Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton is really the only event that spans two columns over the run of a year, and it’s still worth noting that as it enters the home stretch leading to Saturday’s big finale at Sydney’s Centre 200, there are still many fine events with tickets still available between now and then that will be well worth your while, even if you have to go a little ways out of the way to get there.
You can still make a day of it if you dive into the schedule at celtic-colours.com, and find guided walks, art exhibits and demonstrations, workshops and so much food and drink it’ll make your head spin like an old Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald 78 r.p.m. record.
Yes, many of the shows are sold out well in advance, but looking at the screen for Thursday, Oct. 15 it shows two of my personal favourite Cape Breton fiddlers, Howie MacDonald (with pianist Beverly MacLean) and Dwayne Cote are performing at the United Protestant Church of Sydney River. There are still tickets available for this show with Howie’s sister, singer Marilyn MacKinnon, and a Maine combo with moxie: the lively acoustic folk quartet Pine Tree Flyers.
Or take a trek up to beautiful Ingonish Beach on Thursday for a night of music from all over, at St. Peter’s Church. The Saltwater Soiree features trad explorers Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, Margaree’s Hailee LeFort Trio and seasoned Quebec trio Le Bruit Court dans le Ville featuring members of francophone folk legends La Bottine Souriante.
Plus, if you like your events as cheap as free, there’s the morning Knox Sessions at Baddeck’s Knox Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m. with CBC Radio’s Wendy Bergfeldt hosting the music and conversation. On Thursday, she welcomes Baddeck’s Rose Morrison & Irish accordionist Breanndan O Beaglaoich, piper Kenneth MacKenzie and Le Bruit Court dans le Ville. Friday morning’s lineup includes Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, Antigonish musician Heather MacIsaac and Con O’Brien from the Irish Descendants.
(And if you’re reading this bright and early on Wednesday morning, you might be able to get to Baddeck for today’s Knox Session with Heather Rankin, but don’t break any speed limits to get there.)
In Sydney, the McConnell Library is hosting midday Celtic Conversations at 12:30 p.m., and admission is also free of charge. Thursday sees Pictou County’s own Dave Gunning drop by for some stories and maybe a song or two, and on Friday, a younger member of the legendary Makem Brothers Irish folk family, Rory Makem, will discuss the legacy that he is so skillfully carrying on for fans around the world.
Makem also takes the stage on Friday night at the St. Peter’s Lions Hall, with Cortese & the Dance Cards and Cape Breton folk trio Good Crowd, while Gunning hosts the With These Hands concert at the Inverness Academy, with Pine Tree Flyers and the dream duo of Cape Breton fiddler Shelly Campbell and pianist Allan Dewar. (And yes, tickets are still available for both of these concerts, as of this writing.)
As things wind down on Saturday, all roads lead to Centre 200, for Celtic Colours’ 30th anniversary blowout, but there are still tickets and the line up is unbeatable, with the mighty man of song, Matt Andersen, the Irish Descendants, Coig and the Men of the Deeps, plus your gracious and hilarious hosts, Bette MacDonald & Maynard Morrison. Here’s to the next three decades!
If you don’t feel like crossing the causeway this week, there’s lots to do on the mainland, like check out Pictou’s deCoste Performing Arts Centre for Juno Award-winning bluesmaster Garrett Mason on Thursday, Oct. 15, or take a musical trip through the sunny 1960s and ’70s sounds of Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 16 with Echoes From the Canyon: The Music & Magic of Laurel Canyon featuring an all-star band of Nova Scotia players.
And if you still want a taste of some Celtic magic, beloved Irish-Canadian tenor John McDermott brings his Raised on Songs & Stories tour to the deCoste Centre on Sunday, Oct. 18, after performing a 2 p.m. matinee show on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay.
And before we close, let’s welcome Quebec-based acoustic duo the Co-Conspirators to Nova Scotia on their October tour of the Maritimes, stopping at Guysborough’s Cast Away Cafe on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1:30 p.m.
Singer-songwriter Will Richards and singer Katherine Simons combine the firebrand folk of the Weavers and the Travellers with the harmonic sweep of Ian & Syliva, and with four albums under their collective belt, have more than an afternoon’s worth of songs to entertain you with.
If you happen to be elsewhere in the province, the Co-Conspirators perform evening shows at the Pink Piano in Lower Sackville on Thursday, Oct. 15 and Digby’s Sydney Street Pub on Friday, Oct. 16 and a Saturday, Oct. 17 2 p.m. matinee at High Tides Theatre in Maitland.
For more info, visit theco-conspirators.com.