Manitoba Music
Manitoba Roots Run Deep at Folk Alliance in Kansas City
The west of Canada is heading to Kansas City next month! Three artists from Manitoba are gathering with acts from across Western Canada to showcase at Folk Alliance International (FAI) conference under the BreakOut West banner. The premier professional development conference focuses on folk, roots, and traditional music in North America, the 35th annual event takes over the Missouri capital, February 1 - 5.
The four-day showcase is the latest in a series of partnered events with Manitoba Music, SaskMusic, Alberta Music, and MusicBC, with a lineup boasting over a dozen acts. Artists and their teams will also have a chance to build their business networks and connect with over 2,500 registrants from 20 countries.
The performers from Manitoba performing at the BreakOut West spotlight showcases include singer/songwriter Madeleine Roger, acoustic chamber folk act Raine Hamilton String Trio, and powerhouse roots duo The Small Glories. Hamilton will also have an official FAI showcase. Read more about this year's performers and check out the schedule at www.breakoutwest.ca/folkalliance
Manitoba has a strong reputation for its roots scene. Homegrown talent -- including many acts who've graced the FAI showcase rooms -- have built solid careers, garnering attention from major media, and touring to sold-out halls throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and beyond.
Bringing Manitoba music to new markets and intensifying business activity in existing markets is a key component of Manitoba Music's trade and business development activities. Manitoba Music's market development initiatives are funded by Manitoba Film & Music, and FACTOR through the financial support of the Government of Canada and Canada's private radio broadcasters.
Resonant, acoustic chamber folk with an otherworldly edge, and a lyric presence that cuts deep. Prism-clear vocals + strings, reaching out beyond the earthly.
A classical violinist and musicologist by training, Raine and their string trio offer string-quartet-like arrangements of Raine’s original songs. They call this chamber-folk, a hybrid of the classical tradition of string quartet chamber music, with the singer songwriter folk that comes so naturally to Raine.
Raine’s latest work, the full-length album Brave Land (2021-22), is a concept album about mountains, and the courage, wisdom, and otherworldly connection they represent. Here, as in Raine’s 2018 award winning album Night Sky, the songs are set to intricate and seasoned arrangements for guitar, violin, cello, and double bass.
SHOWCASES
Thursday, Feb 2
10:30pm - BreakOut West Solo Showcase in Room #641
12:30am - BreakOut West Trio Showcase in room #641
Friday, Feb 3
11:00pm - Music Ontario & Friends Showcase
Saturday, Feb 4
8:15pm - Official Showcase in the Liberty Room
10:30pm - Mavens Revue Showcase
1:00am - Starry Nights Showcase
Madeleine Roger is a singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, MB. While deftly accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, it is her artistry as a songwriter and storyteller that can silence a room, uniting her brilliantly crafted lyrics with stunning melodies that linger long after they are sung. Her critically-acclaimed debut album Cottonwood earned her nominations for Songwriter of the Year (CFMAs) and Producer of the Year (WCMAs), and combines the elegant storytelling of folk traditions with the grounded feel of roots music.
She recently recorded her sophomore album Roseberry Midnight with producer Josh Kaufman (Anais Mitchell, Bonny Light Horseman, The Hold Steady, Bob Weir) in Kingston NY, which will be released in 2023. It is a deeply personal body of work examining every nook and cranny of love, loss, and forgiveness.
SHOWCASES
Wednesday, Feb 1
10:30pm - BreakOut West Showcase in Room #641
1:10am - Alberta Room Showcase
Friday, Feb 3
8:15pm - Official Showcase w/ The Fretless
12:30am - Private showcase w/ The Fretless
Saturday, Feb 4
11:30pm - All Music Starts Local (In the Round)
1:00am - Maven's Revue Showcase
Roots duo The Small Glories are Cara Luft & JD Edwards, a musical tour-de-force partnership planted on the Canadian Prairies. With a stage banter striking a unique balance between slapstick and sermon, these veteran singer-songwriters have a way of making time disappear, rooms shrink, and audiences feel as though they are right there on the stage with the band. On record, Luft and Edwards take the musical synergy honed from hundreds of shows together, and expand it into a new soundscape amplified by pounding drums and other textural embellishments which only reinforce the magic of their innate chemistry — a chemistry labeled the “Lennon-McCartney syndrome,” by Americana UK, writing, “Some things just work together... to witness a performance by The Small Glories is a rare opportunity to experience that indefinable quality that creates perfection.” Luft and Edwards duplicate and reinforce each others’ many strengths and yet allow their distinct personalities to shine through, resulting in a live show that is as heartwarming as it is hilarious, as finger-picking proficient as it is relatable, and as Canadian as, well... it’s very Canadian. But that hasn’t stopped ‘em from winning over audiences from Nashville to the Australian Outback. The duo won "Artist of the Year" at the International Folk Awards in New Orleans 2020, with their highly anticipated sophomore album “Assiniboine & The Red” garnering 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards, a JUNO Award nomination, Critics' Choice for 'Album of the Year' in Penguin Eggs Magazine, and captured the #1 Folk/Roots album spot on the national earshot! radio charts.
SHOWCASES
Friday, Feb 3
8:15pm - Washington Park Place 3
11:30pm - BreakOut West in Room #641
BreakOut West Official Showcase
BreakOut West, Alberta Music, Music BC, Manitoba Music, and SaskMusic are returning to Folk Alliance International this year with a stellar lineup of artists!
BREAKOUT WEST OFFICIAL SHOWCASE
Liberty Room
Saturday, February 4
6:00 PM The McDades
6:45 PM Ben Sures
7:30 PM Suzie Ungerleider
8:15 PM Raine Hamilton String Trio
9:00 PM Harry Manx
9:45 PM Berk Jodoin