JMI: Artist Roster

Please note: The "active content" on this JMI web site simply enables use of the drop-down menus for ease of navigation.

Artist Roster To view an artist's short bio: or go to JMI Speakers Corner
	BLACK UMFOLOSI (ZIMBABWE) One of Africa's great musical exports and one of the most successful groups we have ever booked in Canada, Black Umfolosi 5 blends acapella singing with dance and traditional costume in a show that has played some of Canada's largest venues, but is so simple to produce it can also easily work in smaller theatres. For decades now the guys have been entertaining world music fans in too many countries and continents to mention. Absolutely brilliant. [top]
	RAY BONNEVILLE (QUÉBEC) Juno Award-winner Ray Bonneville is a superb singer-songwriter who currently calls Montreal home, but has lived from Alaska to Memphis, to Paris, France. Bonneville's smooth blues styling features impeccable guitar and harmonica, whether he is working solo or with a full band. Ray's *Gust of Wind* was produced by Juno Award winning guitarist Colin Linden, and which took the Juno Award for Blues Recording in 2000. Ray's 2001 mainstage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival with Colin Linden and a full band was one of the highlights of the festival. "A guitar style of exacting persuasive nuances, gut-felt harmonica lines and a voice soaked in whiskey and road-weary sentiment." Planet Jazz. [top]
	GUY DAVIS (USA) Guy Davis is easily one of the finest proponents of acoutic blues in the world. He has performed across North America, Europe, the UK, Australia and South America, and has played hundreds of shows in Canada, selling out theatres from coast to coast and performing in all ten provinces and two territories. A great story teller, a unique voice and as brilliant on the harp as he is on the guitar, Guy has earned his place as one of the true greats of the current gereration of blues artists. [top]
	DE DANANN (IRELAND) Once described as "the Rolling Stones of Irish Traditional Music," De Danann, returned to the festival stage in 2009 with a new album 'Wonderwaltz' and trips to Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and the USA. The band have found themselves once again in demand by promoters in Europe and North America. Founding member Alec Finn is joined by Eleanor Shanley (vocals), Derek Hickey (accordion), Brian McGrath (banjo/piano), Ronan O'Flaherty (fiddle) and Neill Lyons (bodhrán). [top]
	BLAIR DUNLOP (UK) Award-winning British singer, songwriter and guitarist, has released 4 albums 2 ep’s and toured widely. His third album ‘Gilded’, released May 2016 on his own label was widely acclaimed gaining BBC Radio 2 Playlist status for the two single releases. Prior to this Blair released his acclaimed album ‘House Of Jacks’ in mid 2014 and his 2012 debut ‘Blight and Blossom’ (this led to his winning the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award). Blair has now cemented his place as one of Britain’s most exciting talents to come from the folk scene. [top]
	FRU SKAGERRAK (NORWAY/DENMARK/SWEDEN) The music of Fru Skagerrak takes you on a journey through Scandinavia; from lowlands to mountains, from slow airs to lively polkas, in major and in minor, and everything in between. Fru Skagerrak- ”Lady Skagerrak” – are three master musicians – one from each Scandinavian country: Maja Kjær Jacobsen from Denmark, Elise Wessel Hildrum from Norway and Anna Lindblad from Sweden. Through a repertoire of traditional tunes, new compositions, and songs in their respective languages, they express their kinship and love of their shared heritage. The result is an explosion of the sounds that exist in Scandinavian music today.. [top]
	SHANE HOWARD (AUSTRALIA) Canada has Bruce Cockburn and America has Pete Seeger. The premiere voice of conscience in Australian folk-rock and one of the country’s greatest songwriters, Shane Howard first achieved notoriety with the rock band, Goanna, releasing *Solid Rock* in 1982. That song that has become somewhat of an anthem on the continent and was one of the first contemporary songs to broach the subject of Aboriginal rights in. The album, Spirit of Place, was released in 35 territories, worldwide. [top]
	JAMES KEELAGHAN (ALBERTA) Juno Award winning singer-songwriter James Keelaghan is one of Canada's most successful and respected musicians, and one of the brightest stars on the world folk scene today. James spent 300 days on the road last year. His touring seldom stops, taking him across North America, Europe, the UK and Australia on a regular basis. James Keelaghan has an uncanny knack for finding incredible stories and turning them into finely crafted songs. A commanding performer, he develops an intimate rapport with audiences through his stories and sense of humour, and then leaves them spellbound with passionate renditions of songs that touch on universal emotions and relate historical events to the present. [top]
	SAM KELLY AND THE LOST BOYS (UK) Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys are one of the most dynamic and exciting new bands on the UK folk scene. Playing their first ever show as a band in 2016, in just two years they have risen from fringe stages and pub beer gardens to barnstorming headline sets at festivals all over the UK and Europe. Sam Kelly has gained a reputation as one of the best folk singers of recent years and he has pulled together some of the finest, most innovative young musicians the UK has to offer to form a genre-defying line-up that seamlessly pulls together traditional folk ballads, beautiful original songs, and the occasional surprise cover. [top]
	CLAIRE LYNCH (USA) Claire Lynch has long been recognized as a creative force in acoustic music and at the forefront of women who have expanded the Bluegrass genre. She has three GRAMMY nominations and countless other awards among her official accolades. Frequent and enthusiastic standing ovations at her performances with her tight, virtuosic band demonstrate her ability to captivate widely diverse audiences. Critics laud her songwriting as an undeniable gift, and her enthralling "hillbilly angel" voice has landed her spots on recordings from Linda Ronstadt to Ralph Stanley and in between. [top]
	JUAN MARTÍN (SPAIN) Originally from Spain, and now based out of London, Juan Martin was voted one of the top three guitarists in the world by the prestigious "Guitar Player Magazine." This is authentic Flamenco, but it is also contemporary and accessible. One of the world's greatest Flamenco artists, Juan has played The Royal Albert Hall and the Montreux Jazz Festival, and has collaborated with the likes of Paco de Lucia, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Juan has performed the great concert halls of the world in Russia, Europe, America, Turkey, Hong Kong, Beijing, etc. Truly a giant of the genre. [top]
	RALPH McTELL (UK) One of the great storytellers, Ralph McTell, is now celebrating more than 50 years on the road. Known for his virtuoso guitar style, he is primarily a prolific and gifted songwriter. Ralph made his debut in 1968 with the album ‘Eight Frames a Second’ and in 1974 the release of ‘Streets of London’ earned him an Ivor Novello Award. In 2002 he was presented with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.[top]
	MINOR EMPIRE (TURKEY & CANADA) At the vanguard of progressive world music, Toronto’s Minor Empire takes the listener on a voyage of imagination. As the shamanic focus of the band, vocalist / composer Ozgu Ozman reaches across the geography of her homeland, selecting techniques of expression from the vast vocabularies of the Balkan, Black Sea and other variegated Turkish cultures, and intuiting those which will translate traditional tropes into the vivid colours. [top]
	MISCELLANY OF FOLK (IRELAND & CANADA)Formed in 2022, Miscellany Of Folk is a captivating touring act that brings together three talented musicians hailing from Ireland and Newfoundland. Each member of the band brings a wealth of diverse music and life experiences to the concert stage. With impressive accomplishments in both touring and studio recording, they are consummate professional music makers. With decades of experience performing around the world, their music traverses the Atlantic Ocean, spanning from the Emerald Isle to North America. [top]
	JAKE MORLEY (UK) Jake Morley is one of the UK's most original singer-songwriters at the top of his game. Having played over 400 national and international gigs in the past few years, it's hardly surprising that he has been invited to share stages with many leading lights of modern English songwriting such as Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard and Lucy Rose. Jake may be difficult to categorise stylistically - part acoustic, part pop, part singer-songwriter, part folk - but what's not difficult is to acknowledge his captivating live show, his groundbreaking guitar techniques, his passion for words and ideas and his charismatic power to connect. [top]
	MOULETTES (UK) Moulettes met and started playing music together in their mid-teens. After a couple of EPs and singles they released an acclaimed debut album on Balling, The Jack/Sotones in 2010, which found its way on to several Best Of The Year lists. They also won an Innovation Award and best group from the prestigious Fatea roots-music website and were nominated for best band by the alternative Brit awards. Past performances include Bestival, Glastonbury, End of the Road and Cropredy.[top]
	OYSTERBAND (UK) Oysterband occupies an unusual position in the world of music, combining folk sensibility and acoustic instruments with rock dynamics and sharp, engaged songwriting. The passion and energy of their live performances has become legendary. Starting as an amateur ceilidh band, their career has grown exponentially to include festivals and tours in 35 countries across Europe, Asia and North America; 14 studio albums, including two with June Tabor; and a collaborative project called The Big Session, which is also the name of the festival they host each year in UK. Ragged Kingdom, their current second album with Tabor, won three BBC Folk Awards, including Best Album and Best Group. [top]
	JERRY PORTNOY (USA) Born in 1943, Jerry Portnoy grew up in the blues rich atmosphere of Chicago's famed Maxwell Street Market during the golden age of Chicago Blues. He is a Grammy nominated veteran of both the fabled Muddy Waters Blues Band and the Eric Clapton band and has performed at the White House, Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and major jazz festivals worldwide in a career that has taken him to all fifty states and thirty foreign countries on six continents. His picture adorns the packaging of the classic Marine Band harmonica. [top]
	SCANDINAVIAN STRING ALLIANCE (DENMARK, SWEDEN, NORWAY) This group brings together five of the best roots performers from across Scandinavia. SSA is a touring project created by two Scandinavian bands who are playing and singing traditional as well as newly composed music and songs from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Their performances feature the Pan-Scandinavian violin trio Fru Skagerrak and the Danish violin and guitar duo Kristian Bugge & Morten Alfred Høirup, and their very individual ways of presenting the music of their homelands. But the two acts also join forces as a part of their show of old Scandinavian joking songs and beautiful love songs, combined with some great traditional dance music and catchy new tunes - all arranged for strings, flutes and voices.[top]
	MARTIN SIMPSON (UK) No one has more successfully combined the diverse elements of British, Afro-American and old-timey music than Martin Simpson and there is no doubt that after 35 years as a professional musician, Martin is now better than ever. His career includes collaborations on stage and record with Richard Thompson, June Tabor, Kelly Joe Phelps, Jackson Browne, Martin Carthy, David Lindley, David Hidalgo, Steve Miller, Dick Gaughan and many more. [top]
	STEELEYE SPAN (UK) Formed in 1969, Steeleye Span has been one of the most influential names in British roots music. Pioneers of folk-rock, Steeleye Span changed the face of folk music forever, taking it out of small clubs and into the world of gold records and international tours. Members have come and gone over the years, but Steeleye has always remained at the forefront of the genre they helped to define, and 45 years later the band is an institution in British music. [top]
	THE STRAWBS (UK) The Strawbs have enjoyed major success on both sides of the Atlantic. In the early 1970s, as well as the hit albums, their hit singles "Part of the Union" and "Lay Down" topped the charts. From the mid-1970s they spent more time in the States and Canada where their albums charted for five years as they toured with Santana, Peter Frampton, The Eagles, Joe Walsh, Blue Oyster Cult, King Crimson, and Frank Zappa. The Strawbs also headlined major Canadian venues, such as Maple Leaf Gardens and The Montreal Forum. Rick Wakeman played with the Strawbs for two years before he achieved world-wide success with Yes, and as a solo artist, and the much loved Sandy Denny made an album with the Strawbs before she joined Fairport Convention. [top]
	SYLVIA TYSON (ONTARIO) Sylvia Tyson is no less than an icon in Canadian country and folk music. From her collaboration with Ian Tyson (Ian & Sylvia) on stage, studio and television in the sixties and seventies to seven solo albums, her career has earned her a place in the Canadian Music, Country Music and Songwriter's Halls of Fame, not to mention receiving Canada's highest civiian award, the Order of Canada. Sylvia is also currently a vital part of Quartette, along with Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford and Gwen Swick. [top]

To view a speaker's short bio: or go to the JMI Artist Roster
	JOE BOYD (USA) Born in Boston in 1942, he graduated from Harvard in 1964. After university, he worked as a production and tour manager for George Wein in Europe where he traveled with Muddy Waters, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz and others; at Newport where he supervised Bob Dylan's electric debut. In 1966, he opened UFO, London's psychedelic ballroom.He went on to manage, produce and film the likes of Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and many others. In 2006, Joe published a memoir, "White Bicycles: Making Music in the Sixties"." [top]
	ROD DAVIS (UK) was raised in Woolton on the outskirts of Liverpool and was a close friend of John Lennon's from a very early age when they attended Sunday school together. In 1956 he and John formed the legendary skiffle group, The Quarrymen with two other friends. Rod played banjo in the group for two years until he was replaced by Paul McCartney, and was also present when Paul and John first met. At one time, there were three Beatles in The Quarrymen.. [top]
	BERNIE FINKELSTEIN (CANADA) is the founder of True North Records. He also managed many artists including Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan and Dan Hill. Bernie was the Chairman of MUCHFACT for 26 years, an organization he co-founded with Moses Znaimer in 1984. Bernie was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2006, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) awarded Bernie the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, Mr. Finkelstein also received the Order of Canada in 2007."[top]
	BILL GERMAN (USA) Author and Rolling Stones insider Bill German discusses his ups and downs with "the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world." His book, Under Their Thumb, chronicles his friendship with the Stones (forged when he was just a teenager) and how he became the band's official historian for two decades. He traveled the world with them, stayed at their homes, and witnessed their private jam sessions, decadent parties, and vicious in-fights. [top]
	PEGGY SEEGER (USA/UK) Peggy Seeger is a true legend who has carved a special place in the folk revivals of both the UK and the USA. A multi-instrumentalist (piano, guitar, 5-string banjo, autoharp, English concertina and Appalachian dulcimer), she is lauded for her feminist and political songs yet has made 23 solo recordings and has participated in over a hundred recordings with other artists. As Ewan MacColl's partner and muse, she was the inspiration for MacColl's classic 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' (the title of her much praised recent memoir) yet this is a woman who has consistently followed her own path with passion and vigour. [top]