Staff
Newfoundland traditional singer Matthew Byrne is coming to Fort Frances.
The winner of the 2015 Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Album of the Year will be playing at From The Grind Up next Wednesday (May 4) at 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $15 (available at the door) but seating is limited.
“For all of the festivals and shows I’ve done in Ontario, I haven’t really done much in Northern Ontario at all,” Byrne told the Times.
“When my manager and I started seeking out good folk music rooms in the area, we were recommended From The Grind Up by the Green Bank Trio, who recently played there,” he noted.
Byrne said he’s looking forward to coming here.
“I’ve heard it’s beautiful,” he remarked.
“[But] it’s always the people I look forward to most,” he stressed. “I want to learn how their history and their work relate to what I sing about.
“I want to see how my maritime music connects with a place built on mining, forestry, and farming,” added Byrne.
“That’s one of the things that I love about touring in Canada,” he said.
“And plus—Ontario folkies are always awesome.”
Critics have said Byrne’s live performance “explores his unique Newfoundland musical lineage with thoughtful and honest interpretations of traditional songs from both sides of the Atlantic.”
The songs are delivered with “polished guitar work, powerful vocals, and masterful story-telling.”
Byrne has received praise from esteemed fellow musicians, as well.
“Matt’s interpretation of traditional songs is somehow fresh and ancient at the same time,” said Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea.
“And his voice is friggin’ perfect.”
Canadian folk singer-songwriter James Keelaghan also lauded Byrne.
“Matthew Byrne sings with a voice as true as a compass needle and is a dab hand on his instruments, as well,” he noted.
“His ‘Ballads’ is one of the finest English language traditional albums to come out in many a year.”
Byrne burst onto the music scene in 2010 with “Ballads.”
He followed that up with 2014’s award-winning “Hearts & Heroes,” and then the 2015 EP, “Sing Through the Earth & Skies.”
Byrne also is a member of Newfoundland folk/Celtic group, The Dardanelles, which has taken him to festival stages in North America, the U.K., and Australia.
