Two Sore Backs

With Val’s family connections to Canso, a summertime visit to Canso and the Stan Rogers Folk Festival have been on Val’s bucket list for a long time. It really should have been on mine too.

After getting settled in Hadleyville, we drove into Canso in time to see the end of Rum Ragged’s set and then the headliner, Newfoundland’s Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Beautiful Band. The crowd was a mix of old timers (like us!) and a younger group including students from Antigonish and area. It was beautiful to see the adoration this crowd had for Doyle and his band. He had them dancing and singing for most of the set, which was impressive considering the field was absolutely saturated from days of rain.

After a day in Canso and then dinner in Hadleyville with George and Maynard, we returned to Stanfest on the Friday evening. The highlight that night was by far the Irish Descendants, another Newfoundland band. Sorry, no photos from Friday. 😦

Saturday was, as forecasted, a wet one. The main stage was closed and programming moved to the hockey arena. The rain had scared off a lot of folks, and the sound was surprisingly good, so it worked out well.

First up was a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot. Danny Michel got things going. He’s terrific.

Lisa Richard did a rendition of If You Could Read My Mind that brought the house down. Such a powerful voice! It was a pretty emotional moment for everyone there, especially Richard. We made sure to see her set later that day.

J. P. Cormier, who we had never heard of, closed it out with an epic version of the Canadian Railroad Trilogy.

When Cormier finished, he raised his hands and looked up to the heavens. Very emotional.

Later that day we saw Rum Ragged, Joe Henry, and Lisa Richard. They were all terrific.

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We needed to leave early the following day to catch the ferry to Argentina, so the last act we saw was The Hello Darlins. We learned later that it is an ensemble of studio musicians that have formed a band and are based in Alberta.

Their lead singer and songwriter, Candace Lucina, is amazing – charismatic, hilarious, and an awesome singer. Her Husband Mike Little is amazing on organ and accordion, and their lead guitarist, whose name we forgot, is amazing and has a great voice too.

Matt Anderson made a surprise appearance and helped finished up the set. They were so damn good!