Previous events

The “season finale” of the Take Note! Music House “welcome back” series will be the multi-faceted multi-instrumentalist Teilhard Frost (best remembered by TNMH audience from Sheesham & Lotus). This will be on Friday, September 29 at 7:00 pm (doors – or garden gate – open at 6:30). Weather permitting, the concert will be on the back patio, or will be moved inside with windows wide open – so don’t forget to bring layers!

Suggested donation is $20, or pay-what-you-can, but reservations are required – please email concerts@takenotepromotion.com or call 705-305-1687 to book your seat and get the address. (A private home, just east of Barrie City Hall.) Teihard was originally booked to perform here in May, 2020. He’s been working on a new album in the meantime, so will have some new music to present, to make up for it!

Teilhard Frost

A multi-instrumentalist, instrument maker, and music educator, Teilhard Frost specializes in traditional Appalachian folk music. He was raised on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario, spending time with the elder fiddlers in the area. At the age of three he was given a jaw harp and harmonica by his father, his mother gave him a fiddle, and a record of Kentucky fiddle tunes. He has continued to play them all ever since.

Through the 1990s, Teilhard co-founded Afro-Cuban Son Montuno project Klavé Y Kongo, Subtonic Monks (improvisational art-music ensemble), Garrison Creek (CDN fiddle band), Flapjack (bush swing band), and Into The Woods (flute, percussion and didjeridu). He released the first Canadian solo album of didjeridu music, and recorded as a session musician in Toronto. Teilhard has toured the world with music as his ambassador for nearly 30 years.

Teilhard is a founding member of acclaimed act Sheesham, Lotus and ‘Son, who perform their highly entertaining show throughout Europe and North America. Together they have released 7 albums and have performed thousands of shows. Through excellent musicianship, stage antics, costume and lighting, Sheesham, Lotus and ‘Son have indelibly changed the way people think of old time folk music.

In 2020, Andy McLelland asked Sheesham, Lotus and ‘Son to record on a wire recorder a collection of songs he had written for a fictitious character, Hezekiah Proctor and the Hash House Serenaders. A short novel was written concerning the life and times of this Hezekiah which accompanies a box set of vinyl record albums. The quartet successfully completed a sold out tour of Western Europe in June of 2023.

Teilhard’s first solo ‘old time’ recording, ‘As the Crow Flies’, is a collection of traditional fiddle tunes and ballads with deep trans-Atlantic connections found in the Appalachian highlands.

‘Four and Twenty Blackbirds Dancing on a Fawn Skin’, Teilhard’s second album, awaits release in 2023. More of the old time Appalachian tunes and songs which span the Atlantic Ocean featuring gourd and early era banjos, mountain banjo, harmonica, jaw harp, fiddles and voice. The album also features Tom Power, Chris Coole, Scott Prouty, Jason Mercer, and Daragh Lynch.

Joining forces with Jason Mercer, Teilhard has recently released the Os Project, an album of instrumental dance music based on ancient banjo riffs. The West African 3 string Ekonting is the root, then baritone sax, electric bass and guitar, organ, drums and percussion play around that. Together, they have also created award winning sound tracks and incidental music for film, advertising spots, and live theatre.

Teilhard lives on Wolfe Island in the St. Lawrence River where he makes banjos, teaches old time music and enjoys family life with his partner and their two daughters.

Learn more, and sample some of his music at https://www.tfrostmusic.com

The summer/fall “welcome back” series at the Take Note! Music House continues, with “Butch B” – better known to the TNMH audience as Gabriel Bouchard, who last appeared here as part of the band Outside I’m a Giant. This will be on Friday, September 8 at 7:30 pm (doors – or garden gate – open at 7:00). Weather/bugs permitting, the concert will be on the back patio, or will be moved inside with windows wide open.

Suggested donation is $20, or pay-what-you-can, but reservations are required – please email concerts@takenotepromotion.com or call 705-305-1687 to book your seat and get the address. (A private home, just east of Barrie City Hall.)

Gabriel was originally booked to perform here in April, 2020 as “Clôde”, so we’re happy to be able to bring him back, whichever name he’s performing under! “Butch B” will be joined for a few numbers by cellist Alyssa Wright – who was 1/2 of the “Frizzen Spring” concert in February, 2020, the last TNMH show before you-know-what. Bookends upon bookends…

Butch B

“Butch B” is the stage name of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Bouchard, a core member of the Quebec band “Outside I’m A Giant”.

Hailing from Digby, Nova Scotia and growing up all over Canada, Butch B picked up songs here and there all along the way. Sometimes he plays them as written, but often he turns them into another song altogether. Come discover some new songs and some old songs made anew.

Hear some of his original music at https://gabbouchard.bandcamp.com, or under his other stage name “Clôde” at https://clode.bandcamp.com.

Watch him live on stage at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1h0bJRI99Q, or live ON A BIKE at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlFapaRzJj0

Moonfruits

Take Note! Music House, address given upon reservation, Barrie, ON

The summer/fall “welcome back” series at the Take Note! Music House continues, with Moonfruits – an incredible duo we’ve been trying to present since 2018! This will be on Thursday, August 24 at 7:00 pm (doors – or garden gate – open at 6:30). Weather/bugs permitting, the concert will be on the back patio, or will be moved inside with windows wide open.

Suggested donation is $20, or pay-what-you-can, but reservations are required – please email concerts@takenotepromotion.com or call 705-305-1687 to book your seat and get the address. (A private home, just east of Barrie City Hall.) Preview some of the music from their new album, Salt, at https://moonfruits.ca/home#videos.

Moonfruits

(www.moonfruits.ca)

Harmony-forward contemporary folk bilingue

      “a tremendous live act ... they absolutely brought the house down” [Jan Hall, Folk Roots Radio]

      “the future of roots music is in good hands” [Heather Kitching, Roots Music Canada]

Moonfruits—led by Ottawa-based partners Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy—craft contemporary folk, organically alternating between French and English, that addresses our collective humanity with heart, wit, and wonder. This Stingray Rising Star, SOCAN, and Trille Or award-winning group has toured their transportive live show across Canada, the US, France, Belgium, and Germany.

Moonfruits’ lushly orchestrated sophomore album, Salt (2022), is a 12-song suite that explores what it means to the band to live, dream, and raise a child in an era of climate change and deepening inequality. It tells the stories of their families and the kinds of communities they hope to help build.

The Take Note! Music House is back, and what a way to start the first season since the pandemic, with “Dealer’s Choice” – a triple-bill featuring three award-winning Ontario singer-songwriters: Rebekah Hawker, Sarah Hiltz, and Shawna Caspi. This will be on Tuesday, August 8 at 7:00 pm (doors – or garden gate – open at 6:30). Weather/bugs permitting, the concert will be on the back patio, or will be moved inside with windows wide open.

Suggested donation is $20 or pay-what-you-can but reservations are required – please email concerts@takenotepromotion.com or call 705-305-1687 to book your seat and get the address. (A private home, just east of Barrie City Hall.)

The first half of the show is presented in a standard songwriters-in-the-round format, with each artist taking turns swapping songs. The second set invites audience participation – During the intermission, audience members write down suggestions for song themes and put them in a hat. For the rest of the show, the artists choose themes for each round from those suggestions and play songs based on those themes. The performers have to think quickly and be spontaneous, connecting their songs to each theme, and the audience is left with a memorable evening of captivating songs and stories. It’s a fun, engaging, interactive show that’s different every time!

Rebekah Hawker (www.rebekahhawker.com)

Self-deprecating, and consistently hilarious, Rebekah Hawker smiles often and easily onstage; and it takes only one look through a typical crowd to see her energy is contagious. Her musical style moves freely between the traditional definitions of country and folk music with a powerful voice that seemingly explodes from within her and reveals the refined craftsmanship and intention of her songs. In 2020 Rebekah’s song ‘Catch You’ won Folk Music Ontario’s “Songs from the Heart” award and in 2022 she was selected as an official showcasing artist at their annual conference. She is currently working towards her sophomore release in 2023 and was recently a selected participant in RBC’s Music Entrepreneurship Program at Daniels Launchpad Toronto.

Live video: https://youtu.be/HfjKKaYCNj0

Sarah Hiltz (www.sarahhiltz.com)

Sarah Hiltz is a contemporary folk artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her newest album (CALM FURY) is a collection of songs that grew out of her research into the ways we experience, express, and repress anger as humans. Hiltz has independently released four full-length albums and two EPs since 2009. Her work as a talented singer-songwriter has landed her Folk Music Ontario’s Songs From The Heart Award, opening slots for Canadian icons Gordon Lightfoot and Ron Hynes, a Best Folk Album nomination (Toronto Independent Music Awards) and earned her an invitation to give a TEDx talk in 2014.

Live video: https://youtu.be/oFkOqV6zywI

Shawna Caspi (www.shawnacaspi.com)

Singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi takes her time crafting lyrics that are poetic and meaningful, using unusual rhymes and surprising turns of phrase. Shawna spent years on the road, playing festivals, halls, train cars, backyards, and living rooms, supporting her warm voice with intricate fingerstyle guitar accompaniment, and drawing energy from shifting landscapes and long drives through Canada and the USA. This is music that makes an authentic human connection, that conveys a sense of closeness, of being understood, of feeling less alone. Her latest album, Hurricane Coming, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and an Ontario Folk Music Award.

Live video: https://youtu.be/ypbsEmPuODM

Preview live performances from each singer-songwriter in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqNEDcskfnWesUsmL-9utoKpawHhc-RbP