Hello Humm readers! It is once again the time of year when we reveal the musical acts for our 2027 Folkus Almonte season.
I am so pleased with this year’s selections; we have a cross section of many styles of playing that will provide a truly satisfying listening experience for all who attend. Each season I do my best to select a line-up that includes both pleasing surprises and new favourites. This year is no exception, with acts that I imagine are mostly unheard of, yet are absolute gems.
The season opens on January 30 with Chelsey June. As the former lead vocalist and co-founder of the internationally acclaimed duo Twin Flames, Chelsey helped build one of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary folk acts. Together, they earned more than 50 awards and nominations, including multiple Canadian Folk Music Awards. Their music reached audiences around the world and led to a commissioned work for UNESCO, further cementing their place within Canada’s cultural landscape.
Known for a voice that is at once vulnerable and commanding, she invites listeners into stories that are both deeply personal and universally understood. Whether performing on a major festival stage or in an intimate listening room, she leaves audiences feeling seen, understood, and connected.
February 27th finds us with a group from Winnipeg call MOONRIIVR. The universe did not have to reach far to pull together the orbits of Champagne James Robertson and Gavin Gardiner, the core of what would become MOONRIIVR. Each has played an integral and vibrant role in the Toronto music scene for the past two decades, and their range of styles, community and skills have come together in an easy and tape echo-filled fit.
The 2023 release of their début album, MOONRIIVR — Volume 1, quickly garnered critical acclaim and put the band on stages across Canada, the UK and Europe, and had Rolling Stone Magazine saying it’s “as if Buddy Holly and Chris Isaak made a record with Damien Jurado.”
March 20 brings the incomparable Kellylee Evans to Almonte. Kellylee is a JUNO Award–winning singer-songwriter we are truly fortunate to have living right here in Ottawa. Her extraordinary voice and captivating stage presence move effortlessly between soul, jazz, pop and beyond. She is a renowned and celebrated performer with nine albums to her name; she has shared stages with artists including John Legend, Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson and Erykah Badu; and she has toured extensively across Canada, Europe and beyond.
Kellylee brings both power and vulnerability to everything she sings. In 2026, she received an honorary Doctor of Music from Carleton University in recognition of her artistic achievements and contributions to the community.
The season wraps up on April 10 with Diyet & the Love Soldiers, all the way from Yellowknife.
A songwriter, storyteller and performer, Diyet creates music rooted in the land, culture, and lived experience of the North. As an Indigenous woman walking in two worlds, she is both a keeper of traditional songs and stories and a contemporary artist with a voice distinctly her own.
Born in a tent and raised on the ancestral lands of the Kluane First Nation in Canada’s Yukon Territory, Diyet grew up in a family grounded in tradition, but with an adventurous and unconventional spirit. That combination continues to shape her music, reflecting her Southern Tutchone, Tlingit, Japanese and Scottish heritage.
Through powerful storytelling and an unmistakable connection to place, Diyet’s songs travel across landscapes and generations. Her music explores the contrasts that define life in the North — wildness and belonging, tradition and change, hardship and hope — blending roots, alt-country, folk and Indigenous musical traditions into a sound that is warm, expansive and deeply personal.
Over the past decade, Diyet has performed at major folk, jazz, world music and multidisciplinary festivals and theatres across Canada and toured throughout the UK, Europe, the United States and the Circumpolar North. Her trio includes Diyet on vocals, bass and hand drum; her husband and collaborator Robert van Lieshout on guitar and foot percussion; and Bob Hamilton on pedal steel, mandolin and guitar.
And finally, I am happy to say we are keeping with the tradition of opening each show with a local Almonte and area act playing five songs prior to our headliner.
This year’s opening acts are Yavor Kresic, Tyler Craig, Chris and Kate, and Anne Gauthier. Each are local treasures and we are grateful we have such wonderful players available for our enjoyment.
Folkus Almonte makes 180 tickets available for each show — 150 season passes and 30 singles.
Season passes go on sale November 1st for $150 plus fees at TicketsPlease.ca, and single tickets go on sale for individual shows on December 15 at $45 plus fees at Tickets Please.
I am looking forward to this coming season; it is going to be another great year!
