First, the workshops, which are some of my favourite parts of the weekend. Seeing bands share the stage & occasionally collaborating on the fly is always fun, and more than a few times I've discovered someone new because I was at a workshop to see a different band.
Saturday I arrived just in time for Dirty Windshields, which as you may be able to guess by the name, was Grant Lawrence and friends. Grant introduced the show, which was less "workshop" and more "variety show", and then was out between each of the acts to read stories from his books. Musicians included Dustin Bentall & Kendel Carson, Dawn Pemberton, Little Miss Higgins, and Donovan Woods, and they each played a couple songs, with a focus on the road or travelling. I would have liked to see a little bit of collaboration, or interaction, from the artists, even just everyone out for a song at the end (a Smugglers song, perhaps?) but I also understand that would have been tough to coordinate for a one-off workshop like this, and with so much talent on stage, it was still very enjoyable. Especially when Little Miss Higgins got the crowd to sing along to "Bargain Shop Panties" which was... equal parts awkward and hilarious.
From there, I caught a little bit of Gord Grdina's Haram next, the large band playing kind of a world fusion jazz vibe. Gord went from playing guitar to kneeling at the front of the stage, facing the band, basically conducting everyone. After that I watched some of Small Glories, the duo of Cara Luft and JD Edwards. They were fun storytellers -- in song and with their banter -- with a bit of a country-twang.
After that was a whiskey-soaked workshop featuring Petunia & The Vipers and Little Miss Higgins. Both had an upbeat and rocking vibe, which complimented each other perfectly. They frequently jammed with each other, especially the rhythm section and trumpet, joining in on most of the songs.
The first workshop for me on Sunday was Carole Pope, Skye Wallace, and Wallis Bird. Or, it was supposed to be, but Pope was unable to make it to the festival in the morning. Because of this, Wallace and Wallis ended up trade off a few songs each, going back and forth. Skye played some of her folkier material, armed with her acoustic guitar, but with no less ferocity than normal, as seen in her new song "Swing Batter" about a woman who murdered her abusive husband with an axe.
Wallis confirmed the ‘rumour’ Skye heard about her ripping the strings off her guitar the previous day, and ended up doing the same after her first song before jumping on the piano, and later playing one of my favourites from the workshop, an amazing one called "Deep Reveal", looping just her voice and thumps on the microphone for percussion.
There wasn’t too much musical interaction between the two (just some banter back and forth) until about with 10 minutes left, when they decided to do an impromptu song together, getting some requests from the crowd before settling on "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". I was already a big fan of Skye, and after the workshop I was sure to keep an eye (ear?) out for Wallis Bird in the future.
Following that was a workshop featuring Iskwé, Art Bergmann, Guy Davis, and Just Duets, but unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to the stage, so the quieter/stripped down/acoustic show was drowned out by some a nearby stage’s more bombastic sound. But while I didn’t catch much, but I did manage to hear a great rendition of "Soldier" by Iskwé, where many of the musicians on stage joined in, including some strings, for a beautiful version of the song.
Luckily, Iskwé was playing a workshop later that afternoon, with Quantum Tangle, which I made sure to see as my last thing on Sunday. Iskwé and the duo of Tiffany Ayalik and Grey Gritt mentioned being friends, but rarely having the chance to play or jam together, so both bands were quick to join in with the other, from the very first song where Ayalik provided some throat-singing for Iswke’s "Healers".
The name of the workshop was "Love is Love" which was fitting when Quantum Tangle played their song of the same name (after a brief demonstration on throat singing). Iskwé lead the crowd in a singalong for her song "The Unforgotten", and Quantum Tangle finished everything off with their single "Freeze, Melt, Boil".
It was probably the best and most "workshop-y" of the weekend, with nearly everyone on stage playing for all of the songs throughout, and the perfect way to end off Sunday, and the entire weekend.
