- Kobo Town (Toronto/Trinidad: - Caribbean) Trinidadian-Canadian songwriter Drew Gonsalves explores the history of Caribbean music in his work. The superb Kobo Town band is named after the historic neighbourhood in Port-of-Spain where calypso was born and their latest release, a funky gem produced by Ivan Duran for Cumbancha Records, Jumble in the Jukebox, is on the Polaris Music Prize Long List for Best Canadian Album.
- Loudon Wainwright III (USA - Singer/songwriter) Brilliant musical raconteur, and father of musicians Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, has released 22 albums over the past four decades. He won a Grammy in 2010 for Best Traditional Folk Album (High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project) but everything he's done is worth checking out.
- Tinpan Orange (Australia - Folk pop) Fresh from a national Australian tour with Martha Wainwright, Melbourne roots-indie band Tinpan Orange return to North America for summer gigs.
- Danny Michel with the Garifuna Collective (Toronto/Belize - Garifuna culture) Singer-songwriter Danny Michel performs his original material (from Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me, produced by Ivan Duran and available internationally on Cumbancha) with members of the Garifuna Collective, some of whom previously performed at the folk fest in 2009 as part of Umalali. Michel's record is another gem in the running for the Polaris Music Prize. Go to nsnews.com for interviews with Michel and the Garifuna Collective's Desere Diego as well as an archival interview with the late Andy Palacio about Garifuna culture recorded a few months prior to his tragic death from a stroke.
- Pharis and Jason Romero (Horsefly, B.C. - Roots)
Their new album, Long Gone Out West Blues, seamlessly mixes original compositions with covers of old-timey roots material such as "Wild Bill Jones" and "Waiting for the Evening Mail." The organic nature of their acoustic music is built from the ground up with Pharis composing most of the tunes and Jason handcrafting the banjos and wood-bodied resophonic guitars they use to perform their sublime material.
- Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys (Lafayette, Louisiana - Creole and Zydeco)
Creole accordion player brings Louisiana's unique folk culture, equal parts kitchen party intimacy and barroom stomp, to Jericho Beach Park.
- Debo Band (Boston/Ethiopia - Ethio-jazz/East African groove)
Eleven-member Boston-based ensemble put together by ethnomusicologist/saxophonist Danny Mekonnen features Bruck Tesfaye on vocals. "Debo," Mekonnen says, is an archaic Amharic word that signifies collective effort. The band builds on the Ethio-jazz golden era of the '60s and '70s (compiled by French producer Francis Falceto for the massive Ãthiopiques series on the Buda Musique label) providing a new take on the sound.
- Black Prairie (Oregon/Avant bluegrass)
Portland, Oregon supergroup featuring members of The Decemberists and other bands. An ongoing side project that went sideways bringing in klezmer, jazz, tango and East European folk influences. Their latest release, Wild Ones, is an extended EP soundtrack accompanying their friend Jon Mooallem's book of the same name.
- Stefano Saletti and Piccola Banda Ikona (Italy/Mediterranean folk)
The band features original compositions written in Sabir, an ancient language developed by sailors for use in Mediterranean ports incorporating terms from Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.
- Hanggai (Beijing/Mongolian folk punk)
Ancient Mongolian folk traditions turned upside down - throat-singing with a Beijing punk attitude.
