Festival detail

Presented by folkwaysAlive! and Peter North
Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Peter Case, Grammy-nominated bluesman Mark DuFresne of Roomful of Blues fame, Canadian folk icon Roy Forbes, Canadian premieres of music documentaries on Sister Rosetta Tharpe and David Bromberg, and a slate of thematic workshops and seminars are just some of the ingredients that will provide a hearty musical gumbo for Edmonton roots music fans the weekend of February 23 - 26.
Utilizing the Art Gallery, Royal Alberta Museum and Stanley Milner Library theatres, The Yardbird Suite, the Blue Chair Café and The Century Casino Showroom, Winter Roots and Blues Roundup is a music festival that continues with the intention of 'entertaining, informing and educating' roots music fans.

Peter Case will be at the Roundup for two full days, performing a concert of original material on Friday February 24 at the Museum Theatre and then participating in a Blues of Folkways workshop hosted by Holger Petersen at the Art Gallery Theatre on the Saturday afternoon.

One of the objectives of WR&B Roundup is to also offer an event that is accessible and affordable. To that end a number of the film screenings, workshops and seminars are free to the public.
Benda Bilili -- the story of four paraplegic musicians and one able-bodied teenager from the Congo who light up the stage in front of an entranced audience of 8,000 people -- will be one of the screenings patrons of the WR&B can see for free or a donation, and it is the same situation for the critically-acclaimed documentary Godmother of Rock and Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe to be shown at the Stanley Milner Library Theatre on the Sunday afternoon.
Winter Roots and Blues Roundup started modestly two years ago when North and Arndt put together a handful of roots music-related events that included a tribute to folklorist and musician Mike Seeger, workshops with David Rea, Mark Hummel and Terry McDade, and performances from American bluesman Alvin “Youngblood” Hart.
2011 saw a roots music film component added to the mix along with workshops that drew attentive and appreciative audiences, including a Vintage Instrument Workshop with Lowell “Banana” Levinger, a founding member of the Youngbloods, John Rutherford and fiddler Byron Myhre.
2012 will see workshops exploring The Migration of Music and Folk Guitar Styles and thematic workshops including Canadian Classics: Folkways Style that will feature Roy Forbes, Maria Dunn and Jim McLennan.
Dunn will also be front and centre on the first night of Winter Roots and Blues Roundup as she hosts The Women of Folkways concert at the Yardbird Suite with a cast that includes Cindy Church, Laura Vinson and Shannon Johnson of The McDades.
The Saturday night Blues Revue at Century Casino features Dave Babcock and the Nightkeepers and Mark Dufresne with some surprise guests. Fans of roots music will definitely have a reason to get up and dance.
For complete information on Winter Roots and Blues Roundup III please visit Folkways Alive.