It was a great surprise to see Steve Seskin on the bill at the Canmore Folk Festival. Steve Seskin is the kind of songwriter who has all the other songwriters running across the grounds to see him perform at a festival. During a career lasting 40 years, he has become known as a folk songwriter who has penned some of the most popular country songs of the last 2 decades. His songs such as Life’s a Dance, and I Think About You have been recorded by Tim McGraw, Mark Wills, John Michael Montegomery, Collin Raye and many others. With 7 number one hits and many charted recordings by other artists, he describes himself as a songwriter-singer, but he is truly a seasoned performer in his own right. Perhaps his best known song among parents and educators is Don’t Laugh at Me, which has become an international anthem against bullying. Over the past several years, Steve has also become quite involved with performing at school assemblies and writing songs with children. You can find out more about his work with youth on his website.
Steve was very generous to sit down with me for a wide ranging discussion about songwriting during a whirlwind day prior to his feature performance at the festival just before flying home.
Last month my family attended the Canmore Folk Festival. This is part 2 of a showcase concert put on by U22 productions on July 29 at The Communitea Cafe in Canmore. U22 is a non profit organization dedicated to nurturing and developing the talents of Albertan performers under the age of 22.
Performers featured this episode:
The Doll Sisters are a sister duo who write and perform haunting old-country inspired songs with tight harmonies accompanied by guitar, fiddle and mandolin.
Braden Gates is a champion fiddle player, but he is also an adept fingerstyle guitar player and accomplished storyteller/songwriter.
Samantha and Emily Schultz are sisters from Edmonton with rich voices, and a knack for writing catchy, folk flavoured pop songs.
Last month my family attended the Canmore Folk Festival. While we were there I spent alot of time with my friend Rhea March who founded U22 productions. U22 is a non profit organization dedicated to nurturing and developing the talents of Albertan performers under the age of 22. On Friday July 29, The Communitea Cafe in Canmore hosted a showcase concert featuring several young performers. I recorded that concert and will feature the concert recordings in the next 2 podcast episodes.
Performers featured this episode:
Layton Kramer- 16 year old songwriter from Canmore Alberta
Dean Kheroufi is a 16 year old wizard with a 6 string bass and a looping pedal.
The Command Sisters are 13 and 16 year old sisters who have recently landed a development deal in Nashville. With their catchy melodies and tight harmonies they are an act to watch out for.
Michah Turchet is a 16 year old “country boy” from small town Alberta who has undertaken to master flamenco guitar and he’s well on his way.
Last summer I sat down with Canadian Folk legend Caitlin Hanford, at the 50 anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival. Caitlynn Hanford is a solo-singer songwriter, she is 1/4 of Quartette with Sylvia Tyson, Gwen Swick and Cindy Church, and she sings in the Marigolds with Gwen Swick and Susie Vinnick. She is also an elementary school music teacher so our conversation steered towards a discussion on teaching music to children.
Dave Borins is a Toronto singer-songwriter who seemingly effortlessly crosses between folk, country, and hard-edged rock and roll. I caught up with him at the Mariposa Folk Festival. Dave and his band will be recording a live album on October 20 and 21, 2010 at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. It is bound to be a great event.
To cap things off, it turns out that today is his birthday, a fitting day to release this episode. Happy Birthday Dave.
You can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
Paul Mills is known in the Canadian roots music scene as a musician, songwriter, producer, co-founder of Borealis Records and as a former sideman of Stan Rogers. He often performs under the name of Curly Boy Stubbs. We met at the booth of guitar maker, Ron Belanger at the Mariposa Folk Festival. You can hear the sounds of the festival around us as Paul shares some stories from his long career as a producer, and we discuss songwriting, and the role of the producer in the recording process.
You can leave comments on the blog, send me an email to ductapeguy at hotmail dot com, send me a voice feedback at 206-337-0611, or join the For The Sake of the Song Podcast group on Facebook.
I’m playing a few Irish tunes at our parish St. Patrick’s Day social tonight. This afternoon I thought I would practic… er perform the set live on ustream. Enjoy
Paul Mills
