Bring a lawn chair or pack a blanket, grab a cold drink and enjoy performances featuring award-winning musicians in our lovely garden setting.
- Doors open: 6:30 p.m.
- Showtime: 8 p.m.
This is a ticketed event; pre-purchased tickets are required for entry.
About Jeremie Albino
When Jeremie Albino was a teenager, he started busking around Toronto, setting up along the boardwalk or on a street corner downtown, wherever he thought he might find a crowd of passersby. “Usually nobody was listening,” he says, “but occasionally one or two people would tell me it sounded great. They had places to be and things to do, but they would stop and listen for a little while. That kind of interaction felt very special to me, and that’s
when I realized I really do love performing. That’s when I realized I could hold a listener’s interest and give something back to them.”
That experience set Albino on his path, and it showed him how much joy can be found in the simple act of connecting with a listener, whether it’s an entire crowd or just one person in that crowd. Since then, he has refined a vital and idiosyncratic mix of styles and sounds that are grounded in tradition but grasping toward the future: His songs are grounded in the gritty storytelling of classic country music, propelled by the rhythms of old-school R&B, played with the wild abandon of early rock ‘n’ roll, and sung with the deep feeling of southern soul. Thanks to his sweaty, livewire concerts, he has been steadily growing his audience from a few passersby to packed houses around Canada., and Our Time in the Sun, his soulful fourth solo album, sounds like the culmination of what he started out on the street corners of Toronto.
About Benjamin Dakota Rogers
Opening Act
Benjamin Dakota Rogers wields one of those distinct, immediate,and truly wild voices. With a studied nod to old-time and bluegrass rhythms, his unvarnished sound effectively smashes the barrier between past and present.
Delivering songs from a deep well of passion for storytelling, Rogers’ lyric sensibility is rare among young artists. His single, John Came Home, is a haunting take on the murder ballad. “I’d had the riff for about six months,” he says. “I tend to write short stories and convert them into songs.” John Came Home is full of upbeat boldness and ghostly ire that culminates in a direct hit to the chest.
Rogers finds a way to match his instrument to the guttural twang of the voice. “I inherited my great-grandfather’s violin when I was young,” he says. “So I grew up playing that.” After a few years on six-string, Rogers began tuning his tenor guitar like a fiddle. “Tenors are neat because
they were only popular for a short time in the 1920s. I’ve played about two-hundred shows on mine. It’s beautiful, and unreliable,” he laughs. The unconventional nature of such a classic piece shines on Charlie Boy, where precise picking builds to a dramatic peak. With sturdy backing by a sparse rhythm section, Rogers offers a fresh and authentic contribution to the traditions of string-band sound.
