Alfie Smith

Alfie has been nominated for a dozen Hamilton Music Awards, including Best Male Vocalist and Best Guitarist. He’s a prolific songwriter, an accomplished performer and talented multi-instrumentalist.

Anne Lindsay

Anne was named Jazz Violinist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards and Solo Instrumentalist at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. She’s played on hundreds of Canadian and international recordings.

Black Suit Devil

Known for his melodic, thought-provoking songwriting, raspy vocals and passionate presence, Black Suit Devil has been compared to Ray LaMontagne, Tom Waits and Chris Cornell.

Brian Blain

One of the “elder statesmen” of the Toronto blues community, Brian has been a connector of musicians through his “Campfire Jams” and his work behind the scenes, for which he received the 2020 “Blues Booster of the Year” Maple Blues Lifetime Achievement Award.

Brian Morgan

Brian is a fiddler, bassist and guitar player whose musical experiences have included stints in a tuxedo-clad, lounge lizard quartet. He recently release some original songs on the album “Curve of the Earth.

Camie

Camie received  the 2022 Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. She has enchanted audiences with her delicate queer-feminist croonings, rich vocal tones, and lush poetic imagination.

Carmen Toth

Carmen is a Toronto singer-songwriter with a power pop sound reminiscent of the 1980s and ‘90s. Her voice and relatable lyrics have drawn comparisons to Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper and Kate Bush.

Chris Birkett

A producer, arranger, and sound engineer on many award-winning international projects, Chris is an accomplished guitarist and a prolific songwriter, and a creator of six albums of his own music.

D’Arcy Wickham and Son

Since the early 1970s as a guitarist for the Ian Thomas band, D’Arcy has been part of the Toronto music scene. He’s the winner of a Canadian Folk Music Award in the Songs for the Heart category for Feather Fingers.

Danny Marks

The guitar playing man on the radio, Danny is the host of BLUZ.FM on Saturday nights on JAZZ FM91. His Toronto musical roots go back to 1960s Canadian rockers Edward Bear.

David Celia Band

Once a sideman guitarist for Ian & Sylvia Tyson, David is an astonishing guitar player, known for his spontaneously driven live performances. His original songs are filled with warm sentiment and sometimes mixed with humour.

David Essig

David started out 50 years ago as a hired-gun blues guitarist. Today, he’s known as one of Canada’s most enduring and literate singer-songwriters. On festival stages, David is a songwriter and storyteller with a difference.

David Laronde

David was an Indigenous Songwriter of the Year nominee at the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards. His music is a fresh take on heartbreak, loneliness, love, hope and joy, with a cool summer breeze in the background.

Garnetta Cromwell & DaGroovmasters

Garnetta & Dagroovmasters are a high energy soul and rhythm and blues band. They competed at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2023.  Garnetta performed in the Women Blues Revue at Massey Hall in November 2022.

Glen Hornblast

Glen’s tunes range from folk and blues to country, with a dash of jazz for good measure. His sound is sweet and mellow, and his voice floats over the melodies, weaving a magic spell.

Graham Lindsey

The 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards winner in the Instrumental Performer of the Year category, Graham brings a deep respect to the traditions that inform his inventive Celtic tunes. He’s known for his energetic playing of mandolin, tenor banjo and guitar.

Harpin’ Norm Lucien

Harpin’ Norm emerged on the roots music scene with a pocketful of harmonicas and soon after was in demand for live shows and in recording studios. In the style of ‘60s folk, his heartfelt, toe tapping tunes look at love and societal issues.

Hilario Duran

A keyboard lion with taste and style, Hilario explores deep into the entire spectrum of Afro-Cuban music. His latest album, Contumbao, received a  Juno Award nomination in the Jazz album Solo category.

Howard Gladstone/ The GladTones

Howard’s latest project, The GladTones, is a suite of original songs for children of all ages, performed with beautiful harmonies by members of the Gladstone family. These are songs described by listeners as “in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, with harmonies by the McGarrigle Sisters.”

Isabel & the Uncommons

Isabel has won audiences through her timeless songs. In the past two years, Isabel has released three singles and award-winning music videos. Her music video Distance was featured at the Female Eye Film Festival and at Folk in Film Festival at the 2022 Folk Music Ontario conference.

JESSA (aka Jessica Stuart)

If you haven’t heard Jessica yet through her Best Album win at the Independent Music Awards, her five songs in the finals of the Canadian Songwriting Competition, or the CBC documentary about her time living in Japan as a child, then you’ll get to know her through her appearance at Winterfolk.

Joey O’Neil

Joey has honed her nostalgic folk sound over a decade of Klondike winters. Bewitching audiences across the country with songs from her critically acclaimed sophomore album Ever Ahead, her performance has been called “absolutely touching, even a little heartbreaking.”

Kevin Breit

A guitarist, Kevin has recorded with Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash, k.d. Lang, Cassandra Wilson, Jane Siberry and Serena Ryder. He’s featured on 10 Grammy-winning albums. He’s won a Maple Blues Award, Gemini Award, National Jazz Award, Canadian Folk Music Award and two Junos.

Laura Fernandez

Laura’s 2010 release, Un Solo Beso, produced by Billy Bryans, is a celebration of her Spanish roots and Latin influences. In 2020, she released a collection of songs titled Okay, Alright, which she co-produced with Grammy-winning producer Peter J. Moore.

Laura Hubert Band

Laura has been a steady force in Toronto’s music scene for the past 25 years, singing her soulful interpretations of vintage blues, jazz and western swing. Her new CD, One Night in Kensington, was produced by Molly Johnson.

Mandy Goodhandy

Mandy Goodhandy, aka Amanda Taylor, sings torch songs and ballads, She keeps it light between songs with comedic patter. She has a background in musical theatre and cabaret.

Melanie Peterson

With her blend of smart folk and pop, Melanie received the Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting award from The Great American Songwriting Competition. She recently opened for Pursuit of Happiness at The Sound of Music Festival in Burlington, Ont.

Myke Mazzei

A Canadian acoustic slow-core and hummably melodic singer-songwriter, Myke is known as a weaver of harmony and a rhythm-guitar accompanist with a tendency to noodle. He performs both covers and originals with The Bad Apples.

Noah Zacharin

Acknowledged guitar master, songwriter and poet, Noah has recorded nine solo albums and worked as producer and/or instrumentalist on some 65 recordings by artists across North America.

Ori Dagan

Jazz singer-songwriter Ori Dagan’s entertaining bass-baritone brings a sweet sense of swing to everything he does, whether he’s interpreting a standard, spinning a pop tune on its head or introducing his own originals.

He’s the winner of the 2022 Great American Song Contest.

Paul Mills

Best known as a folk record producer — over 200 albums including Stan Rogers, Ron Hynes and Sharon Lois & Bram —Paul is also an accomplished guitar player and singer with a repertoire consisting of a variety of folk and roots-based music.

Quarrington and Adams

Quarrington (Tony) and Adams (Zoey) are an entertaining duo. With Tony’s eloquent guitar and Zoey‘s heartfelt vocalizing, they range freely in style from jazz and folk to country and Latin tunes.

Robert Priest

Robert has achieved bestseller status as a songwriter and a poet. The rock ballad, Song Instead of a Kiss, which he co-wrote with Alannah Myles. shot to #1 in Canada. His co-write with Indigenous balladeer Julian Taylor, They Tried to Bury Us, has received over 200,000 plays on Spotify. 

Sarah Beatty

Bandit Queen, Sarah’s latest release, chronicles women at the leading edge of social norms, graces, and allowances. It peaked at #1 on Canada’s Roots charts, became a staple in Top 30 charts across the country, and appeared in the Earshot Top 20.

Shawn Lawrie and Kendall Kiddie

This duo performs high-energy percussive folk-rock songs.

Shawn is a singer-songwriter known for his emotional singing and percussive, rhythmic acoustic guitar work. Kendall brings a keen sense of rhythmic drive to his playing with Shawn.

Tania Joy

Tania brought increased attention to Black Lives Matter with Planks and Marietta, which won her Songwriter of The Year at the 2021 Oshawa Music Awards (OMA). Her release “I Will Stand” was nominated for a 2022 OMA Award for Album of The Year.

Tannis Slimmon with Lewis Melville

Tannis is a “breathtaking vocalist with a bright and angelic disposition” (Exclaim), with three solo albums and vocal appearances on numerous others, including those by Willie P. Bennett and David Francey. She’ll be joined by her partner/producer/co-writer/multi-instrumentalist Lewis Melville.

Taylor Abrahamse

A Paul Simon/Jim Carrey crossbreed, Taylor breaks the rules with his hook-laden pop. Since 2020, he’s become a Kerrville New Folk Winner, written for film & TV, and performed extensively in the U.S. and Canada.

The Vaudevillian

The old-fashioned gentleman Jitterbug James and Sweet Norah Spades perform jugband ragtime blues from the 1930s. “The jugband tunes from the award-winning 1930’s band, The Vaudevillian make you get off your doggone caboose and do the lindy hop!”

Toney Springer

Guitarist Toney Springer, aka Wild T, has hung with the best of them, including David Bowie and Jeff Healey. Moving to Toronto from Trinidad in his early teens,Toney was voted best guitarist at the Canadian Black Music Awards.

Tyler Ellis

Tyler’s co-write with Julian Taylor, 100 Proof, was nominated for a 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award (CFMA) in the Single of the Year category. He received a 2019 CFMA in the Songs From the Heart category for Pick You Up, another co-write with Julian.