THE FRIENDS OF FIDDLER’S GREEN AT YOUR SERVICE FOR OVER HALF A CENTURY! - Four fine singers, three songwriters, a brilliant joke teller, the occasional fiery dragon, one Order of Canada, one Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and one of the longest track records in Canadian Folk Music.
This totally uncategorizable collection has been together, with a few personnel changes, since their birth at Toronto’s Fiddler’s Green coffeehouse in 1971. Nobody, not even the Friends themselves, can predict what might happen during one of their concerts, but it always includes humour, powerful vocal harmony, great musicianship, social commentary and an irresistible urge to dance.
The Friends were recipients of the 2003 Estelle Klein Award, given by the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals for service to folk music in Ontario.
The Friends’ arsenal of instruments generally includes, various concertinas, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, accordions harmonicas, piano, occasional trombone and TWO species of bagpipes!
Alistair Brown
From Paisley, Scotland, for many years a resident of London, Ontario, and now back in the UK. Sings Scottish and English songs, is the man behind the booming bass harmonies, plays melodeon, concertina, mouth-organ and jaw harp, and tells incapacitating jokes.
Grit Laskin
Grit plays a bewildering assortment of instruments, and has some notoriety as a writer of wicked parodies and songs on subjects as diverse as dieting and apartheid. Grit has two solo recordings on the Fogarty's Cove label, one on Borealis, and has played on more records than he can remember, including those of the late, great Canadian songwriter, Stan Rogers. In recent years he has been a major player in the development of Borealis Records into Canada’s premier folk label, and in the emergence of the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Jeff McClintock
Originally from SW Ontario, Jeff has recently returned to the band after a long globe-trotting absence, including a short spell in a Saudi Arabian jail (don’t ask). Now living a mostly respectable life in Ottawa, his piano playing adds a wonderfully playful character to The Friends tunes and songs. He also plays with Ottawa’s great D’Arcy McGee band.
Ian Robb
An Englishman, now living in Ottawa, Ian’s singing is well-known among afficionados of British music this side of the pond. His occasional spasms of songwriting have produced some gems which have far out-travelled their author. Of course, he doesn’t travel that much...Ian is a member of the much lauded harmony vocal trio Finest Kind, and has recorded about a dozen albums over the years with various band, and as a solo. He was awarded “Best Singer - Traditional” at the 2003 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Ian Bell
Ian is the most recent addition to the band, having replaced Ian Clark in 2006. He lives in Paris, Ontario, and is celebrated in these parts as the writer of many wonderful songs about rural Ontario and its characters. An alumnus of such great bands as Muddy York and the Dawnbreakers, Ian plays mostly guitar with the Friends, but is also an honoured member of the Gary Larson band from hell, one of those masochistic enough to excel on both bagpipes and accordion.
James Stephens
For this year’s tour, The Friends will be joined by James Stephens on fiddle. Multi-instrumentalist James was the principal songwriter in critically acclaimed pop/roots band “Fat Man Waving”. James can presently be found performing with traditionally influenced bands and singer-songwriters across Canada. He is also a busy record producer and engineer at his studio in Chelsea, Quebec.
The Friends have released two CDs as a band and many more as individuals
This Side Of The Ocean – 1981 Fogarty’s Cove Records
Old Inventions – 2015 FOFG Productions