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Fast moving new year!

The precarity of our ever changing world needs some counterbalance and I suggest music as just that.

I’ve got lots of music to soothe the soul, reinforce our inherent connection with each other and the universe and also songs that look realistically at some of the many challenges we face, both personally and globally. Take Fast Freight Train, the newest single from my newest album Unseen Hands 12 songs 12 strings.

VIDEO LINK HERE

A still from the animated video for the song Fast Freight Train. Animation is by Andres Gutierrez.


Fast Freight Train is a rollicking wake up call, featuring my 12 string guitar improvisations and Roly Platt’s outstanding harmonica, comparing our world to a freight train out of control.  Musically, Ken is firmly in control, anchored by the solid rhythms of co-writer Bucky Berger on drums and Ben Whiteley on string bass and fine harmony singing of Ciceal Levy.  The message of this fast paced, bluesy number is unequivocal: we better find the brakes if we’re even going to slow down our runaway, man made climate catastrophe.

The single is officially released on January 20. Here’s the link to video with great animation by Andres Gutierrez. Leave a nice comment if you feel so inclined.

In February I’m delighted to be part of this year’s Winterfolk Blues and Roots Festival, Feb. 14, 15 & 16. I’ll be playing mostly on the Sunday. Ticket info is here https://www.winterfolk.com/wristbands/ Thanks to Brian Gladstone and all the volunteers for a great lineup and great way to enliven February right here in downtown Toronto at the good old Tranzac Club (Brunswick & Bloor).

Jackie Washington in the 1950’s

On February 21 at noon I will be giving a free concert at the Hamilton Public Library marking the 50th Anniversary of Jackie Washington Day in Hamilton. You can find more about that here. Jackie was a dear friend, great musician and over 50 years I had the pleasure of playing, recording and touring with Mose Scarlett, Jackie Washington and Ken Whiteley (Scarlett, Washington & Whiteley).

On February 28 I’m excited to be playing a concert of old jazz and blues at the Old Mill, 9 Old Mill Rd., Etobicoke, a short walk from the Old Mill subway station. I’ll have a great band of Richard Underhill (Shuffle Demons) on sax, Gary Craig (Bruce Cockburn, Colin Linden) on drums, Gord Mowat on string bass (The Dust Poets, the Beulah Band) and fabulous singer Ciceal Levy (Ken Whiteley, Tom Cochrane, etc.). You can get more information here.

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Christmas, Music, Light

It’s now the last month of the year, the darkest month in the northern hemisphere and a time to celebrate the light that lights us all. I will be participating in a number of special shows including in Ottawa (Dec. 12), Cobourg (Dec. 19), Stouffville (Dec. 20) and Toronto (Dec. 21) with the Sultan’s of String Christmas Caravan, 2 shows on Dec. 7 at Metropolitan Community Church, a celebration of light at Holy Blossom Temple Dec. 8 and the Sivananda Yoga Christmas celebration on Harbord St. in Toronto on Dec. 13.

My new album, Unseen Hands 12 songs 12 strings was celebrated in a great show at Hugh’s Room Live on Nov. 24 and you can get it here as a download or CD. If you are in the Toronto area and want to arrange to pick up a copy during the strike at Canada Post, email me at ken@kenwhiteley.com for details.

I will be part of a festive day of music and holiday spirit with HARK!, Metropolitan Community Church’s annual family-friendly Christmas concert, featuring two showtimes at 3 PM and 7 PM. For more information and tickets go here.

On Dec. 8 I will be part of a concert called “The Gifts of Light” at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. This will include choirs from Canadian Children’s Opera Company, the Robbins Hebrew Academy Choir and singers Julie Michaels and Kim Doolittle as well as myself. This will be a fund raiser for Covenant House, Canada’s largest provider of services to unsheltered and at risk young people. For more information and tickets go here.

It’s my very great pleasure to once again be a guest with Sultan’s of String Christmas Caravan! I have done this several times and it is always a spectacular show with high level musicianship, entertainment and fun. Details for each show are below.

Dec 12 Ottawa – Shenkman Arts Centre – 245 Centrum Blvd., Ottawa, ON, K1E 0A1

The Sultans of String with Rebecca Campbell, Saskia Tomkins, Aviva Chernick, Kristine St. Pierre, Ken Whiteley, Alberto Saurez

Promo Code CHOIR15 for 15% off!

https://shenkmanarts.ca/en/christmas-caravan

https://www.facebook.com/events/2299398777118834

Dec 19 Cobourg – Victoria Hall – 55 King St W, Cobourg, ON K9A 2M2 
The Sultans of String with Rebecca Campbell, Saskia Tomkins, Ken Whiteley, Alberto Saurez

https://tinyurl.com/Tix-Sultans-of-String

https://www.facebook.com/events/540150811794862

Dec 20 Stouffville – Lebovic Centre – 19 on the Park – 19 Civic Ave, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 1G5
The Sultans of String with Rebecca Campbell, Saskia Tomkins, Ken Whiteley, Alberto Saurez


https://tows.ticketpro.ca/en/pages/19onthePark_SoS

https://www.facebook.com/events/912932374039627

Dec 21 Toronto Hugh’s Room – NEW LOCATION – 296 Broadview Ave, Toronto, ON M4M 2G7
The Sultans of String with Rebecca Campbell, Saskia Tomkins, Aviva Chernick, Kristine St. Pierre, Ken Whiteley, Alberto Saurez, Amanda Martinez
Promo Code SOS20 for 20% off!
https://www.showpass.com/sultans-of-string-christmas-caravan-solstice-party/

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Unseen Hands 12 songs 12 strings

My new album, Unseen Hands 12 songs 12 strings is now available on all streaming services and for download. Musically anchored in my Laskin 12 string guitar, the project explores our place on this planet, in this universe in these times. From the soil beneath our feet to the distant stars I explore my own feelings of both wonder and profound concern. The first single is “Hole In The Clouds, the opening track and you can watch the video here.

Lyric video for the first single

As well as playing multiple instruments myself I had stellar support from Ben Whiteley and Gord Mowat on bass, Bucky Berger on drums, Sundar Vishwanathan on bansouri flute and soprano sax, Tom Sczesniak on accordion and great harmony singing from Ciceal Levy, Adrienne Mackenzie and Georgia Harmer.

I’ll be featuring songs from the new album at a special house concert in the Sudbury area on Saturday, Nov. 9. You can get tickets to that event here! This will be a special evening in an intimate space and if you come you won’t be disappointed.

There will be a special release concert on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2:00 p.m. at Hugh’s Room Live, 296 Broadview Avenue and I will be joined by guests Ciceal Levy, Garnetta Cromwell and Georgia Harmer, plus a rhythm section anchored by Bucky Berger on drums and percussion and Ben Whiteley on bass. This is part of my ongoing Sunday Gospel Matinee’s although on this occasion while the music I sing will be “spiritual” it won’t be traditional “gospel”. However Ciceal and Garnetta, both incredible singers, will provide some gospel fervour to the show and if you haven’t heard Georgia Harmer she is both a great songwriter and an incredible singer. Here is the link for tickets: https://www.showpass.com/ken-whiteley-gospel-matinee-3/

Ciceal Levy

Garnetta Cromwell
Georgia Harmer

I’m also proud to announce that my album “So Glad I’m Here” just got a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination as Best Traditional Singer. The awards will be presented next April.

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Looking forward and back ….

It’s been a great summer and I’m looking forward to a great fall. Highlights included a return to the Mariposa Folk Festival and the Kitchener Blues Festival plus album production of a project called Afro Métis Nation Anthem and nearing completion of a new album of my own.

My concert at Mariposa went very well with an Allstar band including Bucky Berger (drums), Ciceal Levy (vocals, percussion), Rob McLaren (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin) and Ben Whiteley (string bass). There was a great workshop called “That’s When I Need A Song” with Rick Fines, Colin Linden, Ellen Froese and Ben and I. I also got to participate in the tribute to Bruce Cockburn as he was inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame.

Ciceal Levy, Ben Whiteley, Ken Whiteley, Rob McLaren, Bucky Berger
Talking with Bruce Cockburn after the sound check for his Hall of Fame induction.
Ken Whiteley, Colin Linden, Ben Whiteley
Ken Whiteley, Rose Cousins, Caroline Brooks, Tom Wilson, Kerri Ough, Sue Passmore

I’m very excited about my new album, Unseen Hands – 12 songs 12 strings. As the title suggests, all 12 songs feature me playing 12 string guitar and there is lots more too! The recordings all speak to place in one way or another – from the little patch of ground in downtown Toronto where I live, a conversation with the moon, April in Paris, looking at the stars, the soil, the planet and how we all connect. As well as twelve string I play slide, tenor guitar, tenor mandolin, Hammond organ, vibraphone, pianos, washboard and sing harmony along with Ciceal Levy, Adrienne Mackenzie and Georgia Harmer singing. Ben Whiteley and Gord Mowat play bass, Bucky Berger plays drums, Tom Sczesniak is on accordion and Sundar Vishwanathan on bansouri flute and soprano sax. Watch for it’s release later this fall.

Ken Whiteley on his Laskin 12 string guitar.
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Return to Mariposa, Kitchener Blues

I’m very excited to be returning to the Mariposa Folk Festival, Tudhope Park, Orillia on July 6 and 7. My concert is 1 p.m. Saturday at the Estelle Klein Stage. I’ll have an all star band of Ben Whiteley (string bass), Bucky Berger (drums), Ciceal Levy (vocals and percussion) and Rob McLaren (guitars, banjo, mandolin, vocals).

It was 60 years ago that I went to my first Mariposa Folk Festival and my connection to the festival has changed my life.  In 1964 it was young, up and coming songwriters like Gord Lightfoot and Buffy St. Marie, traditional musicians like fiddler Jean Carignan and most importantly for me, blues musicians Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James and the Rev. Gary Davis.  My brother Chris and I first performed there in 1969 as “new songwriters” and wider audiences opened up for our group, The Original Sloth Band after we first played there in 1972.  I was on the board for 10 years and Estelle Klein, the longtime artistic director, was a great mentor to me.  Estelle had me as “program director” in 1976 and I was the artistic director of the festival in 1978 and 1980. In 2009 I was very honoured to be inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame.

My Saturday afternoon concert set at this years festival will, in part, look back at some of the performers who have touched me such as Bessie Jones, Jackie Washington, Bernice Reagon and Amos Garrett but will also include some of my newest songs that speak to our world today and the need for connection amidst the many challenges we face.  On Sunday 

On August 10, 11 I’ll be at the Kitchener Blues Festival in downtown Kitchener, ON. On Saturday my concert is at noon with Gord Mowat (string bass) and Ciceal Levy (vocals, percussion). On Sunday I’m doing a workshop on Blues & Gospel Harmony Singing with Ciceal Levy and David Wall.

Ciceal Levy, Ken Whiteley, Rosalyn Dennett, Gord Mowat
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From Jaffa Road to Sacred Steel!

Come out Saturday, March 2 for this great concert. Last fall I performed with Jaffa Road and Aviva Chernick at the new Hugh’s Room Live on Broadview and it was an awesome time. This time I will be one of their guests in this beautiful, timely concert at Metropolitan Community Church. Go to https://www.mcctoronto.com/mcc-toronto-concerts/ and you can purchase tickets.

I will be performing concerts and workshop over the Easter weekend (March 30, 31) at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram Camp in Val Morin, Quebec.

On Sunday, April 14, 2 p.m., at Hugh’s Room Live, Broadview Ave., Toronto, I will be presenting a special gospel show with the fabulous Nikki D. and the Sisters of Thunder. Nikki D. is one of the most exciting proponents of the style of music known as “Sacred Steel”. You have to hear the music she can generate from her lap steel guitar.

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Christmas concerts

I’ve got some special appearances between now and Christmas – a concert Dec. 16 at the Virginia United Church (Hwy. 48, east of Sutton) and concerts with the Sultans of String and their Christmas Caravan on Dec. 22, 23 at Kingston Road United Church, Toronto.

Here’s a little promo video I made for this concert, presented by Cedar Hedge Concert series and Matt Large Presents.

Sultans of String Christmas Caravan!

3x JUNO nominees/6x CFMA winning SULTANS OF STRING serve up Holiday Cheer & Goodwill for the Daily Bread Food Bank and the UNHCR with their Christmas CaravanShow!

TWO NIGHTS!  
Dec 22 & 23, 2023, 7:00pm

With Special Guests:
• Vocalist Rebecca Campbell (Jane Siberry, Ian Tamblyn)
• Folk Blues icon Ken Whiteley
• French chanteuse Kristine St-Pierre
• Cuban percussionist Alberto Suarez
• Nyckelharpa player Saskia Tomkins
• Latin Vocalist Amanda Martinez
• Indigenous Vocalist Shannon Thunderbird

WHERE:
Kingston Road Village Concert Series, 975 Kingston Rd, Toronto, ON M4E 1T1

TIX/INFO:
$35, https://kingstonroadvillageconcerts.eventbrite.com

Meanwhile So Glad I’m Here got a lovely review in the Whole Note magazine. They said, “Each of the nine songs is a treasure, but a highlight is the title track with Whiteley’s finger style guitar intro and Azad’s solo, which is a true stunner.”

You can order all my recordings including The Light of Christmas, So Glad I’m Here and all of my other recordings from the Store page of my website.

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“So Glad I’m Here” out, new single and special release concert

cover of album

The new recording which started as a collaboration with Sufi musician, Davod Azad and bassist George Koller is finally available! You can purchase physical copies or downloads right here. I’m excited by how the album has grown with the additions of a select number of additional singers and musicians. Watch for it wherever else you get your music. It’s making its way through the various streaming and download systems.

I’m also excited about a brand new single, an edited down version of “There’s A Candle” from the new album. The song was inspired by words of the 13th century Persian poet, Rumi. It invites us to ignite the flame of love in our hearts and let the light fill our soul. Clearly a needed message in these troubled and troubling times. It is my free download of the month at the bottom of this post! There is also a lyric video for the song you can veiw here.

We had a fabulous time at the first Sunday Gospel Matinee, Nov. 12, 2 p.m., at the new Hugh’s Room Live, 296 Broadview Ave., north of Dundas. The visionary world music ensemble Jaffa Road, incredible bassist George Koller and the wonderful Sharon Riley were all fantastic. I would love another opportunity to do this again!

Here is the single version of There’s A Candle from the album So Glad I’m Here. This version is only available here. You can download it by clicking on the three little buttons to the right of the speaker symbol.

“There’s A Candle”, based on a poem by Rumi, composed and performed by Ken Whiteley, with Davod Azad, tar, George Koller, string bass, Nagmah Farahmand, percussion
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Fall shows and a new album!

First up is a Whiteley Family show with brother Chris, son Ben and nephew Jesse at the Acoustic Harvest in Scarborough. Here’s where you can get tickets. This will be a wonderful and rare chance for the four of us to perform together. Chris Whiteley, master songwriter, guitarist, trumpet and harmonica player is mostly busy performing in the blues duo with his wife, Diana Braithwaite. Jesse Whiteley is busy playing piano with all kinds of projects including Raoul Bhaneja, Kristin Lindell and his own gigs around town. Bassist Ben Whiteley’s efforts this fall are on a brand new The Weather Station recording as well as other projects with Georgia Harmer and Emma Worley among others. Acoustic Harvest is a great concert venue.

At the brand new Hugh’s Room Live I’ll be premiering my new album “So Glad I’m Here” on Sunday, Nov. 12 @ 2 p.m. The new location at 296 Broadview Ave. is a great spot. The concert will run on the format of my long standing gospel shows that I have done with Hugh’s Room since 2002. I hope to be joined on stage by none other than the visionary world music ensemble Jaffa Road.

cover photo of “So Glad I’m Here” by Colin Medley

I have played around with different titles for my new album but have decided on “So Glad I’m Here”. That was the first, very well received single from the album and it seemed to encapsulate the moment. I will have more information soon on it’s release.

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So Glad I’m Here and …

I’ve just released a new single, “So Glad I’m Here” which is a track from my forthcoming album “Bigger Than That” to be released in the fall of 2023. The album features the brilliant Sufi musician Davod Azad as well as contributions from many others. “So Glad I’m Here” is based in a wonderful traditional Georgia Sea Island song that I learned initially from Bessie Jones. Like other tracks on the album it started as a jam session with Davod on the Iranian stringed instrument the tar and George Koller on string bass. I’m playing my custom Laskin 6 string. Later I added harmony vocals, accordion, percussion and harmonica. The single and the album it is from are expressions of being in the present and celebrating connection. It is now available on all the normal digital outlets!

Davod Azad, Ken Whiteley & George Koller at the sessions

I will be performing a concert and workshop at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram Ranch in Woodbourne, N.Y. as part of a celebration that straddles the Canada Day weekend and the 4th of July. This is the ashram where I did my yoga teacher training in 2011 and the song “Bigger Than That” came to me at the end of that process. There will be a number of wonderful teachers and presenters there over that time, great food, yoga classes, meditation, group chanting, other concerts and it is a beautiful spot.

Sivananda Yoga Ranch

On July 20 at 2162 Gordon Street Guelph N1L 1G6 I will performing at “Gather”, in concert at an old fashioned barn party in historic Beattie-Blair Barn (circa 1870) from 6:30-9:30pm. Other artists include the incredible guitarist Donna Grantis (Prince, etc.) and the wonderful duo Tragedy Ann. This fundraising event will also feature complimentary food & drink, speakers and a participatory art installation. Doug Ford’s decision to open the Greenbelt to developers is a betrayal of the will of the people of Ontario and our precious environment. Please gather with us to help us continue our fight. Ticket info is here