Kathy Sands-Boehmer’s Harbortown Music and Michael Kornfeld’s AcousticMusicScene.com team up to present Folk from the North Country – a livestream concert featuring Ontario, Canada-based artists Benjamin Dakota Rogers, Angela Saini and The Young Novelists – on Wednesday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. EST. Featuring songs and conversation, the show can be viewed online at Harbortown Music’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. It may also be shared via the AcousticMusicScene.com group on Facebook. Although there is no set fee to view the livestream, tips for the artists would be most appreciated (suggested donation: $20) and may be made via paypalme.com/harbortownmusic.
About the Artists:
Hailing from the countryside of rural Ontario, Benjamin Dakota Rogers is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist channels his penchant for starry nights and nostalgia into a stylized, hard-driving and powerful Americana sound full of heartbreak and grit featuring guitar, banjo, upright bass, and fiddle. He has released three full-length solo recordings, showcased his talents at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, among others, and has been a four-time international songwriting competition winner and a two-time Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee.
Here’s a link to view a few of Benjamin’s videos: benjamindakotarogers.com/videos.
Angela Saini is a Canadian prairie-raised, Toronto- based folk-pop Americana artist with a positive and uplifting outlook on life. She is all about second chances and empowering others. A 2020 Independent Music Award Nominee and 2017 Toronto Independent Music Award winner, she uplifts and inspires audiences with sing-alongs and storytelling about courage and finding joy in surprising places. Angela has five Canadian tours under her belt, as well as several treks across Germany, The Netherlands and the UK. Best known for her sunshine-soaked song “Living on the Bright Side,” she has showcased her talents at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and at a number of Canadian music festivals. Her ability to combine humanistic and honest themes laden with catchy hooks and memorable melodies make her entertaining as well as relatable.
Here’s a link to view a few of Angela’s videos: angelasaini.com/videos.
The Young Novelists create contemporary folk songs that marry effortless harmonies with darkly poetic lyrics, exquisitely crafted hooks, and the unique sound of bowed glockenspiel. The award-winning Toronto-based husband-and-wife folk-roots duo of Graydon James and Laura Spink share a passion for confessional storytelling and sing songs about small towns, redemption, love and loss. The duo has toured across Canada, the U.S. and Europe and has released three studio albums and a live recording. In 2015, The Young Novelists were named New/Emerging Artist of the Year in the Canadian Folk Music Awards and took first place in the Grassy Hill-CT Folk Songwriting Competition during the 10th annual Connecticut Folk Festival, while James won the Ontario Arts Council’s Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award for “Couldn’t Be Any Worse.” The duo has also played coveted juried official showcases during the Folk Alliance International conference and those of its northeast and southeast regional affiliates (NERFA and SERFA).
To view a few videos, visit youngnovelists.com/videos.
About Your Hosts:
The livestream marks a renewed partnership of sorts for Michael Kornfeld and Kathy Sands-Boehmer, who served as president and vice president, respectively, of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) for several years and also co-coordinated one-day conferences and a series of showcases. Kornfeld, a veteran strategic communications and public relations professional – whose clients have included a number of independent recording artists and labels – launched AcousticMusicScene.com in 2007 to provide news, information and commentary for the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities. The longtime president of the Folk Music Society of Huntington, a nonprofit presenting organization on Long Island, NY, Kornfeld also serves on the board of Folk Alliance International, curates the annual Huntington Folk Festival, and hosts showcases at various music conferences and festivals. Sands-Boehmer, who served as the booking and publicity manager for Me & Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead, MA for many years, was an active leader in the Boston Area Coffeehouse Association (BACHA), and has also served as an artist manager, recently launched Harbortown Music as a resource for musicians and venues — building community, while promoting and presenting high-quality music. She works with Stephen Bach of The Digital Docs, who engineers all of Harbortown Music’s virtual shows and lends his technical expertise to the participating artists as well.
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