
Winner of Folk Music Ontario's 2020 "Setting The Stage Award"
When: Saturday Mar. 19
Time: 7:30pm start (doors open at 6:45pm)
Where: Royal Canadian Legion - BR 129 , 719 Mountain St., Haliburton, ON
COVID Protocols:
For the safety of all patrons, this concert is restricted to those that are fully vaccinated. Vaccination proof and ID must be produced for entry to the building on the night of the event. Masks must be worn at all times. If you would like to sit with other people that you are not buying tickets for, please provide that information in the comments section of your order. Seating will be allocated in advance with seat allocations decided by order of purchase.
Ticket options: Folk Society members and students - $20; non members - $25 (HST included). No ticket sales will be available at the door. Advance ticket sales only. Ticket sales are limited. There are no physical tickets for this show. Please bring a digital or paper copy of your receipt to the show to ensure admission.
The Artists:
We are thrilled to reintroduce live music to the Haliburton Highlands in 2022 by featuring 2 local artists. Cassidy Taylor, of course, was born and bred in Haliburton, while Jess Knights has recently taken up residence after spending many of her summers at a family cottage on Lake Kashagawigamog. Read on for more details about these artists and their music.
Cassidy Taylor
Cassidy Taylor is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in the small town of Haliburton, ON and growing up among the amiable music community that surrounded her, Cassidy established her name and began drawing crowds as early as age 14. Cassidy’s sensual voice accompanied by her acoustic guitar has always been able to silence a room. Her energy resembles a warm, sweet, and quirky introversion derived from her upbringing. Working with engineer and producer, Yanni Caldas, in the studio and at her live shows, Cassidy finds a way to incorporate an element of storytelling into everything she does. Releasing her latest single, “Pretty,” was essential in finding her niche sound in the pop music scene. Cassidy adds an ‘underground’ flare to the genre while looking to artists such as Lorde, Taylor Swift, and Bleachers for inspiration.
Jess Knights
Straddling the renegade worlds of alt-country, blues and soul, singer-songwriter Jess Knights’ hard-to-pin-down style is reflective of her own unassuming past. A classically-trained opera singer who cut her teeth in the boozy, rough-hewn dives of her native Calgary, she’s not one to follow convention.
Her debut 2018 EP, Won’t Wait, captured the grit of the rooms that helped her find her voice and the colourful denizens within them, and earned her a place on several year-end lists with the Calgary Herald and TheYYScene naming her one to watch.
When she returned in 2020 with her debut full-length album, Best Kind of Light, it was revivalist soul and classic roots tones that had ripened her sound. With help from award-winning producer Joshua Van Tassel and the crème de la crème of Canadian songsmiths and sidemen, including Donovan Woods and Joey Landreth, the effort brought into focus the power of Knights’ luminous voice and her burgeoning skills as a songwriter of earnest balladry.
Upon its release, Best Kind of Light received plays on SiriusXM and CBC Radio, and charted on college radio nationally, appearing at the No. 1 spot on CKUA Radio for three weeks in a row. Knights was also honoured with a 2020 Best of Calgary award, bestowed the title of Best Musical Act.
Called an artist “who can play in the big leagues with some of this country’s best musicians and not only hold her own but own it all” (Mike Bell, TheYYScene), Knights is establishing herself as Calgary’s preeminent soul-roots sweetheart; a captivating performer that is bound to leave an impression.
Haliburton's own Nick Russell will be accompanying Jess on stage.
Refreshments: will be available for purchase from the Legion