Wintergreen Concert Series celebrates 10 years of folk

By Walter J. Lyng, September 26th, 2012

When Matthew Large started the Wintergreen Concert Series, it wasn't always easy for him to book the acts that he really wanted. With budget constraints and the lack of a reputation, organizing monthly folk concerts featuring out of town acts proved an uphill battle.
Eventually though, Large was able to build a regular and loyal audience for the series, aided in part by the sponsorship of the McAuslan Brewery and the cooperation of regular venue Petit Campus (57 Prince Arthur). Now, 10 years on, Large is easily able to get some of top folk talent from across North America to show up. As a matter of fact, he says, the performers now ask to be part of the shows.
The series kicked off in September with a performance by Chris Rawlings and will continue on Saturday, October 20 with a double bill featuring local collective The Unsettlers and headlining act The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra.
With both bands definitely on the younger end of the folk age spectrum as compared to the previous month's offering, it's easy to notice the varied nature of these shows.
“We've taken a more distinct approach to how we've been booking the 10th series,” says Large. “In addition to bringing back a lot of the artists that we've had, we've tried to book a lot of new acts and go back to our roots with some really folky stuff.”
And despite their decidedly non-folky sounding name, Large insists that October's featured act is one of the hottest folk acts around right now.
“The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra is based in Vancouver and they've been a big hit on the folk festival circuit and also at the folk alliance and meetings,” he says. “Every year we go to these big industry events that are in different cities across North America and there's always one big band that everybody's talking about. We were lucky enough to get them a booking at the Wintergreen Series and they play this really eclectic, crazy, gypsy roots, grassy, psychedelic band music.”
If it seems strange to associate words like 'psychedelic' with the folk genre, it certainly doesn't for Large, who has personally witnessed the transformation of this music style over the years.
“I think this music has become a lot more accessible,” he says. “It's not just a singer/songwriter with a guitar any more.”
Despite this, however, Large says that the Wintergreen Series remains to be a more pure showcase of the genre, as opposed to the annual Folk Fest on the Canal, which he also organizes.
“Whereas this year with the Folk Festival we went into the indie pop realm, the Wintergreen Series doesn't, usually,” he says. “It is definitely a folk music series.”
Also featuring acts such as Tom Russell, Dala, Craig Cardiff and The Foghorn Stringband, the series will run until April 27, 2013.
For more information, visit www.hellodarlinproductions.com