Résidence internationale pour auteurs-compositeurs de Banff

Kevin was raised from a very young age in Oklahoma.  He began his professional life as a touring musician right out of high school.  He was on the road for years before he moved to Nashville in 1978 to work as a songwriter.  He signed on with Sony/Tree publishing and went on to have amazing success with artists such as Garth Brooks, Ricky Skaggs, Waylon Jennings, The Highwaymen, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, and Don Williams all recording his songs.

Photo by Rodney Bursiel

Howard Bilerman is a GRAMMY nominated musician, sound engineer, and record producer who has been recording bands for over 30 years. As co-owner and head engineer of the hotel2tango recording studio in Montreal, Bilerman has enjoyed working with some of Canada’s most talented artists, as well as others from the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy, Scotland, Africa, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, and Australia. These include Leonard Cohen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Arcade Fire, Thalia Zedek, Vic Chesnutt, A Silver Mt. Zion, Basia Bulat, Tiago Bettencourt, Lhasa De Sela, British Sea Power, Bassekou Kouyate, Sam Roberts, Patrick Watson, Coeur De Pirate, Adam Cohen, Lou Doillon, The Webb Sisters, The Dears, Wolf Parade, Operators, and many more. 

Howard has been credited on over 450 records to date, including as an engineer on Leonard Cohen’s GRAMMY winning song “You Want It Darker”. He has engineered sessions for such legends as producer Bob Johnston, John Simon, and Steve Albini. He has been a regular faculty member at Banff Centre, having helped to create their groundbreaking Indie Music Residency. His recordings have received international critical praise, ending up on several “Best Of The Decade” lists in 2010, and the hotel2tango is seen by many as being at the centre of Montreal’s independent musical community.

Photo by Susan Moss

Cadence Weapon is Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer, and poet Roland “Rollie” Pemberton. His debut album Breaking Kayfabe received international critical fanfare and was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize; his 2012 album Hope In Dirt City would do the same. Cadence has played festivals like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Music Festival, Roskilde, and Primavera Sound. He has performed with artists such as Public Enemy, Mos Def, Saul Williams, Diplo, Questlove, and De La Soul.

Pemberton served as Poet Laureate of Edmonton from 2009 to 2011. His debut book of poetry Magnetic Days was released by Metatron in 2014 and his poem The Garden was incorporated into a bronze sculpture at the Alberta Legislature Grounds in Edmonton in 2018. He also acted as the narrator for the VICELAND TV series PAYDAY and Mister Tachyon, and has hosted lectures for Red Bull Music Academy and Native Instruments.

Photo by Brad Casey

Jeff Waye is a 30-year music business lifer, and currently chief operating officer and co-owner of the international independent music publisher Third Side Music. The company currently represents over 55 000 songs from a wide ranging roster, including Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett, Colin Stetson, Sofi Tukker, Badbadnotgood, Cinematic Orchestra, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Flying Lotus, ODESZA, Lucius, Studio One, and many more. His previous experience includes label manager for Ninja Tune Records, production lead for Amon Tobin ISAM Live, buyer at Cargo Records, show booker, record retail, and all other manner of general music nerdery.

Photo by Susan Moss

Fats Kaplin can play anything with strings. Born and raised in New York City, influenced by jazz, gypsy, and traditional string band music, Kaplin had already been featured on legendary recordings and extensive tours by the time he was 18-year-old. Now living in Nashville, he is one of the music industry’s leading multi-instrumentalists (fiddle, steel, accordion, mandolin, guitar, and so on). The list of people he has recorded and toured with is extraordinary. It includes John Prine, (currently), Jack White, Nanci Griffith, The Mavericks, Suzy Boggus, Buddy Miller, Tinariwen, Colin Linden, and more. At the age of 17, Kaplin went on the road and recorded two duo albums with country blues guitarist Roy Bookbinder for the Blue Goose label. After playing for several years in numerous New York early jazz and old timey outfits, Fats joined the Tom Russell band in the mid 80’s. They recorded and toured extensively. In 1992, he moved to Nashville at the urging of Kevin Welch. Since then, he has worked with Kevin in his band The Overtones, with The Dead Reckoners, and Kane-Welch-Kaplin. In addition to working with a wide array of artists, Kaplin composes, records, and performs his own music with his wife Kristi Rose and the Fats Kaplin Gang.

Photo by Stacie Huckeba

Tamara Lindeman is a songwriter and singer who performs under the name The Weather Station. As The Weather Station, she has released four albums and toured extensively across Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia.  She has been nominated for a Juno, a Socan Award, and the Polaris Prize, and garnered praise from Pitchfork, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The New York Times.

“No one else is writing true-life songs with such a command of nuance and ellipsis, with such generosity of unguarded emotion and careful economy of means.”  - Richard Williams, Uncut Magazine

Photo by Colin Medley

Grammy Award winner Don Henry has written songs recorded by legends Ray Charles and Patti Page to young hit makers Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. Don has played in-the-round with performers as diverse as Joey Ramone at New York’s famous Bottom Line to Keith Urban at Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe. Kathy Mattea’s version of the Grammy Award winning Where've You Been, also won Don and co-writer Jon Vezner, song of the year honors from the ACMs, the CMAs, and the N.S.A.I., the first song in country music history to be awarded all four honors in the same year. Miranda Lambert had a big hit in 2013 with Don and Phillip Coleman’s song All Kinds Of Kinds. (Background vocals by Don on the record) Don tours extensively as a solo performer, with Jon Vezner as half of The DonJuans, and with folk legend Tom Paxton. 

Photo by Don McGuire

Originally from Toronto and recently relocated to Montreal, multi-instrumentalist Emily Rockarts circles between the realms of folk, pop, and storytelling. Mapmaker (2016), her debut five-track EP garnered her critical acclaim from taste-making reviewers, more than 30 cross-Canada tour dates, festival appearances, a spot in the top 20 producer’s choice in CBC’s Searchlight contest, and a few top 20 appearances on earshot charts. Emily is currently working on her first full-length album anticipated for release Spring 2020.

Photo by Marina MacDonald Totino

Brendan Kinley is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, and performer, currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  As an MC, drummer and/or band leader, he has toured and performed across Canada, Europe, and Central America. 

Brendan’s current projects include leading the eight-piece live hip hop band Super Duty Tough Work, as well as holding down the drumming duties for beat music duo Ali Atwell. Over the last 10+ years, Brendan has worked as a sideman in the Winnipeg music scene, rising to be a first-call performance, session, and touring drummer for most groove based acts, including Ojibway trumpeter Chuck Copenace and RnB vocalist/pianist Marisolle Negash.  

In addition to playing, Brendan has taught extensively in the non-profit sector, running music programs and workshops in community centres and schools since 2006. 

Josh Toal is a multi-instrumentalist, based in Montreal. Growing up in Southern Ontario, Josh started live singing and playing guitar with many of the seasoned country blues artists. This musical learning led to being a part of Juno-nominated gospel group, Newworldson. This project brought him around the world and was the beginning of his touring career. Being based in Montreal since 2003, Josh has had the opportunity to work with many of the city’s great musicians.  He tours regularly with Plants and Animals, Juno-nominated Elisapie, Katie Moore, and Daniel Isaiah and had the chance to record with Mike O’Brien, Li’l Andy, Basia Bulat, Campbell Woods, T. Buckley, Old Man Luedecke, among others. When he’s not on the road, Josh spends his time with his family especially his daughter, doing dishes, and fixing things around the house.

Photo by Katie Moore

Mike O’Brien is a singer songwriter and guitarist based in Montreal, Quebec. He is a member of the alt-country group El Coyote and one half of the group Sin and Swoon with his partner Michelle Tompkins. He has also released two records as a solo artist. He will be touring as a member of Old Man Luedecke’s band in the fall of 2019.  Sideman and session work credits include: Old Man Luedecke, Campbell Woods, Jake Clemons, Adam Cohen, Tim Buckley, Elisapie, Ian Kelley, Lisa Leblanc, Katie Moore, Angela Desveaux, Joanna Serrat, Howard Bilerman (as a member of Howard’s Hotel2Tango AllStars featuring Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury and The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman), and Vic Chesnutt (toured as a member of the band for his last two tours in 2009).  

A Juno-award winning artist, Shad is one of Canada’s most revered rappers, a peerless wordsmith who embodies Hip-Hop’s power to entertain, educate and express the fullness of humanity through art. Born in Kenya to Rwandan parents, and raised in London, Ontario, Shad has released 7 full-length albums and 3 EPs since his debut in 2005. 5 of his albums have been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, the most shortlisted nominations of any artist in the prize's history. Shad also hosted CBC's Arts and Culture radio show 'q', is the host of Netflix's Peabody and Emmy-Award winning docuseries 'Hip-Hop Evolution' and he holds a Masters Degree in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University. Using the power of words and music to make meaning, Shad draws on his own experiences to explore the fullness of life and what it means to be human.

Image by Justin Broadbent.

Martyn Joseph is a completely unique and mind blowing artist. Take everything you think you know about singer songwriters... and rip it up. For one man and a guitar he creates a performance with a huge far-reaching sound that is energetic, compelling, and passionate. Be it to two hundred people or twenty thousand, he blows the crowd away night after night.

He is gifted with the rare ability to speak to the soul with his expressive and poignant lyrics and has a career spanning thirty years, thirty-two albums, over a half a million record sales and thousands of live performances.

Compared to Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, Bruce Cockburn, and Dave Matthews, he has created his own style and reputation as a mesmerising live performer and stands in his own right, built on a reputation for giving what thousands have described as the best live music experience of their lives. A unique talent driven by passion, social awareness, and love for his trade, he’s a jaw dropping guitar player who has developed a unique percussive style, teamed up with a powerful show stopping voice, and has been called “The Welsh Springsteen”.

In addition to his 5 top 50 UK hits, the importance of his work has been recognized by programs such as BBC Radio 2’s prime time series on Singer/Songwriters. Social justice has an essential presence throughout his music, which has been recognized with various humanitarian awards and plaudits.

There is versatility in Martyn’s music that is hard to categorize. Many have tried, resulting in labels such as Folk, Rock, Soul, Folk Funk, and Americana; all of which somehow miss the mark. But sometimes music doesn’t need a defining genre and with the ability to articulate a sense of the bigger picture, Martyn’s music and social commentary manage to empower and speak for many. His songs are pictures, stories, and feelings all put to music and delivered by a master craftsman.

Martyn Joseph, a unique talent driven by passion and love for his trade, continues to write, sing, and play from the heart. It’s a road he’s been travelling for most of his life and, as he often tells his audience, “you keep turning up and so will I.”