Here’s hoping that in this crazy world of ours we can all find some gratitude. I was at the Dufferin Grove Organic Farmer’s Market yesterday, the bounty of the harvest was in and already most of the farmers had had frost. Lots to be thankful for.
I’m busy working on a new recording project that should be out on Borealis in the new year. In the meantime, here’s a track on thanksgiving from my 2012 Light of Christmas cd.
Hello folks and welcome to my brand new website. It’s the best place to discover about the music I make. I hope you enjoy perusing it and seeing what I’m about. Many thanks to web guru Trevor Mills for the creation and development, and to Selena Mills for the creative design.
This weekend Sept. 27-29 I’m sharing music and stories at the annual Folk Music Ontario conference. I’m sitting on the Solidarity Forever! workshop panel, Saturday at 3:30pm in room Ontario B. My only showcase is in the wee hours of Saturday from 12:40am to 12:55 in the MusicOntario suite 225-227. Then Sunday morning at the Awards Brunch we’ll be celebrating the late Jackie Washington.
Later in the fall there a couple of special concerts honouring Jackie Washington’s 100th birthday and the release of a new recording, The World of Jackie Washington. On the afternoon of Nov. 14 I’ll be at the Hamilton Public Library and 2 p.m., Nov. 17th at Hugh’s Room Live in Toronto with Sneezy Waters, Chris Whiteley and John Sheard. More on the new recording later. I hope to see you soon.
Finally here’s a new song that’s one small contribution to the societal shift we need for our planet. It’s called “Greed Is A Flawed Organizing Principle” and it’s a sing-a-long!
Mose Scarlett, who died just over a month ago, after a few months of illness and many years giving pleasure through his music, his singing, his generous nature and his stories, will be memorialized in song and story at the Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Avenue, south of Bloor, Toronto) on Wednesday, August 7 starting at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7pm. A partial list of people confirmed to participate at this point include (in no particular order) Dave Barrett, Victor Bateman, Jackson Delta, Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop, Eve Goldberg, Hotcha!, Big Rude Jake, Magoo, Doc McLean, Tony Quarrington & Zoey Adams, Mr Rick, Margaret Stowe, Anne Tenner, Brent Titcomb, David Wall & Rebecca Campbell and yours truly, Ken Whiteley. Tony Quarrington will deliver a brief eulogy. Victor Bateman will be playing string bass, as he did on a number of the Scarlett, Washington & Whiteley tracks. It’s open to all who wish to and are able to attend. There is a suggested donation of $20 to cover the hall and ongoing expenses. We hope to see some of you there.
Upcoming Summer Engagements:
July 10-12 Experience the joy and release of singing gospel music with me at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island, Bahamas. For more info, visit www.sivanandabahamas.org
August 9-11 Bassist Gord Mowatt and I fly up to Thunder Bay, Ontario to share stories and songs at the Live From The Rock Folk Festival. For more info, visit www.livefromtherockfolkfestival.com
August 17 Ken Whiteley & Friends – sacred steel guitarist Nikki D and the Sisters of Thunder, bassist Gord Mowatt and drummer Bucky Berger in concert at Freedom Fest, Stewart Park, Perth, Ontario. You will not want to miss this exciting time of music, fellowship, and family fun! For more info, visit www.freedomfestperth.com
Sunday, June 30 Come celebrate the Canada Day weekend at the opening of the “Maud Lewis” art exhibition at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, ON. One of Canada’s most beloved folk artists, Maud Lewis (1903 – 1970) was famous in her lifetime for her brightly coloured and endearing paintings of rural Nova Scotia. There will be a curatorial talk by McMichael Chief Curator Sarah Milroy followed by an exhibition viewing and concert by Ken Whiteley, fiddler Anne Lindsay & Gord Mowat on the big string bass. Art Gallery opens at 11am. Formal opening of the Maud Lewis exhibit at 2pm. Concert at 3pm.
It’s with great sadness that I mark the passing of my old friend, Moseley Stephen Scarlett, who died on May 30. When I say old friend, we became friends in the 1960’s. In 1969 we made our Mariposa Folk Festival debut at the same “New Songwriters” concert. We played together often through the 70’s & 80’s, but the 20 years working together with our friend Jackie Washington really took our friendship to another level. As well as his amazing, baritone voice and crisp, fingerpicking guitar he will be missed for his generous spirit, great sense of humour and loquaciousness.
On Saturday, June 8, 2 p.m. at the Robert Gill Theatre, 214 College (and St. George), there is the Toronto release concert for a wonderful, fascinating recording project I helped produce called the Afro-Metis Nation Constitution. The existence of a large number of people from Nova Scotia with mixed African Canadian and Indigenous ancestry is a part of Canada’s history that is really just being told for the first time. The five artists share this legacy with great songs and spoken word. They include George Elliott Clarke, Sugar Plum Croxen, Shelley Hamilton, Russ Kelley and Chris White. I’ll be backing them up (on bass among other things). The concert is FREE!