Author: James Keelaghan

Shred Kelly LIVE!

Shred Kelly Shred Kelly is a five piece, alternative folk rock band that emerged from the heart of the Canadian Rockies in 2009. Over the past decade the band have […]

Summerfolk Virtual Sunday Night Schedule!

We are very excited about tonight’s virtual Sunday night. Here is the line-up, and you can grab the stream here at video.summerfolk.org 7PM Intros, Greetings from Dignitaries 7:04 Grier Coppins […]

Summerfolk Virtual Sunday Night August 23

Although Summerfolk 2020 is cancelled, the Georgian Bay Folk Society has announced a virtual Sunday night event to celebrate what would have been the 45th Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival. […]

Summerfolk Covid19 Update

Monday, April 27th, 2020 Owen Sound, ON – After much consideration, the Georgian Bay Folk Society has regretfully decided to cancel the 45th Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival, scheduled for […]

Covid-19 update

Summerfolk Stage and Amphitheatre

Here at The Georgian Bay Folk Society, we have been keeping ourselves up to date with our information regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic and how it may affect Summerfolk 45: Music, […]

Summerfolk and COVID-19

Hello Friends, Families, Volunteers, Patrons and Community Members, Our Georgian Bay Folk Society staff, the board of directors, and committees are watching the COVID-19 developments with careful judgement and while […]

Performer submission guidelines

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Accessibility

ACCESSIBILITY @ SUMMERFOLK FESTIVAL – JUST ASK Summerfolk makes its best efforts to ensure the festival is as accessible as possible to people with special needs. Our complete Persons with Disabilities Customer […]

Job Opportunities

JOB POSTINGS Mail resumes and expressions of interest to  gbfs@bmts.com The Georgian Bay Folk Society (GBFS) is seeking applications for two (2) summer positions. Applicants must be students returning to full-time […]

Youth Discoveries Finalists

Last Night a couple of hundred people turned out to watch the finals of the Youth Discoveries 2018. It was an amazing evening of music. A big thank you to […]

Youth Discovery Finals and finalists!

After 3 preliminaries, we would like to introduce to you the finalists for this year’s Youth Discoveries. The finals take place Friday, March 23 at 7 PM at the Roxy […]

Ist annual Summerfolk Golf Tournament

Ist Annual Summerfolk Singing’ and swinging’ Golf Tournament register now.. https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/y25s0XNBmv3zQ Saturday, June 23 1 PM Join us at Stonetree Golf and Fitness for our 1st Annual Festival Golf Tournament. […]

Family Ties

Several years ago, I was teaching at a music camp in New Jersey. I had a group of about 16 songwriters as students. On the first night they invited me […]

Bringing the world to the OS

Musically, I was raised on a strange brew. My Da, Irish by birth, loved traditional Irish music. The Clancy Brothers were the high priests of his musical church. Any deviation […]

Those magic moments

I could fill a book with the magical moments I’ve had at festivals. As a performer, I had the opportunity to sit in with some of my musical heroes in […]

Trying on Pants

Shawn Hall of The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer has provided me with my mantra for the next year. In an interview with Mike Usinger of the Georgia Straight, Hall […]

Small town…

When I am not wearing my Artistic Director’s hat, I’m wearing my touring, singer-songwriter’s hat. I’ve been wearing that headgear for over 30 years now. That job takes me to […]

We have you covered

Every year the Artistic Director of Summerfolk writes a series of 12 articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times in the 12 weeks leading up to the festival.     […]

Youth Discoveries finals!!!

  After 3 preliminaries, these are the performers moving on to the finals of the Summerfolk Youth Discoveries. The show begins at 1PM at the Harmony Centre in Owen Sound. […]

Georgian Bay Roots 10

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 9 ( Remembrance Day)

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 8

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 7

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 6

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 5

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots 4

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots #3

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

The return of Irish

Irish Mythen, Harmony Centre, Owen Sound, November 26th Irish Mythen, the breakout favourite of this year’s Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival returns for an evening of powerful song, rollicking humour […]

Georgian Bay Roots Program 2

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Georgian Bay Roots Program 1

Georgian Bay Roots With your host Jon Farmer Every Sunday on CFOS 560 from 4-5pm, Georgian Bay Roots shares some of the best music that’s made in and played in […]

Small Glories at the Roxy

The Small Glories return to Owen Sound They are a duo in the best tradition of Richard and Linda Thompson, Emmylou and Gram Parsons. The Glories took the festival by […]

Brothers and Sisters

Every year our artistic director writes a series of 12 articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times in the 12 weeks leading up to the festival. This is the first […]

David Bowie Tribute May 7th

  The GBFS presents an evening celebrating the work of David Bowie. With Favourites The Krueger Band Drew McIvor Sons of Perry Ben Turcotte and Andrew Nunno Deanne Hallman w/ […]

Now with even more Thursday

Lordy Lordy Look Who’s Forty That would be Summerfolk. Forty years is a significant milestone whether you are a festival, a human or even a sea turtle. That’s why, this […]

Folk School 2015

Youth Folk School

First Session of the 2015 term- Sunday February 15 Hosted by Tara MacKenzie Our first session will be at the Harmony Centre on Sunday February 15th at 2:00-4:00pm we can […]

Alysha Brilla

  She was one of the most popular acts at the 2014 Summerfolk and now Alysha Brilla is returning for a show at the Roxy Theatre April 10th. Melodically complex and lyrically cheeky, […]

Fiddle Fern Trad Sessions

WEEKLY TRADITIONAL MUSIC SESSIONS New Fiddlefern Country Dancers’ initiatives in 2015 include weekly, open music sessions Tuesday nights, and monthly music, dance and dance calling workshops, in partnership with the […]

A message from the President

A Message from the president: Summerfolk 2014 proved once again that festival goers like you are a hardy lot and I want to personally thank-you for your hard work and […]

Sun Times 08022014 Why We Folk

The only thing that keeps me going in the winter is the thought of summer. There used to be a time when I embraced winter, but that time is long […]

Sun Times Article 07/25/2014 Molsky/Naiman

 Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers.The Sun […]

Sun Times Article 07/18/2014 The blues

 Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers.The Sun […]

Sun Times Articles 07/11/2014 Oh Susanna

 Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers.The Sun […]

Sun Times Article 06/27/2014 Buffy Sainte-Marie

 Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers.  When […]

Sun Time Article Jez Lowe 06/13/2014

 Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, the Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers.  Jez […]

Sun Times Article 05/30/2014 Yves Lambert

Every year, as part of our continuing sponsorship with the Owen Sound Sun Times, The Artistic Director writes a series of 12 articles about the festival and the performers. You […]

Summerfolk Tune Up

The Annual Summerfolk Tune-up The Youth for this year’s festival gets a chance to polish their chops for Summerfolk39. Andrew Nunno, Bekah and Missy, Benjamin Rogers, Smith Magenis, MacKenzie Mcruer. […]

The winners of the this year’s Youth discoveries

The judges have come to a decision. The winners of this years youth discoveries are Andrew Nunno, Smith Magenis, Mackenzie McRuer, Beckah Hawker and Missy Bauman andBenjamin Rogers These performers will […]

Youth Discovery Finals

The Youth Discoveries finals are a go at the Harmony Centre, 890 4th Ave. East in Owen Sound on March 30th at 130 PM. The finalists are: Benjamin Rogers, MacKenzie McRuer, […]

The Songs Of Neil Young

Sunday evening, April 13 at the Harmony Centre 9 acts, 17 songs from the pen of Neil Young. A fundraiser for the GBFS. Ticket info you can buy tickets over […]

Youth Discoveries Owen Sound March 9th

  We had a fantastic time at the Harmony Centre on March 9th for the first prelims of the Youth Discoveries. We’d like to thank all the performers for their […]

It’s warming up, really

It’s been a little bit like hibernation. Okay, it’s been a lot like hibernation. The days are getting longer, the clocks are about to spring forward. We’ve got a lot […]

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Georgian Bay Folk Society takes place on Sunday March 16th from 10AM-Noon at the Harmony Centre, 890 4th ave east, Owen Sound, Ontario. In […]

That was a bit of fun

Summerfolk 38 has passed. By any standard, this year’s festival was a huge success. There were more people, more sunshine and more musical highlights per hour than ever before. At […]

The site is going up!

They were out on the site working on Saturday morning. They have in years past worked in rainier conditions, but the work is hard dry or wet. They are banging […]

Sun Times Article#5

This week’s article is on some of the performer’s providing Maritime Music at the festival.  Music for the Tall Ships Ian Bell   Fergus O’Byrne and Jim Payne     […]

Sun Times Article #4

Article 4 highlights the The Proclaimers. It’s become something of a tradition- a series of articles written by the Summerfolk AD for the Owen Sound Sun Times. An article a […]

Tshirt design is in!

Designed by the legendary Michael Wrycraft,the 38th anniversary edition of the Summerfolk Tshirt ( available shortly!)

The Sun Times Articles 2013 – 1 and 3

It’s become something of a tradition- a series of articles written by the Summerfolk AD for the Owen Sound Sun Times. An article a week is published between now and […]

Summerfolk TuneUp

Saturday, June 9th from 1-4 PM at the Marine and Rail Museum 1155 1st ave west, Owen Sound  it’s this year’s edition of the Summerfolk TuneUp. Grea t music to […]

Sounds at the Market June 9th

The final show of our great 5th season. It should be a doozy. SOUNDS just keeps growing stronger. We always provide some of the best musicians in the area, performing […]

Now Headed for Summerfolk!

It was an amazing afternoon at the Roxy Theatre in Owen Sound. Fate cruelly placed the finals on the first sunny hot day of the decade. A couple of hundred […]

Summerfolk Youth Discoveries Finals!

The finals for the Discoveries showcases will be happening this coming Sunday at the fabulous Roxy Theatre in Owen Sound. 12 acts have advanced from the preliminaries and will be […]

Youth Discoveries Paisley!

It was a most exciting day at Back Eddie’s in Paisley for the third round of the Youth Discoveries Preliminaries. We’d like to thanks the judges- Tara MacKenzie, Coco Love […]

Camping for Summerfolk

Last summer, for the week before the festival, my family and I decided to camp at Harrison Park. Since it was my first year as AD I wanted to be  […]

Second Preliminary Meaford!

The second preliminary in the Youth Discoveries showcase happened this afternoon at the Meaford Hall in Meaford Ontario. 10 Performers were slated to take the stage as of 1PM. We’d […]

First Preliminary Results

We had a fantastic first preliminary at the the Owen Sound Public Library. Thanks to Nadia Danyluk and the staff at the library for their assistance in putting on this […]

April is all about Discovery

For the next 4 weeks, we’re all about the youth Discoveries.Coming up in less than a week -first preliminary in the Georgian Bay Folk Society’s Youth Discoveries program. Starting at […]

Summerfolk Club

The second Summerfolk Club is happening on March 23 at St Andrew’s with R-P-R. The boys have been getting around as you tell from the article below. Tickets available at […]

Welcome to our new web home

We are very pleased to launch the all new summerfolk.org. We’ve added new features and streamlined others in the hopes that you’ll be able to find everything you need to […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 8

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. July 25 I played my first paying […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 7

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. July 12 My six year old, Tomas, […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 6

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. July 5th – Andersen and Vishtèn All […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 5

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. Gunning and Miles If Dave Gunning had […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 4

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. Something in the Winter In 2001 my […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 3

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. Lemon Bucket Orchestra When I was hired […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 2

James Keelaghan wrote a series of articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. Oscar and Popo If you love the […]

Sun Times Articles 2012 – part 1

James Keelaghan wrote a series of  articles for the Owen Sound Sun Times last year as part of the lead up to Summerfolk. Article 1, Rogers and Prescott In my […]