Backwoodsmen Are Bringing Traditional Folk Music To Lang Pioneer Village Next Week

Lang Pioneer Village will host an evening of traditional Ontario folk songs revisited by the Backwoodsmen on August 26.

Photo courtesy of Lang Pioneer Village.

The Backwoodsmen will be live in concert in the Jacquard Loom Interpretive Centre at Lang Pioneer Village Museum performing contemporary arrangements of some of the province’s traditional folk songs. Doors open at 7:00 pm with the concert beginning at 7:30 pm.

According to Lang Pioneer Village, Peterborough County has one of North America's richest folk-song traditions. Between 1929 and 1959, internationally recognized scholars documented more than 3,000 orally-transmitted folk songs in the region.

In 1958, Folkways Records of New York City released the first of ten vinyl recordings featuring Trent Valley singers and musicians. This little-known piece of local history is presented by the Backwoodsmen, who met playing traditional music as volunteers at Lang Pioneer Village Museum. The quartet focuses on folk songs documented in eastern Ontario in the 1950s by song collector/scholar Edith Fowke.

Backwoodsmen is composed of Al Kirby on dobro and guitar, John Bird on recorders, banjo-ukulele and washboard, Rob Cory on guitar and harmonica, and artist Rob Niezen on guitar and mandolin. The group created contemporary arrangements and adapted lyrics, resulting in a double CD and an illustrated songbook. The songbook presents the songs with lyrics and chord progressions, an introduction by historian and musician Dr. Allan Kirby, and Rob Niezen’s linocuts.

Tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance on the Museum’s online shop at https://lang-pioneer-villagemuseum.myshopify.com/.

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