James Stephens is known for his work both as a performer and producer / recording engineer.  In performance, he plays a multitude of stringed instruments with an emphasis on fiddling. He has an abiding interest in traditional forms and styles of various ethnic origins, but also works extensively with singer-songwriters and was the principal songwriter in critically acclaimed pop/roots band “Fat Man Waving.” He has performed with many Ottawa area singer/songwriters such as Jennifer Noxon, Lynn Miles, Ian Tamblyn, Melwood Cutlery, and Terry Tufts and spent 10 years playing in popular local C&W/Texas Swing group, The Black Donnellys and neo-traditional Celtic group, Six Mile Bridge.

James can presently be found performing with traditionally influenced groups such as The Brian Pickell Band, Finest Kind, Écosse (Bobby Watt, Duncan Gillis and Rob Graves), renowned clawhammer banjo player Ken Perlman, whistle player/composer Frank Cassidy (The McGee Band), JIIG (James, Ian Robb, Ian Clark, Greg Brown) whose self-titled CD won Ian Robb best traditional singer of 2005 at the Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMA’s) and newly formed fiddle collective EH! , a collaboration with fiddler Anne Lederman and fiddler/pianist Emilyn Stam that attempts to balance the traditional with the newly composed. James also performs regularly with singer/songwriter Ian Tamblyn as well as the duo, Healy and Juravich.

James has co-produced and engineered recordings with all of these musicians as well as such others as Pierre Schryer (the album “Blue Drag, co-produced and engineered by James, was nominated for a 2004 Juno Award and who’s 2008 release “Mélange was nominated for a 2008 CFMA), Ian Tamblyn,  Washboard Hank,  Dermot Byrne,  Shelley Posen,  Nicholas Williams,  Lynn Miles (2003 Juno winner),  Chris White,  Genticorum, Tom Lips,  Galitcha,,  Tena Palmer and John Geggie ,  Tena Palmer and Emory Lester and Slavik Hanslik,  Beth Cahill, George Sapounidis (Chairman George) , Missy Burgess,  Laura Smith ,  Tom Juravich and Teresa Healy,  Denis Lanctot,   Debbie Quigley and Martin Gould,  The Toasted Westerns,  Michael Jerome Browne, Concession 23, Charlie Sohmer, Willie P. Bennet, Kyle and Jake Charron, Danny O’Connell, Frida’s Brow(nominated for best vocal group in the 2008 CFMA’s),  Tony Turner,  La Ligue de Bonheur,  Matt Pepin,  Bob Carty,  Crowfoot ,Neil MacDaniel(nominated for a 2008East Coast Music Award) and many others.

   In addition to performing and production, James has taught at numerous music camps across Canada and some in the US. He is presently involved in a Canada Council funded mentoring, teaching, and recording process in Smithers, BC known as the “Truffles” project. This project was co-created by well known fiddle innovator and composer, Oliver Schroer and the local fiddle ensemble, The Valley Youth Fiddlers (founded by local musician, Lesley-Jean MacMillan.)

Mark Roberts plays traditional music on the flute, tin whistle, 5-string banjo and bouzouki and has had a long and varied career in music. He toured and recorded with the seminal band Touchstone, played the banjo with the Red Clay Ramblers on Broadway in the show Fool Moon, his flute and pennywhistle can be heard in the Jon Salyes film The Secret of Roan Innish, and he’s brought his whistle on tour with Don Henley.
    Swananoa Gathering, Augusta Heritage and The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes are some of the music camps Mark has been on staff for. He’s performed on and produced many recordings, most recently The Gloup, a flute CD with guitarist Dan Compton.
    Mark and his partner Andrea Cooper have taught together at Pinewoods camp and Northern Roots festival.

    Mark and Andrea live with their fetching son Fenton in Massachusetts. They are very excited to be able to participate for a second year in the amazing occurrence that is Algoma Trad.

Andrea Coopercan pinpoint the moment: It was 15 years ago when she unwittingly found herself spending an evening at the Tranzac in Toronto captivated by beautiful Irish music, particularly the flute, which she later learned was played by none other than Pat O’Gorman!

Since then, her music has taken her to places as far as Eek, Alaska and San Juan Island, where she’s been teaching a beginning tin whistle class at the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp for 5 years in a row.

Somewhere along the way (most likely inspired by her mum), she also started frailing the 5-string banjo. She has taught clawhammer banjo to adults and at an after-school kids’ stringband class. She holds a Music Together certificate, a program to teach music and movement to 0 to 5-year-olds with their caregivers.

Andrea now lives in Massachusetts with her partner, Mark Roberts, and their son, Fenton, and they can’t wait for their second year at Algoma Trad.

Daniel Gorno (step dance, caller, pottery) performs and teaches traditional dances from Ireland, France, England, Canada and Appalachia. He strives to entertain, inspire and educate workshop participants and audiences in experiencing dance as it has been created and moulded by cultures and generations. He has studied step dancing and traditional social dancing for 25 years, most notably with Benoit Bourque, one of Quebec’s great stepdancers. Daniel plays bones and bodhran at dances and school programs with string band Tanglemere, and leads workshops in jitterbug, waltz, polka, Cajun dance and even a tango or two. An original member of "Dance All Night" and current dancer with "Step in Time," Daniel also calls contras and squares.

Dan grew up on Grosse Ile, Michigan, a large island in the Great Lakes chain, and one of his early pastimes was digging in the dumps behind old abandoned homesteads.   There he found early American salt-glazed stoneware and redware as well as European and Asian imported pottery.

When he was fourteen he started throwing for a local potter, and won the "Artist of the Year" award as a senior in high school.   He attended Thomas Jefferson College studying pottery and kiln building.  After College he had pottery apprenticeships in Courtmacsherry, Ireland and La Borne, France.  In addition, his wood firing and kiln building experiences have taken him to Canada, Mississippi, California, and back to Michigan. He has been a potter for 36 years.

Terri-Lynn Mahusky is a product of the tradition-rich Ottawa Valley region, beginning stepdancing at age 3 and fiddling at age 10. She has been privileged to have as fiddle teachers Delmer McCallum, Dan Schryer, Ian Hamilton, Brian Hebert, Louis Schryer and Denis Lanctot. Her step-dance instructors include Susan Childerhose, Debbie Reid, Nathan Pilatzke and Gilles Roy.  Terri-Lynn has competed in numerous competitions throughout Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. She was in the Junior Showcase at the Grand Masters at 17yrs of age and competed at the Grand Masters and placed, in the top 11, five times. She has won the Canadian Open Fiddle and Step-dance Competition in Blind River and traveled to Europe with the O.P.P. Bearhug Band in 2002 on a NATO Tour to entertain the military and their families. Terri-Lynn has been a part of several groups and bands including "Gilles Roy & the Stepping Ambassadors", "Celtae", "Celtic Moon", "The Riverthieves", and has filled in with Celtic and country bands throughout Ontario and Quebec. She has toured extensively with these groups throughout Ontario, Quebec, the East Coast and the United States. Terri-Lynn has two CD's recorded and a third one is on the way.

Emilyn Stam is a composer and teacher on piano and fiddle. Having recently moved to Toronto, she is quickly being recognized as a versatile accompanist, innovative improviser, and creative collaborator. Emilyn has studied closely with world-renowned violinist and producer Oliver Schroer. Together they have worked on various projects including the Twisted String and the Smithers album (Big Dog Music, 2007). They have also collaborated on a number of fiddle and piano duets. Most recently, Emilyn provided piano accompaniment for Oliver’s "Last Concert on his Tour of this Planet" (Toronto, June 2008).

A prolific composer as well as a performer, Emilyn’s tunes are quickly spreading across Canada. Fiddlers from coast to coast are playing her tune "Oranges in Mongolia". Gordon Stobbe’s latest album, Almost Home, features "First Snow", a tune he co-wrote and recorded with Emilyn. Emilyn has collaborated with many other musicians, including Pierre Schryer, Daniel Lapp, David Woodhead, Anne Lindsay, Anne Lederman, Bill Brennan, Casey Sokol, October Browne, Adrian Dolan, Andy Hillhouse, Cedric Smith, Terry Jones, and Jaron Freeman-Fox.

Currently, Emilyn is teaching and performing in the Toronto area. She recently released her solo piano project, Holding Time, featuring 12 improvisations recorded just weeks after losing her good friend and mentor Oliver Schroer. Also, check out Emilyn with Jaron Freeman-Fox at http://www.myspace.com/goatnote

Julie Schryer (piano) was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie and has lived all her life in the Algoma region. She has/is raising 5 children, all of whom have been homeschooled. She is considered one of the most accomplished piano accompanists for traditional music in Canada and grew up playing in the Canadian fiddle competition milieu with her 4 brothers. She spent 6 years recording and touring with the Pierre Schryer Band, an internationally renowned traditional music group led by her brother, Pierre. She is well known as a teacher at the Goderich Celtic College, the Valley of the Moon Fiddle Camp in California, and the Northwest Fiddle Fest in Smithers, BC. She has been featured on numerous recordings including those by Anne Lederman and Eleanor Townsend. For the last 5 years, Julie has been recording and performing with the Brian Pickell Band, touring the CDs “Fresh Canadian Fiddle Tunes” and “Entwined” and appearing at the National Art Centre in Ottawa, and at several music festivals in Ontario and the USA. Julie and Pat O’Gorman also play as a duo and have appeared together at the Chicago Celtic Festival among numerous other engagements. AlgomaTrad originated as Julie’s vision. She dedicates many hours of volunteer time as an administrator for the camp while balancing family life and she is a much-in-demand local music teacher and working musician.

Pat O’Gorman (pipes, whistle, flute) began playing bagpipes 40 years ago in the Ontario Highland Piping world and has studied traditional music in Ireland, Brittany and Cape Breton. He plays wooden concert flute and Irish Uilleann pipes and whistles as well. Pat has been at the cutting edge of Celtic music for 25 years with bands such as Na Cabarfeidh, Rare Air, Morgaine Le Fay, Windbags, and most recently with The Brian Pickell Band. He has toured throughout North America and Europe, has appeared on over 30 recordings, and has been recorded for numerous television and radio programs and for several films including the Canadian features Men with Brooms and the 2009 release One Week.  Pat has taught at the Goderich Celtic College, the North American Comhaltas Conference, the Boston College Gaelic Roots Week, Chris Norman’s Boxwood Flute Week in Lunenburg, NS, and the Northwest Fiddle Fest in Smithers, BC. He acted both as Chair and instructor for many years at the Chris Langan Irish Traditional Music Weekend in Toronto. In 2003, he was heard as a guest soloist, along with David Greenberg, with the Baltimore Consort on CBC Radio’s InPerformance. This concert appeared in February 2004 on CBC TV’s programme OpeningNight. Pat has lived in the Algoma region for 7 years and is an administrator and founder, with Julie Schryer, of the Algoma Traditional Music and Dance Family Camp.

Chelsea Sleep, from Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast of BC, grew up playing with the local fiddle association the Coast String Fiddlers. She studied under Canadian fiddler and composer Oliver Schroer and performs with his group, The Twisted String. Chelsea teaches Suzuki violin and fiddle privately out of her studio in Gibsons, and has taught at numerous fiddle camps around BC, having become a well-known advocate for teaching Oliver Schroer’s music and working with young children. She directs the two youngest groups of the Coast String Fiddlers Association and the Sunshine Coast/Lower Mainland chapter of The Twisted String.  Chelsea is currently working on her first album, and is in the process of releasing a compilation book of fun and easy fiddle tunes. www.thetwistedstring.com, www.coaststringfiddlers.com

Lorraine Sutton is an experienced performer, instructor and advocate of the joys of traditional country dance. She has energetically facilitated dance events for community groups, contra dance series, special community events, folk festivals in both Manitoba and Ontario including Mill Race, Summerfolk, Mariposa 02/03, Goderich, Homecounty and many others. Lorraine is a graduate of the Recreational Leadership Training Program in Community Dance sponsored by the Manitoba Government, reaching Instructor level in 1979. She has designed and led a Intro to Country Dance, for Simcoe County elementary teachers (Sherri Duncan), May 1999 and Led a workshop on Let it be a Dance for The International Association Of Facilitators Conference – Ottawa 2003. Lorraine was a member of the Winnipeg/St. Boniface French Canadian Step dance Troupe Les Danseurs de la Riviere Rouge from 1977-1980 and is a Co-Founder of the Toronto Country Dancers 1983-1989 and House Caller Fiddlefern Dances, Owen Sound. As a dancer, she has been a participant at Pine Woods, Augusta Heritage Festival-West Virginia, NEFFA, Flurries, Rochester Thanks giving , Waterloo, New Haven Sat Dance, New York. Mariposa in the Woods. Lorraine has worked with a range of bands including: Brian Pickell- Tramp Steamer, Flapjack, Murphy’s Law, Ann Lederman, Dan MacDonald, Anne Lindsay, Alec Sinclair, and many others.

Kate Murphy long-time member of the Ontario traditional music scene, who will be teaching piano, stepdancing and joining in on all the clawhammer banjo action as well. Kate got involved as a piano accompanist in the Old-time Ontario square dance scene in the early 70’s, accompanying fiddler Tommy McQuestin at dances. She learned stepdancing from Alex Mulligan of Bobcaygeon and performed at festivals in Canada and the USA with the Mulligan Dancers. She has also played in Muddy York (with Anne Lederman and Ian Bell) and sang in The Dawnbreakers, a group which included at one time, David Traverse-Smith and Oliver Schroer, a dear friend of Kate’s.

Mireille Gagnon Moes Born in Joliette, P.Quebec, the eldest of eight children. CEGEP Montmorency, Ville de Laval, Dietitian Assistant, graduate 1977.
Married Christian Moes in 1977 and moved and settled on St. Joseph Island in 1979, where we still reside.  I work from my studio located on the ground floor of the home we designed and built in 1985.

My journey with textile and fibre exploration was initiated at the sight of sheep in the fields on St. Joseph Island.  I became fascinated with the idea of transforming the raw fibre from a local source (sheep) and processing it myself from start to finished textile works, thus following the path of a very old and rich textile history and tradition.

Since 1980, Mireille has taken various classes, courses, workshops and seminars in hand spinning, hand weaving, dyeing, surface design, embellishment, dry and wet felting from various venues.  Audited the OHS Master Weaver at Georgian College. Raised Angora goats for the mohair, which led to marketing her own hand dyed mohair yarn. She no longer raises Angora goats, nor markets hand dyed mohair yarn, however, she has been hand dyeing and marketing mohair socks since 1998.

Won a few awards: “Best Commercial Display” (1983, Central Algoma Exhibition),  “Most Creative Expression in Fibres”(1986, Algoma Fall Festival),    “Most Successful Functional Work” (1989, Algoma Fall Festival),    “Best of Show, Harriet Black Award” (1991, Algoma Fall Festival),   “Honorable Mention” (1991, Heddle Magazine, Tiny treasure contest),    “Juror’s Choice Award” (2007, Hand & Spirit Juried Exhibition).

From 2000 to 2005, originator and artistic direction for Wabi Sabi Fine Craft Exhibition on St. Joseph Island.

Participation in numerous events and organizations promoting, demonstrating, teaching or selling arts such as:   Visions Co-Op Art Gallery,   Sault Ste Marie Arts Council,   Arts at the Dock,   Country Road Open House,  Algoma School Board’ Artists in Education,   Algoma Fall Festival (Visual Arts),  Fibrefest,  Sylvan Circle Tour,  Sudbury Studio Tour,  Four & Friends Art Show. 

Quality over quantity, respect the material, keep it simple, keep learning, keep creating, experiment, re-cycle, re-use, question, avoid trends, keep an open mind.....

New to the camp is the totally inspiring traditional Québecois group “Dentdelion”.  Led by a long-time leader of the Quebec trad scene, fiddler, singer, and tune composer Claude Méthé, and his wife Dana Whittle (guitarist, singer, accordionist, foot-rhythmer), “Dentdelion” includes their 14 year old daughter, Beatrix Méthé, also a mighty fiddle player and singer, their friend Denise Levac, on flute and voice, and her son, Colin Savoie-Levac (and this guy is unbelievably good for his age, I think he’s 17, well, really he’s good for any age!) on banjo, guitar, mandolin, vocals, and percussion. Last summer, they put on a wonderful acoustic concert at the hall around the corner, and then our boys Zach and Benoit had a fun music session into the wee hours with Colin and Beatrix. Not only great music, great tunes, and great arrangements, but great folks as well!

Claude Méthé (Dentdelion): Born in Québec City, fiddler-singer-guitarist Claude Méthé has been a part of the traditional music world in Québec for more than thirty years. A self-taught fiddler, his style reflects most particularly the eighteen years he lived in the region of Lotbinière, Québec, on the south side of the St-Lawrence River not far from Québec City. Today, he resides in Ste-Béatrix, Québec, in the Lanaudière region, known worldwide as the epicenter of Québec trad music.

Claude is a former founding member of the nearly legendary Le Rêve du Diable, winner of a Felix for best traditional album in 1983, and a group often credited with single-handedly reviving public interest in traditional Québécois music. The group’s original recordings have recently been re-released and it is interesting to note that today, a whole new generation is once again making this « discovery »-in the form of old albums (33s) by Le Rève du Diable! In addition, Claude has played with Joséphine (Danielle Martineau), Québec groups Manigance Entourloupe and Ni Sarpe Ni Branche, and Vermont group Jeter le Pont. He has played all over Canada, in Europe and the U.S.

He can be heard on at least a dozen recordings, including the soundtrack of Oscar-winning film « CRAC » by Frédéric Back. Claude’s impressive repertoire of traditional songs contains gems from Manitoba, Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes, sung in a voice both textured and sentimental. His solo album « L’Amant Confesseur » was nominated for Trad Album of the Year at the 2006 Canadian Folk Music Awards <http://folkawards.ca> .

Dana Whittle (Dentdelion): Born and raised in New England, Dana Whittle, singer-song-and-reel-writer, guitarist, “podorythmiste” (foot-tapper), accordionist and immigrante réçue residing in Ste-Béatrix, Québec, offers music lovers a taste of the unique cultural mélange of her New England folk roots and her experience as an American transplanted to Québec. Influenced by the traditional Québécois music she has played for the past two decades, Whittle also claims inspiration from artists that include Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and Aimee Mann. In 2001, she appeared with Vermont singer/songwriter Patti Casey on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” . Known for her harmonic abilities, she can be heard on numerous albums as a guest artist – Yves Lambert, Linda Breitag, Tess LeBlanc, Patti Casey – and most recently, Claude Méthé’s highly-praised solo release “L’amant confesseur”. Born into a family of car-singers (her grandmother was a singer with NYC’s Metropolitan Opera), she began playing guitar at age six, sang in the church choir and performed in school musicals, always encouraged by her music-loving parents. At university, Dana spent most of her time behind her guitar in coffeehouses and bars while pursuing a Fine Arts degree in printmaking. For thirty-plus years she has performed as a member of folk and bluegrass groups in New England, New York and Georgia, as a solo performer and as a backup musician for other folk and traditional artists (Claude Méthé, Normand Miron, Tess LeBlanc, Elizabeth von Trapp…). Her deep friendship with late-great Franco-American singer and activist Martha Pellerin and subsequent exposure to traditional Québécois music led to their 1990 formation of duo Jeter le Pont and countless performances in the U.S. and Canada and the release of two albums. In 1994, Dentdelion was born as a duo with fiddler Claude Méthé. Performing, recording and lots of time spent backing Québéc instrumentalists have helped her to hone a personal style that cements her unique vocal and rythmic style with direct, traditional attitude. She is the founder and former president of Folquébec, Québec’s first organization dedicated to international promotion of Québec folk talent.

Dana is also a graphic and web designer who works nearly exclusively in the cultural milieu. She has designed album covers and websites (including this one) for countless artists and cultural organizations (Michael Jerome Browne, Ron Hynes, Jean Hewson + Christina Smith, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Penny Lang, Terry Tufts, Norouet, Entourloupe, Les Frères Brunet, Tanglefoot, The Malvinas, the Société pour la promotion de la danse québécoise traditionnelle, Folk Alliance Canada, Folquébec…);

Denise Levac (Dentdelion):  has been steeped in trad music for more than 25 years. A classically trained flutist, she discovered the Lanaudière (Québec region) trad scene in the early 1980s as a friend and fan of groups that include La Bottine Souriante, La Guignolée, Turlure and other. A member of the popular trad group Manigance (Normand Miron, Paul Marchand, Bernard Simard, Daniel Lemieux and Jacques Landry) from 1987-1990, she left the concert stage for to raise a family but continued to work in the milieu as an employee of Les Productions Mille-Pattes (La Bottine Souriante and others) and the Festival Mémoire et Racines. She also continued to play and perform with a wide variety of people throughout this period, giving her a great deal of experience working with different approaches. Prior to her « official » return to the scene, she completed a technical degree in traditional music and song – the only one of its kind – at the Cégep de Lanaudière in Joliette, Québec. In addition to performing as a member of Dentdelion, she can regularly be heard playing with flute ensemble La Veillée des Flûteux, with her fellow Cégep students and her own talented children.

Colin Savoie-Levac (Dentdelion): is 17 years old and a native of St-Jean-de-Matha, Québec. Born into a musical family, he has long been a singer of traditional songs and began to play the mandolin at the age of 12. Not long after, he added tenor banjo, guitar and foot percussion (typically Québécois) to his talents and began studying traditional music with multi-instrumentalist and foot percussionist Michel Bordeleau (La Bottine Souriante, Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer), guitarist Simon Marion and Belgian-born, Montréal-based banjo player Guy Donis (Mademoiselle s’Amuse). Colin is very involved in the activities of the Centre Régional d’Animation du Patrimoine Oral (CRAPO) in his hometown, where he is influenced by the many trad events taking place there. He is a member of the extended version of Québec band Dentdelion (Denise Levac, Claude Méthé, Dana Whittle, Béatrix Méthé), with whom he toured the Maritimes in the summer of 2007, playing the main stage at the Newfoundland-Labrador Folk Festival as well as several concerts in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. He made his formal début on the « grande scène » during the 2006 St-Jean-Baptiste celebration in Park Maisonneuve, Montréal (for the Québec national holiday), performing alongside several other young artists with Yves Lambert (La Bottine Souriante) and his Bébert Orchestra before a crowd of 250,000 people.

Béatrix Méthé (Dentdelion):  lives in Ste-Béatrix, Québec. Born into a family where both parents are musicians, she began to play the violin at the age of nine, in her third year of primary school. At school, she studies classical music; she is also a member of the acclaimed Orchestre des Jeunes de Joliette (Joliette Youth Orchestra), with whom she performs on a regular basis. Béatrix is a member of folk-trad group Dentdelion, with whom she toured the Canadian Maritimes in the summer of 2006, performing on the mainstage at the Newfoundland-Labrador Folk Festival and in concerts in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Since she was a small child, she has traveled extensively with her family, performing in festivals and concerts and participating at music camps. She toured Scotland and the Shetland Isles with a band made up of family members, American fiddler Laura Risk (who lives in Montréal) and stepdancer-caller Marie-Soleil Pilette and has been lucky enough to learn from and play alongside these wonderful musicians and many more, among them fiddlers Pascal Gemme, Stéphanie Lépine, André Brunet, Aly Bain and Alastair Fraser. A budding composer herself, she wrote her first tune at the age of 4 (on piano). More recently, she helped to create and perform (with a whole crew of young fiddlers) a 60th birthday tune for Scottish fiddler Aly Bain, after a week studying and jamming with him, Phil Cunningham and countless other fabulous players at Fiddle Frenzy in Shetland. In a 2008 competition, Béatrix won a provincial scholarship to attend the Camp Musical de Lanaudière (classical) and will follow this experience with a week at the new Camp Violon Trad Québec where she will study traditional music with André Brunet and Stéphanie Lépine. Béatrix also sings and plays guitar.