!Featuring breakout Canadian favourites:

David Myles, Royal Wood, and Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case!

I N T R O D U C I N G T H E

SONGWRITERS SERIES at The MACK

V I S I T O U R W E B S I T E T O V I E W T H E 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4 L I V E @ T H E C E N T R E L I N E U P !

musicPEI ad:Layout 1 13-09-12 2:45 PM Page 1

OUR SPONSORSMusic PEI would like to thank the generous support

of the Showcase PEI 2013 sponsors.

A Voice for Island Music | www.MusicPEI.com

Let's Build Something!TM

sep 22–25, 2013 · showcase pei 2013: the schedules 2 performance schedule sun, sep 22 (night)...

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