Don’t despair if you can’t afford to get out of town to one of the many Folk festivals that take place across Ontario and Canada during the summer months (I believe it’s Calgary this weekend). You can spend an afternoon enjoying four very talented performers between 3 and 7 p.m. at TO’s Tranzac Club in the Annex area.
The four players will team up as two duos performing 3-5 and 5-7 in the cozy and affordable room at 292 Brunswick Ave.
Michael Laderoute -17
The afternoon starts with award-winning songwriter Michael Laderoute, backed by Rob Fenton on a second six-string, doing some of the tunes that have endeared him to fans across the country and copped him the Songs From The Heart trophy from the Canadian Council of Folk Festivals in 2008 for the title track from his brilliant album A River I Know.
In addition to the award-winning song, Laderoute has several earworm keepers on the disc –one of the reasons I have every one of its tracks on my iPod as part of the rotation of tunes I spin between live sets whenever I put on a show.
The second set features a pair of veteran performers, including another, more recent Songs From The Heart winner. As reported just last week here in Toronto Moon, John Jackson won the award, along with the Galaxie Rising Star designation and bursary that goes with it (ironic, as it was with Laderoute, to be called that after so many years in the business) for his tune “Drinkin’ Time”.
John Jackson -17
Jackson will be serving basically as an accompanist for a stellar songwriter who, to my knowledge at least, hasn’t won any awards yet but who certainly should have and hopefully will one of these days: Marianne Girard. Both soulful and witty, she’s always a delight to listen to.
Normally there’s no cover or a pwyc policy for these sorts of events but if I were going and didn’t already own a copy of the various cds these talents have available, I’d certainly be taking a pocketful of cash along to make sure I had some of their music to take home with me.
