World Music & Arts Festival

The inimitable sound of Jackson Hollow must be experienced to be described, and even then, words fall short. This is what happens when four of the industry’s finest from British Columbia, Canada get together to create a traditional bluegrass blend of heart-wrenching lead vocals and dead-on harmonies backed by instrumental talent.  Described as having a voice that “stops traffic”, the group’s co-founder is lead vocalist Tianna Lefebvre, a 4-time BC Country Music Association Award winner – including the Female Vocalist of the Year and the Horizon Award winner – who has performed with renowned artists such as Shania Twain, Michelle Wright, and Russell deCarle. 

Qairo is a fiery and dynamic ensemble that combines the emotional charged vocals and pulsing rhythms of flamenco with the infectious melodies and ear-popping tonalities of the Mediterranean diaspora. From Spain to Turkey (with stops along the way), Qairo is music for dancing — no matter where you’re from. It’s Turkish micro-tones played on a saxophone, original flamenco verses “sung” by a clarinet, Balkan rhythms punctuated by Andalucian guitar, and flamenco footwork pounded out like improvised jazz. Qairo is guitar, oud, clarinet, saxophone, drums, electric bass, cante (flamenco song) and baile (flamenco dance) acting like they belong on stage together — and pulling it off.

Blues Man Murray Porter’s music career has taken him all over the world for the last 35+ years. He’s a proud Mohawk man from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in southern Ontario, who now lives on Squamish Nation territory in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Barney and his band, The Legendary Hearts, recorded and toured extensively in Canada through the late ‘80s and ‘90s. They sold over a half a million records, won a Juno, and were a staple on Canadian radio. In 2000, Barney traded in his rock and roll life for that of a cattle rancher in the Cariboo region of central British Columbia, deciding to step away from the music business treadmill, put some blisters on his fingers, and tour less frequently.

Take the name Kitty and the Rooster, and combine it with the fact guitarist Noah Walker and drummer Jodie Ponto wear chicken and cat masks in their promo shots, and one might expect a barnyard version of Slipknot. Wrong. Because those things can be sweaty under stage lights, the masks tend to come off quickly as the duo unleashes a retro-spectacular sound that slots in nicely with Southern Culture on the Skids, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, and the Reverend Horton Heat.