guitar Archives | Mariposa Folk Festival

RéVeillons: Amuse-toi bien!

Posted on April 17, 2015

reveillons Québecois quartet, RéVeillons, sweeps audiences off their feet with rousing arrangements that are rooted in the traditional, yet are curiously avant garde.

With stunning musicianship, and tunes that lilt, howl and rumble, their music is like comfort food for the aural senses.

They are four cool dudes who will dance you to the soul of Québecois music, and demonstrate what joie de vivre truly means.

Playing bodhran, concertina, guimbarde, guitar, banjo, fiddle, and even suitcase, they step, stomp, sing and harmonize with swaggering panache.

This is a melodic, percussive, stirring sound that will get your spirit moving, toes tapping and hips swinging.

Amuse-toi bien!

Celtic Music for Purists and Modern Ears: Poor Angus

Posted on March 23, 2015

poorAngus Poor Angus interprets the music of past and present, performing original and traditional Scottish, Irish and East Coast pieces, and transforming them into thoroughly original, dynamic and entertaining arrangements.

This collection of five talented musicians expresses profound admiration for Celtic music in a manner that excites both traditional purists and modern audiences.

Featuring masterful highland and uilleann piping, tin whistles, fiddling, bodhran, guitar, mandolin, and bass, they’re a stirring group of players is also known for strong vocal harmonies.

These guys are the life of the party.

They always get feet stomping, dancers hoofing it, and audiences roaring for more.

Celtic Music for Purists and Modern Ears: Poor Angus

Posted on March 23, 2015

This collection of five talented musicians expresses profound admiration for Celtic music in a manner that excites both traditional purists and modern audiences.

Featuring masterful highland and uilleann piping, tin whistles, fiddling, bodhran, guitar, mandolin, and bass, they’re a stirring group of players is also known for strong vocal harmonies.

These guys are the life of the party.

They always get feet stomping, dancers hoofing it, and audiences roaring for more.

Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band Romping Through Mariposa

Posted on January 15, 2015

jugBand There’s something special about a jug band!

It’s like comfort food, tunefulness, history and fun all rolled together into one entertaining, wholesome package.

The Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band is this and more, with their original tunes in the style of the jug bands of the 1920s, plus some old-time, ragtime, and music of other bygone eras as well.

The band features five fine performers that juggle duties between guitar, kazoo, banjolin, violin, washtub, washboard, banjitar, cello, banjo, tuba, fiddle, vocals, and jug, of course.

Their first album, Tri-City Stomp, released on CD, vinyl and via download, is a musical romp through tunes and ditties that will really get you’re your juices flowing.

They’re coming to Mariposa Folk Festival this summer. Check it out!

A Joyful, Foot Stomping, Energetic Musical Experience – Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys

Posted on December 19, 2014

godie The exhilarating live show of Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys will enthrall you with engaging, sometimes jaw-dropping, stagecraft and showmanship.

With flavors of traditional bluegrass and roots music, bolstered by stunning musicianship, these guys are literally taking the world by storm, and making their way to Mariposa’s stages via numerous stops in Australia and the U.K.

Featuring fiddle, feet, vocals, bass, drums, percussion, mandolin, banjo guitar and pedal steel guitar, these four blazing musicians know how to turn up the heat and really get a place hopping.

It’s a joyful, foot stomping, energetic musical experience, and one you surely don’t want to miss!

Check out our Gordie MacKeeman & His Rhythm Boys storyboard on Pinterest. Click on Follow to get all of the Mariposa Pinterest updates.

My Sweet Patootie – Two Parts Exemplary Musicianship, One Part Vaudeville Comedy

Posted on May 22, 2014

This contemporary folk duo from Los Angeles sports a fresh sound with beautifully harmonized vocals, Acoustic roots group, My Sweet Patootie, brings twining vocal harmonies, monstrous finger style guitar, fiddle, percussion and abundant charisma together in one perfect package.

Complete with tall tales and corny jokes, they deliver a modern-day show that has been described as “two parts exemplary musicianship, one part vaudeville comedy”.

Their upbeat show is a carnival ride with good-time finger-snapping tunes and carefully placed heartfelt ballads.

Their vintage-style song writing is rooted in folk and Americana.

Throw in a penchant for light-hearted satire and a love of old-time artists, and you get a sound they liken to “Green Acres for the New Millennium”.

Pacific Curls: Put Your Finger on the Pulse of a Global Sound

Posted on May 12, 2014

pacificCurls Experiencing a Pacific Curls performance has been described as putting your finger on the pulse of a global sound.

This talented trio has an impressive repertoire featuring the ukulele, cajon (percussion instrument), various other percussive instruments, fiddle, Taonga pūoro (traditional instruments of the Māori people), guitar, stomp box, and kalimba.

With vocals in English, Te Reo Māori (Māori language), and Rotuman (indigenous language of a South Pacific island group), lifted up by backbeat Pacific rhythms, vivacious fiddle playing and evocative Māori instrumentation, Pacific Curls have pioneered a fusion sound that seamlessly blends their indigenous roots.

While their music defies classification, the joy it evokes is universally understood.

Neo Folk Indie String Band – The BelleRegards

Posted on April 25, 2014

belleRegards With a pinch of bluegrass, a dash of rockabilly, and a dollop of neo folk, this 4-piece string band cooks up high-energy live shows, foot-stomping rhythms, trad breaks, and good humour.

Influenced by artists ranging from Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, to Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, The Clash and Fleetwood Mac, The BelleRegards serve-up something for every musical taste, with a heaping helping of indie edge on the side.

Led by a duo of singer-songwriter vocalists, the band’s sound is spiced-up by guitars, mandolin, harmonica, slapped and bowed upright bass, and old-timey fiddle.

They’re good, new-fashioned, foot-stompin’ fun, and we know you’ll find their sound simply ‘delicious’.

Labour Songs Have Never Sounded Better: Maria Dunn Joins The Mariposa Line-Up

Posted on April 9, 2014

mariaDunn Often compared to Woody Guthrie for her keen social awareness and unvarnished tunes about the lives of working people, Maria Dunn draws deeply on the folk tradition of storytelling through song.

Melding North American roots music with her Scottish-Irish heritage, her music celebrates the resilience and grace of regular folk.

Her recordings have been received with high critical praise including Piece by Piece (2012), a collection of songs about the resilience and grace of immigrant women working at a Canadian clothing factory over its 93-year history.

Labour songs have a special place in folk music, and this gifted singer-songwriter, guitarist and accordionist, does the genre great justice.

Check out our Maria Dunn story board on Pinterest. While you’re there, click on Follow Board to get updates.

Zachary Lucky is Mariposa Bound

Posted on April 8, 2014

zacharyLucky Hearing Zachary Lucky’s songs, it would seem impossible to separate the singer-songwriter from his prairie origins.

Before finding folk music, this grandson of country music artist Smilin’ Johnny Lucky, was a member of two pop bands.

Still only in his mid 20s, Zachary Lucky already has six releases to his credit. On his latest release, The Ballad Of Losing You, there is an inherent shift. As the album title suggests, Lucky has constructed an earnest and personal narrative about the uncertainty of loss and of transformation.

According to No Depression, “Lucky’s songs have lived lifetimes. They sit you down, tell you their stories and heighten your senses to the wonders of nature, love and self”.

His voice is authentic and rich, with a rustic timbre. His guitar playing is easy and natural. It’s a perfect pairing for the particular brand of folk of this artist who is established, yet emerging as a true original.

Check out our Zachary Lucky story board on Pinterest. While you’re there, click on Follow Board to get updates.

Virtuoso Experimenter Trevor Gordon Hall Bringing His Unique Musical Styling to Mariposa

Posted on March 25, 2014

trevorGordon An acoustic instrumentalist, Trevor Gordon Hall could be called virtuoso experimenter.

He collaborated on the redesign of an instrument called the kalimba so that it could be mounted on his guitar.

With this unique pairing of instruments, and compositions ranging in style from driving rhythms to soft melodic phrases, he has caught the attention of some pretty impressive people.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Graham Nash, says Trevor’s music is both soothing and challenging.

Two of his albums were produced by 9-time Grammy winning producer Joe Nicolo of James Taylor, Billy Joel, and Bob Dylan fame.

And, his music has been featured on various radio stations and television networks.

Check out our Trevor Gordon Hall story board on Pinterest. While you’re there, click on Follow Board to get updates.

Rough and Rowdy Union Duke Hitting Mariposa Stages

Posted on May 15, 2013

roughRowdy This dynamic folk act bridges the gap from big city rock to country bluegrass with entwining, rambling banjos, soaring vocal harmonies, plucking electric guitars, and a fast, heel stompin’ beat. Their rough and rowdy dynamic, strong stage presence, and great tunes make them a real crowd pleaser at clubs and festivals. You have to see these five guys live, with their truckload of stirring folk rock, to understand how really very good they are. Their two well-received albums, Bandits & Bridges (2013) and One and Two (2012), also drive that point home. This is one band you don’t want to miss.