Today I’m joined by Joel Elliott. We talked about his roll as “bandmaster” with The Magic Machine and incorporating his love of musical theatre into their stage act. We also dove deep into the inner workings of the Folk Canada conference and how joining a band full of middle aged government workers influenced him to pursue a career in music.

The Magic Machine is playing May 22 at Night Oat with Cassidy Houston. Tickets available here.

Also, my album Vacated Shapes is now available to stream! Tap here to listen!

The Family Name (Ben & Jacob Matte) are a natural outgrowth from a musical family tree that finds its roots with the Everly Brothers, Smothers Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel, takes a bluegrass/newgrass detour along the way before branching out from the Milk Carton Kids to create their own unique, tight, familial sound.

What really surprised me was that The Family Name basically started from scratch, learning how to sing and play guitar & mandolin together only 6 years ago. It was a fateful booking mix-up that forced them to take a deep dive and learn 3 hours worth of material, developing and honing their tight sound on the fly.

The Family Name are featured along with Ethan Mitchell on the May 1st edition of CKCU Presents Friday Night Folk

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

Tap this link to purchase yours.

The Hard Folk podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon etc. or visit https://tr.ee/RweJx2PNii

Suzanne Nuttall has only been a part of the Ottawa music scene for a few years, but as I said in today’s show it’s felt like she’s been entrenched in the community for much longer.

Suzanne’s story is a great example for aspiring musicians to follow. She made the move to Ottawa from Toronto and put herself right out there, attending open stages and making connections with fellow musicians.

And Suzanne made sure to include those connections in her album release show at Night Oat (750 Gladstone) on April 9th, featuring Libby & Cal, Dawn Sev, Slo’ Tom, Erin Okrainec and Patrick Shanks. Tickets are available to purchase here.

The Hard Folk podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon etc. or visit https://tr.ee/RweJx2PNii