Halifax is about to get its annual dose of folk as the Halifax Urban Folk Festival rolls into town later this month. Now in its eight year the festival boasts a healthy number of free shows, a whole series of songwriter circles, the launch of Floodland’s new album and performances from some of our favourite ECMA winners.
HUFF recently announced several new additions to their 2017 line-up: Nathan Wiley, Rose Cousins, Spencer Burton, Les Deuxluxes, Dave Sampson, Floodland, and scrapes. They’ll be joining the previously announced John K Samson, Tift Merritt, Moe Berg, Art Bergmann, Ron Hawkins, Skydiggers, and Leif Vollebekk.
The festival will also include quite a few free shows for your listening pleasure. Don’t be fooled by the price tag either – these bands are top quality talents. Acts include some of our favourites like Halifax’s own Devarrow and Cape Breton’s Villages along with Spencer Burton, Oh Susanna, Megan Bonnell, Eugene Ripper, and more. These shows will be taking place at The Anchor, Tempo, The Loose Cannon, The Wooden Monkey, and the Stubborn Goat Waterfront Pavillion.
“We’ve always aspired to provide as much free entertainment as possible during the festival because part of our mandate is exposing as many people as we can to the joys of live music, especially those who might otherwise not be able to afford it,” says Mike Campbell, Artistic Director of HUFF. “It’s also a great way to introduce artists new to the city and hopefully build audiences for them in the future.”
Less free, but highly recommended, are East Coast Music Award winning bands like Hillsburn (Fan’s Choice Video Of The Year) and Like A Motorcycle (Rising Star Recording Of The Year).
The full 2017 line-up for HUFF includes Adam Makbain, Art Bergmann, Beauts, Ben Kunder, Camille Delean, Civil Wray, Dave Sampson, Devarrow, Devin Cuddy, Dusty Keleher, Eugene Ripper, Floodland, The Heavy Blinkers, Hillsburn, Huttch, John K. Samson, Kim Harris, Kris & Dee, Leif Vollebekk, Les Deuxluxes, Liam Corcoran, Like A Motorcycle, Megan Bonnell, Moe Berg, Nathan Wiley, No, It’s Fine, Oh Susanna, The Old Salts, The Olympic Symphonium, Owen Meany’s Batting Stance, Ron Hawkins, Rose Cousins, scrapes, Skydiggers, Skye Wallace, Spencer Burton, Stewart Leger, Thomas Matheson, Tift Merritt, Tommy Green Jr., Tyler Hache, Tyler Messick, Velvet Black, and Villages.
Halifax Urban Folk Festival runs from August 27th to September 3rd, 2017. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.