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Artist Spotlight: Logan McKillop

6/18/2019

Premiere folk artist, Logan McKillip has built a solid Canadian following literally from coast-to-coast. Between writing and recording, Logan is often hitting the road, sharing his moving and down-to-earth brand of folk to listeners all over the country.

Logan spoke with us about his start in music, creating his new album, Anchorless and why Harvest Sun is his favourite time of the year.

Take me a bit through your musical journey. What inspired you to start making music?
Music has always been an integral part of my life. There was no shortage of live music in the house when I was growing up. My parents and three siblings are songwriters, musicians, and singers. For me, it all started when my dad bought me an electric guitar for Christmas. I started learning Black Sabbath riffs, and that was it - I was hooked.

What would you say are your biggest influences?
I would have to say that my biggest influence of all time is Martin Finnie. The man, the myth, the legend. Martin is also playing at Harvest Sun this year - be sure to check him out!

Congratulations on the new album! Can you tell me a bit about what it meant to you create Anchorless, and how that process was different from your debut album?
Thank you! The songs on Anchorless deal with themes of overcoming struggle and hardship - that is ultimately what Anchorless is all about. I’m a firm believer that everybody is capable of doing so as long they are surrounded by a loving community. I really wanted the songs to come across as honest as possible, and I think we captured that.

The recording process of Anchorless took about two years from start to finish - we really took our time to get things right. With my debut album Prairie Sky, we recorded 27 songs in 10 days, chose 20, and the album was finished!

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Artist Spotlight: Sol James

6/17/2019

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Sol James continues to shake things up in the blues/country scene, pave the way for female musicians and remains an advocate for gender equality in the music industry.

We caught up with Sol James to talk about growing with her sound, connecting with other musicians and the best parts of Harvest Sun.

You’ve spent your career melding different styles from jazz to blues and country. Can you tell me more about how you’ve grown and continue to grow your sound?
I quickly discovered that I had to be versatile to make a living singing, and my sound is a product of that. I think what has become foremost to me is the idea of serving the song. One of my favourite things to say is: "I just want to sing the crap out of everything."

You played Harvest Sun for the first time last year. What are some of your favourite highlights?
Oh, the whole thing! The festival WAS the highlight of my entire summer! Specifically, though, the Sun Goddess Songwriter's workshop, watching my kids get to meet other kids and experience some much-needed freedom in a space I felt very comfortable letting them explore. It was a magical weekend of some amazing music and people that I can't wait to get back to this summer!

You got to be a part of the first ever Harvest Sun Goddess songwriters workshop and performed alongside several of Manitoba’s coolest ladies. What was that experience like?
Powerful, magical. I felt such a connection with my sisters on that stage and a true appreciation for each of their gifts and stories.

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Artist spotlight: Slow Spirit

6/17/2019

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Listening to Slow Spirit is a mesmerizing experience, and seeing them perform is captivating on a whole different level. The trio first met while studying music at Brandon University, and have since melded their individual musical tastes to create a beautiful blend of indie, folk, and rock.
We spoke with the trio about the band’s history, their sound and the importance of community-building music festivals.

Can you take me through how you first got involved with music and the forming of Slow Spirit?
We met in the music program at Brandon University. The band truly formed when we were living together in an artist loft space in downtown Brandon with a rotating cast of 9 or so other artist-musician roommates.

As for your musical style, you could call it indie/folk, but you meld a lot more elements into that. Can you tell me a bit about how your sound has come about?
I think as people we're just aware and interested in a lot of music. Firstly, we all studied music traditions in school, mostly in the jazz tradition. Natalie played in the BU Orchestra on the double bass, and right away after school started touring with folk and old-time music bands on folk festival circuits. Justin, the drummer, is not only a seriously eclectic music listener and lover but has been teaching people how to play the music that they want to play for many years now in Brandon and Winnipeg, which can mean learning and dissecting anything from Taylor Swift to Slayer. Eric has worked as a recording studio assistant in Winnipeg and has engineered and created videos with a whole bunch of current, working artists coming from all kinds of backgrounds. We are all so inspired by this broad music universe we inhabit, and we love to contribute our little part as best we can.

You’ve been a part of Manitoba’s music scene for some time now, what are some of your favourite career highlights so far?
Our highlights are the relationships we've made with other musicians who've been making records all this time, too -- it's so amazing to watch our friends grow artistically and persevere even though we know it's almost never easy. A highlight has been this past winter, hibernating in a house-sit in Onanole and writing our upcoming record over three frosty months. We're still finishing it up, but we think it's our best work yet. We're so excited to see where it takes us.

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Artist Spotlight: Anne-Marie Williot

6/10/2019

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Anne-Marie Williot’s musical repertoire boasts a collection of touching stories, silly scenarios and a whole lot of whimsy! The folk multi-instrumentalist melds flute, guitar, and accordion to create a quirky ambience often reminiscent of old-fashioned Paris.

Anne-Marie sat down to talk about being a self-taught musician, writing both emotional songs and goofy sing-alongs and how living in Spain became a catalyst for gaining stage confidence.

Can you go into how you got involved in music in the first place?
I’ve been involved since I was a really little kid. My mom is a musician, so I grew up with her always practicing piano, making us (my sisters and I) sing in all the choirs, and force feeding us the piano. I grew up hearing music all the time, mostly classical and then church music because my mom played the organ at different churches in different small towns.

How did you transition from learning the piano to learning all the other instruments that you play?
My first instrument was always singing. That’s what I always loved. I always sang. As soon as I was talking, I was singing. Then, when I was 15 or so, I started writing music and I taught myself how to play the guitar. Earlier than that, I learned the flute. I was in band with the flute and recorder. More recently, about six years ago, I taught myself how to play the accordion.

See that, I feel is a very hard thing to teach yourself.
It kind of came intuitively for me. It was funny because I had been writing a lot of music and using the guitar to accompany myself, but then there was one song in my head that had to be for accordion.

You were hearing that noise (laughs).
I was hearing the accordion, so that’s how I started. I wanted to teach myself how to play the song that was in my head. It happened that a friend of mine was selling his accordion around that time, so I bought it from him, and I taught myself how to play what was in my head.

I had looked up some charts to try to figure out how it worked. Then, after composing that first piece for accordion, everything else I was writing for a while was for accordion. I just kept teaching myself how to play what was in my head.

So do you prefer then, to do more things on the accordion?
I still like the guitar too, and I have been largely neglecting the flute for the last couple of years, but once in a while I pull it out, and I also love that. I don’t really write for the flute. When I do shows, when its concert style shows on a stage, I alternate between the guitar and the accordion.

I also do another type of show which is the wandering minstrel accordion show. I think that’s what I’ll be doing at the festival actually. For this type of show, I walk around and play accordion through a crowd. I do that sometimes for parties, or festivals and markets. It works really well in places where people are doing other things, and I just walk around and play and bring ambience to the event.

If the people around me are talking and doing their own thing, I just play instrumentally. If I see that people are into listening, I’ll sing for them, for little groups throughout the crowd.

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Artist Spotlight: Patti Kusturok

6/5/2019

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North American Fiddlers' Hall of Famer and champion fiddle player, Patti Kusturok is bound to give audiences a highly-entertaining and energetic show at this year’s Harvest Sun. The renowned musician’s style melds old-time fiddle with a contemporary feel and upbeat vibes - a recipe that is guaranteed to make you dance.

Patti spoke with us about her career highlights, first learning to play, and the importance of having a local festival like Harvest Sun.

Can you take me through your musical journey? What inspired you to start playing the fiddle?
I started with the Suzuki method at the age of four. My parents always had Fiddle music playing in the house and car, and at age six, I was able to play my first fiddle tune. My mom asked my Suzuki teacher if he could give me some old-time Fiddle tunes, but at that time, there was no room for that in the program. So, they found another teacher who allowed me to continue with my technical training and also let me play fiddle tunes. My dad was a bit of a fiddler, and my grandfather on my mom’s side was an accordion player from Scotland.

Can you talk a bit about your style of fiddling? It’s very high-energy, upbeat, and almost poppy at times.
I started playing for dances in my teens and credit my style to that. I seem to swing everything I play and that all stems from playing to make people dance. When I was growing up and going to competitions locally, we always had fiddling and jigging contests. I took up jigging, and my mom also made me learn how to dance as a very young child. I think that all contributes.

You’ve been a big part of Manitoba’s fiddle community for some time now, what are some of your favourite career highlights so far?
When I was young, I was fortunate to have met and played with some of my idols like Reg Bouvette, Marcel Meilleur, and Graham Townsend. Graham produced and played on some of my earlier records, and Reg and I recorded an album together when I was 16.

As for career highlights, I’m just happy to be able to be making a living doing this!

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Artist Spotlight: Marcel Desilets

6/5/2019

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Long-time Harvest Sun performer, Marcel Desilets, has been writing and performing since he was a teen. Over the years, he has evolved his songwriting and broadened the spectrum of instruments he plays to bring audiences a relaxing and eclectic spin on the singer/songwriter genre.

Marcel spoke with us about how he continues to hone his songwriting chops and shares some of his most memorable highlights from the last 14 years playing at Harvest Sun.

You’re a singer/songwriter and started out when you were a teenager. How has your skillset and songwriting continued to grow since then?
I think one of the things that helped my songwriting was when I joined this group called the Manitoba Independent Songwriters Circle. It’s a group of like-minded people of varying backgrounds and varying skill levels. The idea behind the group is, there would be 8 to 10 people, and everyone would bring a copy of their song lyrics to give to each of the people there. You would perform your song, without any preamble or anything. The idea was people would critique your song or give suggestions. The next person would play their song, and then you got a chance to critique theirs. I found it very helpful in a lot of ways. It made me think about song structure and things to watch for. Still, I think of myself as a bit of a lazy songwriter, where I’m one of those people who wait for some inspiration to hit. A lot of the time it’s just noodling on the guitar or banjo, or it’s a phrasing I like that I will hang on to. Sometimes a lyric will come along with that, and that’s where things start.

I’ve been [writing] for a long time, so things like the song circle and just doing it for a long time is what has helped develop my songwriting to the point where it’s at right now.

A lot of times when people get to the point where they are performing and doing festivals as much as you do, they start to write for the audience. Do find that you’ve started doing that?
At this point, it’s probably a little bit of both. I like to think about what I’m writing. I’ve come to realize it’s not just me playing guitar and singing a song. If I’m going to be doing that just for myself, I might as well do it in my living room. If I’m doing it for a festival, the songwriters' workshop, or a tweener set, I think it needs to be entertaining as well. Whether it’s the lyrical structure of the song, the combination of the lyrics and music, or the in-between song bantering, it’s not about being there and expecting everyone to just fall for you. I think you have to present yourself as enjoyable to watch and be entertaining.

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HArvest Sun music fest August 16, 17 &18 2024

Artist Spotlight: Logan McKillop

Artist Spotlight: Sol James

Artist spotlight: Slow Spirit

Artist Spotlight: Anne-Marie Williot

Artist Spotlight: Patti Kusturok

Artist Spotlight: Marcel Desilets

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