Festival Express

Andrina Turenne - who won a Juno with her group Chic Gamine - released her debut solo album Bold As Logs earlier this year. On this episode of Festival Express she discusses the making of that record, why it took her decades of music making to go it alone, and what place the Winnipeg Folk Festival holds in her heart with UMFM PD Michael Elves.

Planet Mainstage host John Prentice has unearthed a classic interview Kinsey Pozen of Winnipeg klezmer act Finjan - who have been regulars on his Saturday afternoon program over the years and who last spoke prior to a show at the West End Cultural Centre.

Planet Mainstage 's John Prentice looks at the Winnipeg Folk Festival line-up with the person who put it all together, Artistic Director Chris Frayer.

Country phenom Charley Crockett has released a torrent of music in the past decade despite also logging a tremendous number of miles with an unceasing tour schedule that lands him at Birds Hill Park. He phones in from the midst of a tour to talk to UMFM PD Michael Elves and talks learning to hold an audience's attention while working street corners and his time riding the rails. Photo courtesy Mic...

While she shares a name with Canadian folk/roots royalty, singer-songwriter Georgia Harmer has carved out a space and made a name for herself as a thoughtful and emotive artist in her own right with the release of Stay In Touch . Harmer speaks to UMFM's Michael Elves before playing the Winnipeg Folk Festival on Friday July 7th and Sunday July 9th. Photo courtesy Gemma Warren.

Pastoral MIDI host Alex Braun talks to Icelandic singer-songwriter Arny Margret whose 2022 record , they only talk about the weather , was a stunningly realized debut. Margret plays twice on Friday July 7th at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Ayo Leilani - who has recorded three albums under the Witch Prophet moniker - talks with UMFM PD Michael Elves about how she got the name, and the creative process behind her most recent record, Gateway Experience , which was recently Longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize . Witch Prophet plays Big Blue @ Night on Friday July 7th. Photo courtesy Francesca Nocera.

Country singer-songwriter Mariel Buckley took a roundabout route to writing and performing songs. She discussed this path, the influence her brother had, what working in a record shop brought to her writing and more with UMFM PD Michael Elves. Photo courtesy Sebastian Buzzalino.

Polaris-prize winning artist Pierre Kwenders talks about writing and singing in multiple languages, crafting the Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love album and more with UMFM Program Director Michael Elves. Photo courtesy Daniele Fummo.

Singer-songwriter Eric D. Johnson has been performing under the Fruit Bats moniker since 1997 and has released ten albums since 2001, the most recent of which is 2023's A River Running To Your Heart. Johnson joins UMFM Program Director Michael Elves to discuss his decades-long career and how his experience as part of Bonny Light Horseman changed his songwriting. Photo Courtesy of Chantal Anderson

While paying tribute to the New Orleans' roots of brass bands, Chicago's LowDown Brass Band weave in the diverse sonic textures of their home city and their individual members. With a record due out Fall of 2023, Winnipeg Folk Festival audiences will get a chance to hear some new material live before its released.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield keeps adding to her impressive body of work, the most recent of which is Could Have Done Anything . She discusses the making of that album and more with UMFM's Michael Elves. Photo courtesy Brittany Carmichael.

To kick off the 2023 edition of Festival Express, we talk to the man whose performance will start the entire Winnipeg Folk Festival. William Prince plays the Mainstage at 6:30 PM on Thursday July 6th (as well as several workshops) and he'll be featuring selections from his latest album, Stand in the Joy. He discusses making that record, and more, with UMFM Program Director Michael Elves. Photo Cou...

Multiple-time Polaris Prize nominee The Weather Station has released two incredible records in the past two years, Ignorance and How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars , and on this episode Tamara Lindeman discusses seeing them as two halves of a whole project. **Please note that unfortunately The Weather Station has had to cancel their appearance at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Drawing acclaim for her two EPs and album Athena released on venerable LA label Stones Throw, Sudan Archives is set to release her sophomore album later this year. She discussed moving to LA and becoming part of the Low End Theory scene, what drew her to beatmaking and the creation of Natural Brown Prom Queen with UMFM's Michael Elves in advance of playing the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival .

Montreal-based Japanese psych rock band TEKE:TEKE bring their dynamic sound and explosive live act to the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival. But before they hit Birds Hill Park, guitarist and principal songwriter Serge Nakauchi Pelletier spoke to UMFM's Michael Elves about the band's formation, the creation of album Shirushi and more.

Artist Bobby Dove learned their love of 40s and 50s country at the heels of an older generation playing Hillbilly nights in their hometown of Montreal, but have since relocated to Manitoba in the wake of releasing Hopeless Romantic . Bobby Dove discusses influences, place-making, songwriting and more in advance of their performance at the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival.

LADAMA is a collaborative ensemble comprised of four Latinx women musicians from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States who are as focused on activism and education as they are on music-making. Their most recent album, Oye Mujer, was released in 2020 on Six Degrees Records. For this episode, UMFM's Michael Elves spoke to Mafer Bandola and Daniela Serna. Here's the link to the educationa...

What began as a folk duo in college has expanded in scope and size as folk-rock band Wild Rivers demonstrates on their latest album, Sidelines , which hearkens back to Laurel Canyon classics. Andrew Oliver from the group joins Michael Elves to discuss making the record and more in advance of playing the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Planet Mainstage 's John Prentice talks to local multimedia artist and musician James Culleton about his James Culleton Super Fun project, crafting songs for kids, entertaining families and more in advance of daily performances at the Chickadee Big Top at the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival.

From just outside of Ottawa, ON, singer-songwriter Leith Ross crafted much of their debut EP, Motherwell as a school project at Humber College. Recorded with classmates and released in the midst of Covid shutdowns, they are finally touring the beautiful release and will be performing at the 2022 Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Pachy Garcia - who performs under the name Pachyman - explores the sound of classic dub & reggae crafted by childhood heroes King Tubby & Lee 'Scratch' Perry on his own album, The Return of... Pachyman , a record he made almost entirely on his own. He had to figure out how to translate what was conceived of as a studio album into something that would work on stage and he discusses that pro...

Winnipeg act JayWood is fronted by Jeremy Haywood-Smith. Set to release the album Slingshot just days after the Winnipeg Folk Festival , Haywood-Smith discusses its creation and more in this episode.

Sacramento-born singer-songwriter Tré Burt is a protege of John Prine who released his album You, Yeah, You on Prine's Oh Boy Records. On this edition of Festival Express he discusses the creation of that record, what led him to folk music from skate-punk, and more.

Grant Davidson - who performs under the name Slow Leaves - joins UMFM's Michael Elves to discuss his most recent record, Holiday ; returning to the Winnipeg Folk Festival ; how he's changed his songwriting approach over the years and more.