Our remarkable friend and musician Jackie Washington passed away on Saturday, June 27th after two weeks of failing health. To all who knew him or ever heard him sing, we have lost an incredibly positive spirit and generous soul. It was not uncommon to find Jackie after performing through a long hot day at a folk festival to be jamming until five in the morning without repeating a song and more impressively, fielding requests to play any old pop or jazz standard you could think of. In fact Jackie's encyclopedic knowledge of songs, musicians and recordings was only matched by his ability to remember the birthday of everyone he met. His infectious smile and laugh never failed to light up a room. The room may have dimmed, but Jackie's light will continue to shine for a very long time to come. (photo courtesy of Ron Scheffler) 

Borealis is exceptionally pleased to announce that James Keelaghan will join the label with his next recording. Tentatively titled "House Of Cards" the new CD will be released this fall to correspond with James touring in Denmark, the UK, Canada and the USA.

With a keen sense of history of both present and past coupled with a command of the language set to gorgeous melodies and all delivered with an audience-capturing baritone James can be considered one of Canada's all-time great singer songwriters - unmatched on today's folk/roots circuit.

"... he displays a genius for finding his way deep inside big stories, building them outward from palpably intimate moments"  The Boston Globe

"... he is one hell of a good songwriter, and as a guitarist his playing is practically faultless"  Time Out, London

"Canada's finest singer songwriter"  Dave Marsh, Rock critic, historian and author. 

This summer catch James at these folk festivals: Stan Rogers Fest - Canso, NS, Island Folk Festival - Comox, BC, Summerfolk - Owen Sound, ON, Ottawa Folk Festival - Ottawa, ON, Tönder Festival - Tönder, Denmark. 

"True Love Don't Weep" is the much anticipated debut of James Hill and Anne Davison as a duo. Songs of life, death, longing and jubilation, alongside some of the smokin'-est ukulele instrumentals ever recorded.

Having established himself as one of the world's true ukulele virtuosos, James Hill along with cellist partner Anne Davison now bring us a fine collection of songs and show that they are just as expressive as singers as they are as players on their respective instruments.  

James and Anne will be in Toronto May 9th to launch "True Love Don't Weep" For details please click on the Read more link.

Borealis is honoured and pleased to make available the late Oliver Schroer's catalogue of recordings. Oliver was a friend to all of us at Borealis and we are proud to help keep his memory alive through the wonderful music he created and shared with the world. 

Anyone who has seen Le Vent du Nord play live knows what kind of amazing energy the band delivers on stage. Last summer at Québec's Festival Mémoire et Racines the band was joined on stage by a number of Québec's traditional music superstars for an unforgettable concert under the stars. The music is simply amazing.

Congratulations to Enoch Kent, Michael Jerome Browne and the late Oliver Schroer on receiving deserved recognition at this year's Canadian Folk Music Awards. The Awards were held at the Arts And Culture Centre in St. John's Newfoundland November 23rd. and featured a variety of great performances capped off by Newfoundland's own Figgy Duff.  Enoch was awarded Traditional Singer of The Year, Michael, Solo Artist of The Year and Oliver, Instrumental Solo Artist of The Year andan award for Pushing The Boundaries.

We're happy to announce that singer and songwriter Nathan Rogers is busy at work on a new album that is scheduled for a Spring 2009 release. Nathan wowed the crowd last month at Toronto's Hugh's Room in an evening dedicated to Stan Rogers music.

When Annabelle Chvostek joined the Wailin' Jennys in 2004, the rest of the world found out what a grassroots network of Canadian roots fans had known for years: Chvostek is a formidable songwriter whose beguiling left-of-centre compositions straddle the divide between mainstream roots and acoustic indie pop. Find Out More / Purchase

This year's winner of the Songs From The Heart Award is Borealis recording artist Enoch Kent, for his song Dancing Fool. Enoch will receive the award at the annual conference of The Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (Ottawa, October 23 to 26). We'll be there to celebrate Enoch's award, showcase Borealis artists Annabelle Chvostek and Michael Jerome Browne, and host a reception to premiere a photo exhibition we call "The State of The Folk Nation" – vivid and rare photographs of the the Canadian folk scene past and present. Visit Enoch's Artist Page

CDs and MP3s are great but... there's nothing like LIVE music.

• James Gordon
  July 04, 2009 - July 05, 2009
  
• Terry Tufts
  July 04, 2009 - July 05, 2009
  
• Tanglefoot
  July 04, 2009 - July 05, 2009
  
• Tanglefoot
  July 05, 2009
  
• Tanglefoot
  July 07, 2009 - July 08, 2009