Here’s a link to a show review from Dunville Ontario, from the Dunville Chronicle…

http://dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2677611

On the day that this Grapevine hits the streets, there’s a grand “We Love Lovis” benefit concert taking place at the Festival Theatre. Heather Kelday will arrive just in time to participate…

Arrive from where? Well, well, well. It appears that Heather, over the last few years, has accumulated quite a following in Ontario. She plays shows in Toronto and other hot spots several times a year. With her latest release, “Hitchin’ Post” she’ll appear in many festivals this summer, including, but not limited to, the Deep Roots Music Festival and the Folk Harbour Festival in Lunenburg.

The Hupman Brothers, who just released a brand new, smoking CD titled “Countin’ Quarters”, toured with Matt Andersen earlier this year. That trip brought them as far as the murky waters of the Pacific Ocean, dishin’ out blues, Valley style, in the west-most provinces. Of course you’ll be able to catch them at the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro and many other great events this year. Check their calendar.

I also saw John Tetrault performing at the Jazz Festival in Toronto, where I also saw Coco Love Alcorn, Ian Sherwood. Around the end of June, Thugs at Bay, another Wolfville ensemble, played a string of 15 shows in New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. Bluegrass guitarist Darrin Beaton was seen performing in Ontario this summer, including shows in Collingwood, St. Catherines, Toronto as well as the Cicadafest on the Niagara Peninsula.

It appears that the rest of Canada is slowly noticing and appreciating the musical talent from Wolfville and the Annapolis Valley. It’s sort of funny when you hang out in Ontario and run into people and Festival organizers who know very well who the Hupman Brothers are.  And folks are coming to Wolfville to hear music, to wine and dine, and to enjoy stylings like nowhere else on the planet. No wonder I have so much fun around here!

Yes, we (t@b) left the ville of the wolf on Friday late afternoon and went to Antigonish, where we played a short set on Saturday morning for a women’s solstice celebration. Jan McKay, Shauntay Grant, Emmy Alcorn, Molly Thomason, Jess and Greg and many others were performing as well. Note: I was one of only three men in a great hall filled with women only. I had dressed my left arm in drag, hoping that all those woman wouldn’t notice. The other two daring male specimens were Fred, the sound guy and Greg, accompanist for his partner Jess. The show went great. We sold a bunch of CD’s, made a bunch of new contacts and many new friends.

We hung about town until early afternoon with our trumpeteer friend Caleb Hamilton, before leaving for our evening gig at the sessions cafe in Rothesay, NB. Now that’s a place! or maybe I should say, was, a place. Sobey’s who seems to own the place where the venue is located, is tearing down the building and the future of the venue is unknown. Jason Myers and his beautiful voice (accompanied by Ariana‘s violin) opened for us to a fairly small crowd composed mostly of his friends, staff, and their friends. It was strange playing the second show on June 20 in a different province, (our first ever NB show btw,) but the show went over great. We sold four or five CD’s to about 16 people, met most of them, in fact, and had a great time at a famous venue…

It’s been a good nap at Jason’s Cabin and mostly eating clicks ever since. Yesterday we gave Quebec about six and a half hours of our lives before landing in Cornwall for sleep, shower, stocktaking etc…. Today (Monday, June 22) we’ll be divin’ into the big ugly, to meet our niece Bianca from Switzerland, Jazzmin, Sara, Hanspeter, Amin and lots of friends. Family day! Yay!