FMO Recap

Hey friends, I wanted to take a moment to talk about this years Folk Music Ontario conference, if you got a sec, read along!

I've been coming to this function for 5 years, and finally I was able to officially showcase, which is a huge honour and the most scared I've been for a gig in a long time. It's an audience full of my peers, so I knew I'd receive lots of love and support, but it just felt so important to put on a good show. With the help of my wonderful band, Michael McDonnell, Kristian Noel Pedersen, new comer Bill Simms & special guest and my musical sister Abigail Lapell, I feel like I might have accomplished that.

I couldn't possibly thank everyone who made this weekend special. But I’d like to quickly Thank the judges who saw fit to award Bellwoods Park the best Instrumental for this years Songs From The Heart awards (AHI, Noosa Al-Sarraj & Emma Julian). It’s really such a wonderful honour.

Emotionally, So many new and old friends kept me in working order, but special thanks to the The Campsite & The Lifers crew who managed to always be around when I needed moments of calm, and my Songwriters In The Round friends when I needed moments of chaos.

I’d just like to end this note with something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and was hoping to talk about more this weekend. I guess this is a call for thoughtfulness. To my songwriter friends who identify as male, I have a question, and maybe we can think think about this for a little while and come back to next years conference and try to have an open and honest discussion about it. My question is this;

In the songs that you write, and the songs that you cover, how are the women treated? What is their purpose?

These questions have already helped me learn a few things about myself, and I think it’s making me a stronger songwriter, and maybe you’ll find the same results. But I’d love to hear what you think.

See you on the road!

SWC