The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival released its complete schedule this morning, adding multiple Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’ to a line up already heavy with top international and Canadian stars. The Festival also added Ciarlante / Katz / Sharrard, a soul-blues power trio featuring members of The Band and the Gregg Allman Band; and international rising stars The Record Company and Marquise Knox.
Continuing its commitment to showcasing local talent, the Festival also announced Atlantic Canadian favourites Garrett Mason & Keith Hallett and Ross Neilsen will appear at the event.
Tickets and passes to the Festival go on sale through Ticketpro on Saturday, May 26th at 9am. There will also be a limited number of passes on sale at the Harvest Store on May 26th only, on a first come, first serve basis.
Keb’ Mo’ is the final headliners to go on the bill for the 2012 Festival, which includes already-announced blues giants John Mayall, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Matt Andersen; alt-folk-rockers The Avett Brothers; Funk-soul stars Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Maceo Parker, and Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires; Jam-influenced bands Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers, Rusted Root, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band; Rising blues-rock stars Royal Southern Brotherhood, Britain’s Matt Schofield and Oli Brown Band; and some of Canada and the East Coast’s top acts like Kathleen Edwards, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Jill Barber, and David Myles.
“Every year we say that the Harvest schedule is the strongest in its history, but that is simply the case as we push ourselves every year to deliver an exceptional schedule worthy of an international-class festival, such as Harvest has become,” says Ken Critchley, Festival Chair. “We are continually adding, not only to the music schedule, but to the overall Harvest experience. We want patrons – locals and visitors – leaving the Festival having had an experience that is both world-class and reflects Maritime hospitality and culture. The Harvest experience is one that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else.”
Harvest’s Music Director, Brent Staeben, says that the diversity of the music schedule will attract a broad variety of music lovers, both locally and from away.
“Our goal was to build on last year’s fantastic event and produce an even better schedule. We are featuring even more international headline artists, and this year there’s a mixture of fresh new acts to introduce to Harvest patrons, destination acts that have never played in the region, and a few festival favourites that have made a big impact on patrons in the past,” says Staeben. “Never before have we had such a diversity of genres – jazz and blues – both traditional and contemporary – are well accounted for, of course, but we’ve added a lot more jam, alternative folk and rock, the return of zydeco and some Acadian programming, and the funkiest line up in Blues Tent history on Saturday night. There will definitely be something for every music lover to be excited about.”
Regional acts will be well-represented at the Festival as usual, with the return of powerhouse blues duo Garrett Mason & Keith Hallett, Ross Neilsen, Thom Swift, John Campbelljohn, Andy Brown, Theresa Malenfant & the Instigators, The Hupman Brothers, Carmen Townsend and Grand Theft Bus filling out the line-up, to name a few.
Other previously unannounced addition to the line up include Cajun/zydeco group Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars, beloved Acadian performer Roland Gauvin et La Grosse Band, BC indie rockers Said the Whale, brand new Black Keys-esque blues trio from Los Angeles, The Record Company, young blues prodigy Marquise Knox, who will also serve as Harvest’s Blues in the Schools clinician during Festival week, and Shine On: The Universe of John Lennon, which sees some of the country’s premier jazz musicians and vocalists reinventing the catalogue of John Lennon and The Beatles.
Passes and tickets for all shows will go on sale Saturday, May 26th at 9am, through Ticketpro, either by visiting www.ticketpro.ca, calling 1-888-311-9090 or at any Ticketpro outlet throughout Atlantic Canada. There will also be a limited number of passes on sale at the Harvest Store, 81 Regent Street, on May 26th only.
The Harvest Jazz and Blues festival happens in Fredericton from September 11-16. For more information visit www.harvestjazzandblues.com.
