Claire Porter is a singer/songwriter who has been described as a mix between Judy Garland and Tom Waits. She writes music about detritivores, love stories and tiramisu.

She was born in Newfoundland, learning folk storytelling traditions. She committed a couple of years to hitchhiking and learning travelling songs. She moved to Montreal to learn jazz and refine her powerful stage presence. In 2012, she started playing with Claire Porter and the Stouts in the downtown circuit in Montreal.

Charlie-Rose Neis has been writing music since she could talk. Luckily for her, her best friend Sydney Oliver is able to help bring the dream to life. They started off as two friends just jamming with each other, and became an official duo a few months ago. They’re both headed to grade 10 this year, at Holy Heart of Mary and Holy Spirit High School. 

Over the past 20 years, award winning singer-songwriter Chris Picco has established himself as one of Atlantic Canada’s most dynamic and diverse musicians both as a solo artist and as front man for St. John’s based rockers, The Long Distance Runners.

 Since 2004 Chris has recorded and released eight critically acclaimed records. His most recent, Split Down The Middle  (2023) has earned him a MusicNL nomination for Rock Artist of The Year. His most recent LDR record received several ECMA,  Juno and MusicNL nominations in 2016/17 and in 2013 Chris’ solo record The Beach earned him a MusicNL Male Artist Of The Year Award. He has worked as both a session musician and producer and has shared the stage with artists ranging from Wintersleep, Said the Whale, Mother Mother and The Wooden Sky to Jim Cuddy, Bob Snider, Ron Sexsmith, Kyp Harness, and Ron Hynes. 

Currently, Chris is busy songwriting, producing and performing material from his new record Split Down The Middle available everywhere you get your music.

Friends, there are artists, fiddlers, side musicians aplenty.

There is only one Carole.

 Originally from Toronto, Brad Klucowicz moved to St. John’s, NL in 2018 and quickly became immersed in the traditional music scene of the city. With familial roots in Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay, Brad learned the basics of the button accordion as a child by watching his Grandfather and uncles. Despite rarely playing the accordion throughout his teens and 20s, he developed a life long appreciation for the culture and traditional music of Newfoundland. Brad returned to his musical roots and began playing the accordion again in 2018, and has not looked back. Moving to Newfoundland rekindled his interest in traditional music, deepened his connection to Newfoundland and stoked his interest in the musical connection between Newfoundland and Ireland. This interest became an obsession, which  is evident in his extensive repertoire of traditional Newfoundland and Irish music, which he shares with willing – and unwilling – listeners each weekend in downtown St. John’s.

Brian Cherwick’s Weirdo Show Brian Cherwick is a multi-instrumentalist and leader of the speed-folk band Kubasonics. His “Weirdo Show” combines quirky original songs about his weird family with a variety of weird instruments from his extensive collection.

BlueStar Juniper was formed by chance in September of 2022. While the days got shorter and the weather got colder, Craig Young (guitar) and Andrea Monro (banjo) met and realized that the music they could make together would be memorable and profound. They play Newfoundland influenced country folk music, sharing lead vocals and harmonies.

Craig Young hails from the southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Craig’s guitar playing career has spanned decades and countries. From the age of three, Craig was enthralled with the guitar, as he watched his dad play heartfelt music while gripping the leg of the table. Learning to play at the age of 7, Craig did his first gig at the age of ten in rural Newfoundland where he was born. A lifetime of guitar playing has created a story woven with lyrics and guitar as told in a simple baritone voice with dynamic flatpicking.

Andrea Monro comes from the rocky east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. She was raised by music lovers, and grew up singing in choirs and hiding out under the piano while her father and brother played everything from Franz Liszt to Scott Joplin. Under the guidance and encouragement of Newfoundland’s legendary songwriter Ron Hynes, she learned to play guitar and started writing songs. She has performed all over Canada and in Europe, and can be heard singing and playing banjo on the albums of many local artists. Andrea’s ability to interpret a song and tell a story has made her a favourite among the St. John’s music scene.

Bill Brennan is Assistant Professor of Instrumental Conducting at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His expertise as a pianist, percussionist, composer and producer can be heard on some 100 albums to date. His album of 2006 Solo Piano received nominations for MusicNL and ECMA “Instrumental Album of the Year”. His album Solo Piano 2 won the MusicNL Instrumental album of the year in 2008. His newest CD with Andrea Koziol was released in 2019, entitled I’ll Be Seeing You. It garnered the MusicNL Jazz and Blues Award.

Brennan has been musical director for Tada’s productions of Chicago, White Christmas, Rocky Horror Show, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Rock of Ages and Disney in Concert. He was musical director and composer for Building Jerusalem, an award-winning play by Michael Redhill (Best new production, Dora Awards, 2000). He has also performed on film soundtracks for The Ice Storm (directed by Ang Lee) and Antwone Fisher (directed by Denzel Washington)

Brennan has recorded with the Juno-nominated Oliver Schroer, ambient-pop-rocker Andy Stochansky, guitarist Kevin Breit, film composer Mychael Danna, and with fellow Newfoundlanders Sandy Morris and Patrick Boyle. He has backed up such greats as Cab Calloway, Placido Domingo and Dizzy Gillespie.

Always in demand as a folk and jazz pianist, Brennan performs regularly with his own projects. He has performed across North America and around the world: Indonesia, Austria, Germany, France, Japan, Norway, the Czech Republic, England, Scotland, Portugal and Switzerland. 

Over the past three decades, Brennan has been involved with some of the best-known organizations in Canadian culture. He has performed with the National Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company. He was musical director of CBC’s beloved Vinyl Café (hosted by Stuart MacLean), and a documentary composer for David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things. He has produced numerous albums, including recordings for Lady Cove Women’s Choir, Renee Marquis, Brad Jefford and Shelley Neville. 

Nationally and internationally, his work has been formally recognized through a number of prestigious awards and commissions, including the Freddie Stone Memorial Award (1999). He has been commissioned to compose for contemporary music performers including flautist Ellen Waterman, and percussionists Romano DiNillo and Ed Squires. Several of these works have been premiered at the International Sound Symposium. 

More than 30 years of relentless experience have garnered Brennan a solid reputation as a performer, composer and arranger of contemporary classical, jazz, folk and world music — always exploring, always open to new ideas, Brennan’s talents resist classification. Geoff Chapman of the Toronto Star says: “Brennan … is a central figure in this country’s music.” 

Brennan was named the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Artist of the Year for 2006. For many years he conducted the Memorial University Jazz Ensemble. He now directs the Memorial University’s Wind Ensemble and Gamelan Ensemble.