The Georgian Bay Folk Society is proud to announce the winners of the 2015 Youth Discovery Showcase series. As part of our on-going work to promote and support the folks arts, the Georgian Bay folk Society has reserved a handful of spots on the Summerfolk stage for performers under the age of 21 every year since 2007. This year, Braden Phelan, Chicks with Picks, Darrin Baldwin, and Paige Warner added their names to the roster of the 40th Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival.
Our winners advanced through two rounds of judged performances to earn a spot on the Summerfolk stage. On March 29th, they performed alongside 7 other acts in the finals at the Harmony Centre in Owen Sound. It was a sunny day and light spilled in through the ornate windows on to more than 80 people who had come to support the young musicians and to see a good show. they were not disappointed. The sunlight was brilliant but the musicians really lit up the room. One after another, the finalists impressed the crowd with musical offerings as varied as the Summerfolk line-up they were trying to join. We saw solo singer-songwriters, instrumental guitar, theatrical piano ballads, and a rocking four piece band. While the judges (Tara MacKenzie, Richard Knetchel, and Adam Crossman) deliberated, the performers took the stage in a collective jam session to cover contemporary pop songs and bonfire classics with the audience clapping and singing a long. We’ve been told that folk music is the music that we play together and these performers added more evidence to that idea.
Congratulations to the winners; we’re looking forward to seeing you at the festival in August. And thank you to all of the Youth Discovery participants; we hope to see you on stages near and far in the future.
