Calgary Folk Fest Saturday Doesn’t Disappoint: Jordan Klassen & Honeybear

Yesterday (Saturday, July 24, 2010) was the Saturday of the 2010 Calgary Folk Music Festival. The weekend was looking good – weather looked to be probably the nicest weekend of weather of the year so far…sunny, not a cloud in the sky with 27c temperatures. It was actually spectacular for weather (which can be half the battle at an outdoor festival) and it boded well for seeing numerous shows.

The first show we saw was a nice early performance with Jordan Klassen and Honeybear and it was a hometown affair. What better way to kick off the day then with local talent, and it did not disappoint.

One thing to note is in order to get through all the talented musicians and acts into a short period of time, you combine performances and it ends up being almost a jam session (if you will) with in this case both artists essentially being on the same stage the entire time. It was a nice combination of young up and coming Calgary talent that included Klassen’s set of mixed tempo folk tunes and Honeybear’s ukulele laments. The whole performance was a back and forth scenario with each playing a song or two than passing off to the other: great idea so you get to enjoy a little of both throughout the just longer than an hour performance.

Overview & Notes: Jordan Klassen (Visit)

~ Infectious personality (you cannot not like them!)
~ Sets the stage with building crescendos of acoustic guitars
~ Great use of full band: Cello, drums, bass, xylophone (?!), violin, keyboards – also the full band gets involved with either clapping or singing at the top of their lungs!
~ You know they are having a good time – when needed they kick up the energy and you cannot help but get into it
~ New EP “St. Brigid” was available and will see a release soon
~ We did an interview with Jordan and that will come up live next week

Photos of the show:

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Overview & Notes: Honeybear (Visit)

~ New discovery for me – so I was very pleasantly surprised by this Slowcoustic gem
~ Sets a mood for his music by use of backing soundscapes
~ Wields his “uke” well – we are all fans of this fine instrument around here
~ I don’t want to beat this point to the ground, but you (and me) need to hear more.
~ Had a collection of songs available for purchase that came packaged as a booklet of sketches with a download code!

Photos of the show:

As mentioned Honeybear is my “best surprise” of the fest so far, so I am still looking into him (and hence have no tracks to provide, but his MySpace page has some streams, so visit). I do have a track from Jordan Klassen that might have been my favourite of his set. The track is from his album “Tempest and Winter” (purchase at iTunes or help out local Calgary music and purchase at Kerf Music).

“Sing Your Song to Ares” (mp3) – Jordan Klassen, from 2009’s “Tempest and Winter”

Gotta go and get back to the fest! Swing by for more a bit later.

~Smansmith

All photos ©2010 Slowcoustic