The Halifax Urban Folk Festival is marking its 15th anniversary this year, and it’s celebrating with an incredible lineup of singer-songwriters from local and abroad.
American rock musician Alejandro Escovedo returns to the stage at The Carleton on Saturday, Oct. 5, having done so for the festival’s fifth anniversary. Also playing The Carleton throughout the week is Lucy MacNeil from the Barra MacNeils on Wednesday, Oct. 2, JUNO-award-winner Rose Cousins on Thursday, Oct. 3, and Dartmouth-based singer-songwriter Adam Baldwin on Friday, Oct. 4, amongst several others.
Along with these headlining shows, there will be several song circles held throughout the week at The Carleton, featuring Jimmy Rankin, Leeroy Stagger, Christina Martin, Reeny, Haliey Smith, Cory Tetford, Linda McLean, Mick Davis and Mo Kenney, plus Paul Murphy accompanied by Wintersleep and Postdata. Song circles will also open up the Adam Baldwin and Alejandro Escovado headline gigs.
“I think we did a great job of programming stuff this year,” says long-time HUFF organizer Mike Campbell. “I put The Carleton lineup together, which I’m very confident in, and for the first time…we’re only really flying in one international artist because we’ve got enough homegrown talent to headline the final weekend.”
Previous years would see a few international artists flown in for the festival and put together all-star bands—made up of musicians in the Halifax music community. This time around, only one band had to be put together for Escovedo’s headlining performance.
“I thought, for the first time, let’s bring Alejandro back,” explains Campbell, who introduced him to Halifax a decade ago. “We sold the thing out almost immediately. He brought his wife with him at the time, whose name was Nancy Rankin… Nancy and Alejandro were so much fun last time, and we've now broken him in this region, so let’s bring him back again.”
Other venues across the city will feature their own selection of artists. Local bands Fluke, The Orchids and Sigsour will play at Radstorm on Saturday, Oct. 5. The Marquee will see Canadian garage punk band Nobro take the stage on Friday, Oct. 4. Cape Breton’s own Rankin MacInnis and the Broken Reeds will be headlining a show at The Basement on Thursday, Oct. 3 alongside country artist Jamie Fontaine.
Campbell credits Troy Arseneault with getting together the lineups for the other venues. While some will inevitably question why rock and punk music are making their way into the folk festival, Arseneault says it’s all about bringing in acts people love to listen to.
“All those songs, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing metal, funk, jazz, whatever you’re writing, you’re a songwriter,” says Arseneault. “These songs have lyrics. They have stories. Just because they’re not played on acoustic guitar doesn’t mean there’s no sound there.”
While some of the shows have already sold out, most notably Escavado and Baldwin’s performances, there’s still plenty more to look forward to.
“I encourage people to go to the Halifax Urban Folk Festival site, take a look at the shows available, and take a chance to hear and see something,” says Campbell. “I one-hundred-percent guarantee that there isn’t anything that’s on any of our stages that will suck.”