Ottawa Musicians

Ian Tamblyn

At folk festivals it is normal to include a number of local musicians along with well-known musicians from elsewhere. Sometimes, at other festivals, the locals are there to pad out the program, and may not be up to the calibre of performers from elsewhere.

Such is definitely NOT the case at the Ottawa Folk Festival, which included several outstanding local performers, as well as a number of darned good ones.

Clearly in the "outstanding" category is Ian Tamblyn (who apparently is my neighbour) and whose acoustic guitar playing (and socially conscious lyrics) gave me severe goosebumps.

Ian Tamblyn web site

Lynn Miles

Lynn Miles first came to my attention (before I moved to the Ottawa area) for her back-up vocals on the classic Fred Eaglesmith recording "Drive-In Movie." This Ottawa musician is excellent in her own right, and she has a hilariously droll sense of humour!

Alex Houghton is an incredible acoustic guitar instrumentalist. I was smitten immediately when I first heard her several years ago at the Edmonton Folkfest. She is a regular on the Ottawa folk scene, and has also toured Canada in recent years.

These three are only a few excellent Ottawa-area musicians who played this year's festival. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch all of them. In at least one case -- Ian Robb -- I didn't find out they were there until it was too late. I ran into Robb in the food concession area, and commented to him that I was in hysterics the first time I heard his song "Garnet's Homemade Beer" -- done to the tune of the late Stan Rogers' "Barrett's Privateers", and with the active participation of Stan's brother Garnet, the brewmaster in question. When Robb told me that he seems, unfortunately, to be known mainly for that song, I quickly added that I like his other stuff too! Indeed his "From Different Angels" CD is definitely one I would recommend, and is just one example of the high calibre of the Ottawa folk scene.

Alex Houghton