37th PEI Bluegrass & Old Time
Music Festival, July 5 – 7, 2024

The PEI Bluegrass & Old Time Music Society members would like to welcome all to this year’s festival. Three days of great bluegrass music with bands from the U.S.A,  Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island.

THE LINEUP

Nick Chandler & Delivered

Nick Chandler and Delivered is a hard driving traditional bluegrass band from Western North Carolina. They are so excited to be back on the road in 2021 after the shutdown. Over the past few years Nick Chandler and Delivered have captured the attention of bluegrass fans world wide.

Nick Chandler was included in the IBMA Songwriter Showcase for 2020 with the bands hit tune "Big Bill Johnson"  and they are an IBMA 2022 Official Showcase Artist.

This band has been delighting crowds all over the country with their original songs, tight harmonies, and crowd pleasing shows.  Nick Chandler and Delivered. Live it. Love it.  Bluegrass!

Joe Hott & the Short Mountain Boys 

Joe Hott, originally from West Virginia but now based in Nashville, plays a blend of retro-bluegrass, traditional country, gospel music and Appalachian mountain music. His latest release, The Last Thing On My Mind, features a selection of original songs and traditional favorites, In 2012, Joe formed the Short Mountain Brothers trio—the name of the group a tribute to Short Mountain that looms just behind Joe’s boyhood home. With the addition of a fourth musician, Joe now tours with his renamed Short Mountain Band which includes guitar, banjo, bass and mandolin. They have shared the stage with artists such as Rhonda Vincent and Vince Gill & the Time Jumpers.

Ray Legere & Acoustic Horizon 

The most accomplished and awarded bluegrass musician ever to come out of the Maritimes, fiddle and mandolin player Ray Legere has performed with Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, David Grisman, Rhonda Vincent, Alison Brown and Doc Watson. In 1982, he filled in for Bill Monroe—when Monroe took ill before a concert.

Ray has toured internationally with artists such as Rita McNeil, John McDermott, Bowfire, and Michelle Shocked. He has seven solo CDs to his credit and is heard on upwards of 500 recordings as a session player. He was a guest artist on The Great Blue North with Special Consensus which won Collaborative Performance of the Year at the 2023 IBMAs for their rendition of “Alberta Bound.” Ray runs his own recording studio and label in his home in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Acoustic Horizon features the “cream of the crop” of Maritime bluegrass musicians: Frank Doody on banjo, Alan Jeffries on guitar, and Marcel Duplessis on bass.

Bluegrass Tradition

Bluegrass Tradition have been performing since 2005 and are dedicated to the traditional bluegrass music they love. Trevor Boutilier and Karen DeCoste are the founding members. The band has won Band of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Gospel Performance of the Year at the East Coast Bluegrass Music Awards. In addition, Trevor has won Male Vocalist and Karen has won Bass Player and Composer of the year.

Banjo player Ryan Dillman has been playing music since he was 8 years old. Ryan led the band Shadow River for many years.

Andrew Kent is a versatile fiddler, performer, session musician and teacher. Andrew is also a long-time fiddler at the Calgary Stampede grandstand show.

 

Hound Dog Ramblers

The Hound Dog Ramblers is a new band based in New Brunswick focused on reviving rarely-heard bluegrass treasures by classic bluegrass artists such as Delia Bell, Larry Sparks, Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse and Hazel Dickens. They perform original songs as well. Band members are Ivan Rosenberg, Dobro, vocals; Kristin Cavoukian, guitar, vocals; Kyle Legere, banjo, guitar, vocals; Ron Girouard, mandolin, vocals; Joe Potter, upright bass. 
Ivan Rosenberg has released eight solo CDs and appeared on dozens of albums with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, John Reischman, Chris Coole, Raffi, and David Francey. Ivan earned an IBMA Award for co-writing the 2009 Song of the Year,  and played on the Jerry Douglas–produced CD Southern Filibuster: A Tribute to Tut Taylor
Kristin Cavoukian has performed across Canada with bluegrass/old time duo The Saturday Saints, with Toronto-based bluegrass band Houndstooth, and with children’s troubadour Raffi. Kristin can be heard on recordings by Raffi, The Saturday Saints, Chris Coole, and Ivan Rosenberg among others.
Kyle Legere has performed with Blue Horizon, Mountain Rush, Janet McGarry & Wildwood, Acoustic Heart Strings, The Douthwrights, and Highway Train. These days Kyle plays with Cape Breton-based Crowdis Bridge and performs traditional Scottish and Irish music with Drowsy Maggie. 
Ron Girouard has been active in the Maritime bluegrass community for over 20 years. He has played and recorded with True Blue, Caledonia Drive, Acoustic Heartstrings, and Highway Train. He appeared on Alan Jeffries’ ECMA Award-winning album Coffee 'til Midnight.
Joe Potter has a degree in jazz double bass performance from Saint Francis Xavier University. Joe has performed with bluegrass band New Vintage Experience, roots musician Gordie MacKeeman, singer-songwriter Kylie Fox, and folk rockers Christina Martin & Dale Murray, He plays regularly with the Christopher Brown Trio. 

Janet McGarry Band

For over twenty years, Prince Edward Island’s Janet McGarry has been a dominant presence in bluegrass music, releasing twelve albums on her own label, Diamond Productions. Janet is the only Canadian member of “Daughter of Bluegrass,” a leading group of female bluegrass artists recognized on Blue Circle Records, Nashville, TN. Janet is a five-time Female Vocalist of the Year at the Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Awards. On stage she is accompanied by her husband Serge Bernard who is an accomplished instrumentalist, playing mandolin, guitar, fiddle, dobro, bass and his instrument of choice, the banjo. In addition, Janet’s band includes Trevor Boutilier and Karen DeCoste from Bluegrass Tradition.

The Stiff Family

The Stiff Family has enjoyed living in Prince Edward Island for five years, keeping busy with their hobby farm but still making time to enjoy and play bluegrass music. The family consists of Dave on guitar and Heather on bass along with their children Aaron on banjo and dobro, Hannah on mandolin, Elizabeth on fiddle and Abigail on fiddle. The group also is known for those smooth vocal harmonies which only a family band can provide.

 

Bluestreak

After a fifteen-year break, Prince Edward Island band, Bluestreak, re-grouped and in 2023 released their third CD, Rounding Third, which features fifteen new original songs by band members.

Their first two albums, First Impression and Second Nature, won PEI Music Awards Bluegrass Recording of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and East Coast Music Award nominations in both of those years.

Band members are David Blue on bass, Roger Wightman on banjo and vocals, Larry Campbell on vocals, guitar and mandolin, Peter Richards on dobro and Marcella Richard on vocals and guitar.  

 

White Cap Drive

Four seasoned Island musicians have recently formed as White Cap Drive, a band specializing in country, bluegrass, and oldtime music. The band members are Troy McArthur, Kim Tuplin, Harold and Marnie Noye.

Troy McArthur is an accomplished multi instrumentalist, singer and songwriter who is known to Island audiences from Rattlesnakin' Daddies, Saddle River String Band and the West End Blues Band. Saddle River String Band won PEI Music Awards and an ECMA Bluegrass Album of the Year Award in 2008. He’ll be playing banjo with the group. Kim Tuplin, who plays guitar, is known to audiences as a singer who shared the stage with popular Island entertainer, the late Roy MacCaull. This duo released four recordings with original material by each of them.

Harold Noye sings lead and plays mandolin and guitar while his wife, Marnie, plays the upright bass. They have been performing for over thirty years with"A Touch of Grass, Jericho Road, Dusty Roads"and Dunromin. During those years, their bands re- leased seven recordings with Harold's solo album, Dusty Roads, being nominated for Country Recording of the Year by the PEI Music Association. As members of Jericho Road, Harold and Marnie received a 1998 ECMA nomination for Bluegrass Artist of the Year. In 2002 and 2004, they received the PEI Music Award for Gospel Artist of the Year.

 

Bluegrass Revival

Bluegrass Revival has been playing for 23 years on Prince Edward Island, performing at concerts, festivals, benefits and church events. Band members include Dave Clarke on dobro, Cherie LeMoine on vocals, Shirley Smedley Jay on mandolin, vocals, Lucas Lamrock,on  guitar, Peter LeMoine on banjo and Ann Hay on bass.

 

Just Grass

Just Grass is a band of musical friends with four lifetimes-worth of experience. The group was formed in 2014. Bob Jobe is a multi-instrumentalist  who played the country circuit with The Haggart Brothers. Bob has also played with Next of Kin and Free Wheelin’. George Grant has been with Just Grass from the start. George is also a multi-instrumentalist and is the current master dobro player of the East Coast Bluegrass Music Awards. Glenda Johnston began playing bass with Back Porch Bluegrass and continues to play bass with SK Bluegrass, Glenda & Charlie as well as Just Grass. Charlie Hansen started his career in rock ’n’ roll in the 60s before moving on to country music and bluegrass. He has played guitar with Just Grass from the beginning. 

 

Heartfelt Bluegrass

Heartfelt Bluegrass ia a family band from St Louis PEI. The band formed in 2009, originally with Larry Jones on vocals, Wilma Jones on mandolin, guitar and vocals and cousin Jerome Arsenault on guitar, mandolin and vocals. Donna Bernard joined the band two years late on bass, guitar and vocals .  They love to gather as family and with friends to play music that is from the heart. They have played at the Evangeline Bluegrass Festival, St Louis Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Festival, Summerside Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Association Festival and in Dundas at the PEI Bluegrass Festival.

 

SK Bluegrass

SK Bluegrass is a veteran band of bluegrassers from “Up West” in Prince Edward Island. The band comprises Eileen Brown on guitar, Jerome Arsenault on mandolin, Frank Brown on banjo and Glenda Johnston on double bass.

 

 

2024 Festival Schedule

Friday Program
12:00 – 12:10 37th Annual Festival Welcome
12:10 – 12:25 Opening Ceremonies
12:30 – 1:05 Heartfelt Bluegrass
  1:05 – 1:40 Just Grass
  1:45 – 2:20 The Stiff Family
  2:25 – 3:00 SK Bluegrass
  3:05 – 3:40 Bluestreak
  3:45 – 4:20 The Hound Dog Ramblers
  4:25 – 5:00 Janet McGarry Band
  5:00 – 6:00 Supper Break 
  6:05 – 6:45 Whitecap Drive
  6:50 – 7:30 Bluegrass Tradition
  7:35 – 8:15 Bluestreak
  8:20 – 9:00 Nick Chandler & Delivered
  9:05 – 9:45 Joe Hott & The Short Mountain Boys  
Saturday Daytime program
10:30 – 11:05 SK Bluegrass 
11:10 – 11:45 Bluestreak
11:45 – 12:45 Dinner Break
12:45 – 1:20 Just Grass
  1:25 – 2:00 Whitecap Drive
  2:05 – 2:40 The Stiff Family 
  2:45 – 3:20 Ray Legere & Acoustic Horizon
  3:25 – 4:05 Joe Hott & The Short Mountain Boys 
  4:10 – 4:50 Nick Chandler & Delivered
  4:50 – 5:00 Children’s Program
  5:00 – 6:00 Supper Break  
 
Saturday Evening program
  6:00 – 6:40 The Hound Dog Ramblers
  6:45 – 7:25 Janet McGarry Band
  7:30 – 8:10 Ray Legere & Acoustic Horizon
  8:15 – 8:55 Bluegrass Tradition
  9:00 – 9:40 Joe Hott & The Short Mountain Boys 
  9:45 – 10:25 Nick Chandler & Delivered
Sunday program
10:15 – 10:55 Church Service   
Bluegrass Revival
11:00 – 11:35 The Stiff Family
11:40 – 12:15 Janet McGarry BanD
12:20 – 12:55 Ray Legere & Acoustic Horizon
  1:00 – 1:35 Bluegrass Tradition
  1:40 – 2:15 The Hound Dog Ramblers
  2:20  Closing  

Proudly Presented By: