- Sarah Harmer is among the performers at the 33rd annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 16-18 at Jericho Beach. Harmer will perform Saturday in a workshop at 11 a.m. and on the mainstage at 8:40 p.m. Tickets and info: thefestival.bc.ca.

Finding themselves grounded in a motel in Queen Charlotte City due to inclement weather, Sarah Harmer and her expedition mates opted to throw a little party.

The acclaimed singer/songwriter was in the area as a result of her participation in the National Parks Project, a collaborative film, music, television and new media initiative. Inspired by the Group of Seven and Margaret Atwood's Survival, the project sees groups of filmmakers and musicians visit Canada's national parks and create a short film that's telling of their exploration, both physical and emotional. The 13 resulting mini-documentaries will be posted online, as well, will air on Discovery HD in spring 2011.

Harmer's team, in the midst of a six-day journey in May through B.C.'s Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, included fellow musicians Jim Guthrie and the Constantines' Bry Webb, and director Scott Smith. They'd been exploring the area mainly by boat and floatplane so the night's poor conditions had forced them to seek shelter. More than just a ruckus, beer-fuelled night-in, the resulting festivities proved to yield the musicians' signature contribution, a song entitled "Long Time Before This."

Harmer penned the words while Guthrie and Webb wrote the music and the trio, quieting the revelers, recorded the work on the spot, making use of the only instruments they brought along for the ride -- a mandolin, some guitars and a little Casio keyboard.

"It reflects, lyrically, the landscape but, hopefully in a suggestive and kind of evocative way," says Harmer.

Harmer's connection to the natural world and her interest in protecting it is a fundamental part of who she is. Following the completion of her last major tour, in support of 2005's I'm A Mountain, a Polaris Music Prize-nominated work, she continued to perform and record, though focused mainly on advocating against a proposed quarry on the Niagara Escarpment, near her native Burlington, Ont. Now a Kingston area resident, Harmer's roots remain deeply imbedded in the landscape of her home, seeing her join like-minded residents and take a major stand. Harmer co-founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), a non-profit conservation organization focused on defeating the quarry proposal.

While the campaign to protect the escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, continues, Harmer has made a triumphant return to the music scene, having just released a new album, Oh Little Fire, that's continuing to garner positive accolades. She's currently touring Europe and North America, performing at a number of major festivals between now and when the tour wraps up in November, including October's Austin City Limits Festival and this weekend's Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Harmer has fully been enjoying being back on the road.

"My band mates are all wonderful and easy going and we've had good luck as far as just managing to pull off a tight schedule and have fun shows. We feel like we're really starting to work something up on stage," says Harmer Monday, from her home on a rare night off. She was set to play the Ottawa Bluesfest the following evening.

Oh Little Fire, more rock-infused than her last album, a roots offering, was created with the road in mind, a reflection of Harmer's interest in crafting songs that would be danceable for audiences.

"It just seemed time to play the electric guitar again and delve back into more complex sounds and more electronic instruments," she says.

Harmer co-produced the album with friend Gavin Brown, a musician and producer who's worked with a range of artists, from Metric to Billy Talent. The pair met during the recording of her solo debut, 2000's You Were Here after he was brought in as a drummer. Oh Little Fire was produced in Gavin's Toronto, Ont. studio as well, some work was done in Chris Brown's studio on Wolfe Island, near Kingston. Recording near her home base meant Harmer was able to incorporate some of her local buddies, including Chris on the organ and keyboard, Spencer Evans, who played clarinet, and Trevor Henderson on lap steel.

Henderson also contributed a song, "Silverado," that Harmer covered with the help of Neko Case, an accomplished solo artist and member of The New Pornographers. Harmer provided backing vocals on Case's 2009 record, Middle Cyclone.

"For her to return the favour was really, really great," says Harmer.

The session was completed in a hotel room on a laptop during a mini-tour the women had embarked on.

"We narrowly squeezed it in between sound check and show one day," says Harmer.

For Oh Little Fire, Harmer attests she didn't set out with any particular idea in mind, though some recurring themes definitely surfaced -- for example, vulnerability, humility, hope, gratitude, loss and disillusionment.

"Oh Little Fire, it's kind of like 'note to self,' the heart, the fire, the thing that you've got to really keep, at least kindled and glowing to some heat or else 'lights out' kind-of-thing. It's more of a comment on soul I think," she says of the title she chose.

Harmer's performance at this weekend's Vancouver Folk Music Festival marks her second appearance, having played it six years ago. In addition to performing on the mainstage Saturday evening, earlier in the day, at 11 a.m., she's scheduled to perform in a workshop entitled Troubadours. She'll be playing with Ladies of the Canyon, Matt Epp, Luluc and Po' Girl.

"I love Po' Girl," says Harmer. "I played with them at Canso last year out in Nova Scotia at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival. I was playing solo so they learned a handful of my songs and backed me up on the mainstage for a bunch of my set. So, I love those wonderful people and I'm looking forward to seeing them and I'm sure between us we'll all be able to be 'troubadours.'"

While Harmer's tour and promotion of her new album is keeping her busy, she remains focused on continuing to use her voice, not just for creative expression but also for advocacy, something she feels a certain responsibility for as an artist. She's keeping close tabs on PERL (perlofburlington.org) as the fall is a big time for the organization.

"Every level of government has turned down the quarry proposal but the company still is pushing to go to what's called a joint board hearing," says Harmer.

Getting underway in October, she estimates the hearing will take more than a year.

"We're really hoping that the province of Ontario, who has the ultimate authority here, recognizes the will of all the levels of government. . . . The province just has to outrightly protect this area," she says.

Harmer has also recently joined a movement focused on saving the nation-wide federal prison farm program, which has shown to be restorative and rehabilitating for offenders, as well as positively influence host cities, she says. Other well-known Canadian artists have joined the movement (www.saveourprisonfarms.ca), including author Margaret Atwood.

While this sort of work is relatively new territory for Harmer, she's continuing to give it her all, despite the difficulty of the work.

"It feels good to be in the thick of something that needs our attention and also can really set an important precedent in Ontario," she says.

Other like-minded artists also serve as inspiration. For example, Sunday night, she was among the headliners at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, following Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles, who are touring in support of their new album The Grand Bounce.

"I've been such a fan of him and the Hip for years," says Harmer. "His in-between song banter was so great . . . He was really fired up."

Downie opted to introduce one of his songs by referencing the recent G20 in Toronto.

"It didn't take any energy away from his music or their set, it almost fired it up more," says Harmer. "It gives it a real anchor in the real world. And I think for people we've got to constantly, or at least regularly, remember the work that is going on and tie art to that, and tie music to that, so that it all seems like it's part of the same life. I think that's really important."