An artist who gave voice to 19th-century asylum inmates is among those announced to appear at this year’s Folk on the Rocks festival in Yellowknife.
Fiver, aka Simone Schmidt, produced 2017 album Audible Songs from Rockwood, featuring songs based on the stories of women held at an institution “for the criminally insane” almost 150 years ago.
Montreal garage rock band Light Bulb Alley, Igloolik singer Lazarus Qattalik, and Indigenous musician Leanne Betasamosake Simpson were also announced on Friday, in the festival’s last of three lineup reveals.
Other acts confirmed on Friday include Frosty Children’s Theatre, Brent McCambridge, Harmony On Mars, Aurora Fiddle Society, Beverly Glenn Copeland, and Avery Zingel.
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Earlier in the year, Folk on the Rocks had already confirmed headliners Wintersleep, Alex Cuba, La Force, and Lido Pimienta.
Fiver’s Schmidt is described on her website as “writing new life into and around folk, country, and rock songs.”
Psychedelic rock group The Highest Order, of which she is a part, attended last year’s festival.
Light Bulb Alley features Allister Quinn, from Yellowknife, and a range of other musicians who’ve spent more than a decade playing in Montreal.
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The band is in the process of releasing new album Lights and Shades.
- Lineup reveal one: Wintersleep, Lido Pimenta, and more
- Lineup reveal two: La Force, Alex Cuba, and more
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, who is Mississauga Nishnaabeg, has taught at universities across Canada and has more than two decades’ experience in on-the-land education – including teaching at the NWT’s own Dechinta.
Lazarus Qattalik has played festivals in the Yukon and Nunavut. Ten years after writing his first song, Qattalik released his first album, Iqippagit, last year.
Folk on the Rocks takes place from July 12-14, 2019. Early-bird tickets remain available.
Cabin Radio will, for the second year, broadcast full, live coverage from all three days of the festival, based at the Cabin Stage in the centre of the festival site. (Watch out for new merch, too!)
