Heather Dale’s original Celtic music explores world legends and history. She finds contemporary themes within old material, and fuses folk traditions with blues, jazz, and world music influences. Often compared to Loreena McKennitt and Sarah McLachlan, Dale’s rich vocals are paired with more than a dozen folk instruments in live performances with multi-instrumentalist Ben Deschamps. In her 25+ year career, she’s released 18 studio albums, 5 live albums, 3 songbooks and a full-length musical theatre work based on the King Arthur legend titled “Queens of Avalon.” She and Ben have played 1500+ shows across 3 continents, and together they run the musician-friendly OnlineConcertThing.com music platform. Heather & Ben have been proud Local 1000 members since 2011.
Coffeehouse
Heather Dale
Ben Deschamps
Multi-instrumentalist Ben Deschamps plays regularly with Celtic artist Heather Dale, and also tours internationally as a side musician for other folk and blues acts. Ben’s long recording career includes producing and/or engineering over 40 albums, and running live sound for performances. Ben Deschamps and Heather Dale have played 1500+ shows across 3 continents. Together they run the musician-friendly OnlineConcertThing.com music platform. Ben has been a proud Local 1000 member since 2011.
Daniel Boling
Balladeer / Songwriter based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and touring the U.S. and abroad full-time.
In addition to being a touring solo act, Daniel is a member of the 1960s folk trio The Limeliters and the group remains active.
Former Western Regional Representative for Local 1000.
David Borough
David Borough appears with the band, Radio Rail. Radio Rail has performed at The Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering, The Songs for the Transcontinental Railroad Concerts, The California State Railroad Museum, The Cold Springs Tavern, and The Old Town Sacramento Gold Rush Days Festival. As well as venues from Cisco’s Creekside in San Luis Obispo, to The Urban Village Farmers Markets in the San Francisco Bay Area…
A fiddle player with the Celtic Rock band, O’Craven, David has appeared at The Northern California Pirate Festival, The Pirates of the Pacific Festival in Brookings Oregon, and the Northern California Renaissance Faire…
David is Singer/Songwriter honored by the South Bay Songwriter’s Association, and the Napa Folk Festival.
David also hosts “The Rising of the Moon” Celtic themed radio program, which airs at 6:00 am Pacific time, on the fourth, and fifth Mondays.
Recordings:
“I’ve Gone Home/Down on Santa Clara Street”, 45 rpm vinyl. (1981)
“Liberacion de Amor” Cassette. (1982)
“Viva Nicaragua Libre/Rollin’ Solidarity Down”. 45 rpm vinyl (1983)”
“BurnsBorough”. Cassette (1988)
“Radio Rail”. Compact disc. (1997)
“The O’Daveys Irish Band, Raw”. Compact disc. (2008)
Beth Cahill
Beth Cahill is a musical raconteuse with quirky tales to tell. She has found her own, true voice – it can be intimate, explosive, soothing or even forlorn. Her style rises from the broad roots of a cultural tree that spreads its leafy branches high above her Illinois Celtic-ness. It leans casually up against an Americana-esque array of blues, jazz and other traditional influences to come to gracefully rest alongside the river that flows past her Québec home. While she calls Wakefield, Quebec home she tours extensively across North America, both solo and with The Malvinas. She is currently the Secretary Treasurer of Local 1000.
Tom Chapin
“One of the great personalities in contemporary folk music.” – New York Times
In a career that spans five decades, 26 albums and three Grammy awards, Tom Chapin has covered an incredible amount of creative ground. In addition to his work as a recording artist, concert performer, storyteller and activist, he’s acted on Broadway and worked extensively in television, radio and film.
Chapin maintains two long and productive parallel careers, both as a respected contemporary folk artist and as a pioneer in the field of children’s music. During the height of the Covid shutdowns, Tom and his daughters The Chapin Sisters streamed 200 live concerts under the moniker “Mornings with Papa Tom.” All are archived on YouTube.
Simon and Schuster has released three children’s books based upon his songs: This Pretty Planet, Library Song (The Library Book), and The Backwards Birthday Party. A new CD is almost complete, working title “Listen Close” to be released in Spring 2022.
In addition to his musical and media endeavors, Chapin has long been an advocate for environmental causes, issues of hunger and social justice, and a supporter of music and the arts in public schools.
Aaron Fowler
Aaron has been performing since he was 16. Working alongside several musicians throughout his career he has built a breadth of musical experiences from house concerts to festivals and concert halls. His passion for the music and the power it can have with groups of people is part of why he keeps bringing the music to audiences across the country. Aaron brings a polished fingerstyle and rhythm guitar playing to a warm tenor voice. His songwriting tells the stories of common folks bringing uncommon stories to life. Whether one of the more than 100 songs from rural communities across this country or songs of passion and purpose, Aaron delivers a performance that will move you. As an educator, Aaron began his teaching career in 1984 after he graduated from Friends University in Wichita, KS. Aaron intended to teach a couple of years at the elementary level then move to middle school and then high school and then land a career at the college. Well, part of that became a reality. Aaron taught 2 years at the elementary level and 2 years at the middle school level. The problem is that he stayed another 7 years, teaching middle school for 11 years! Some love middle school kids and Aaron is one of them. It was in 1995 when Aaron decided to pursue songwriting and touring more intentional. Now 32 years later he still loves working in the classroom drawing music and stories out of students. Aaron’s work includes work with the itty-bitty one, birth through 6-year-olds through Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts. As a National Trainer, he loves getting these very young ones finding the music and rhythm inside themselves. Aaron is a Certified National Teaching Artist with Young Audiences in New York and a Wolf Trap Master Teaching Artist with Wolf Trap Early Learning through the Arts in Vienna Virginia. His current home in Wichita, Kansas keeps him connected with Arts Partners Wichita working with students K-12. The work of integrating the arts into science, math and language arts is a wonderful way to inspire kids to use the creative space in their heads to think about the world they live in. In early 2020 Aaron began thinking about how to leave some of the stories he was telling students about Bella and Choco, the two classroom therapy dogs that work with Aaron in the classroom. He came up with the concept of a children’s book about the two adventurous dogs that visited the classroom with him as Therapy dogs. The first book, Being YOU-Neek, was written during the 2020 Pandemic. It became the first book in the series The Adventures of Bella and Choco. This book helps children learn about character traits and a variety of academic lessons. The second book is entitled, The Boat, and is about how all us belong on this great plant we call Mother Earth. The 3rd book will come out in the spring of 2022 and is an Alphabet book highlighting local businesses in Wichita Kansas where Aaron and illustrator Peter Mader live.
Eric Erickson
Eve Goldberg
Imagine a kitchen party where Mother Maybelle Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Patsy Cline show up, and you begin to get a sense of what it feels like inside songwriter Eve Goldberg’s head. Eve has performed her trademark mixture of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, old time, and jazz in venues ranging from small house concerts to the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC since 1990.
Eve’s performances are uplifting, intimate and relaxed, and her watercolour voice and solid instrumental style (guitar, ukulele) has become a favourite at festivals, folk clubs, and concert series across Canada and the US. Along the way she’s earned the respect of legendary musicians like Peggy Seeger, Geoff Muldaur, and Penny Lang. She has released three solo albums to widespread acclaim — “Ever Brightening Day,” (1998) “Crossing the Water,” (2003) and “A Kinder Season” (2006). Her instrumental tune “Watermelon Sorbet” was used for years as the opening theme to “Richardson’s Roundup” on CBC Radio One.
In addition to being a fine performer, Eve is an experienced teacher who excels at passing on her skills and knowledge to others through private lessons, workshops, and classes. She has taught at colleges, music camps, schools, and festivals, and specializes in teaching adults in community settings.
Eve is also one half of the folk/roots duo Gathering Sparks with musical partner Jane Lewis. In a short time, Gathering Sparks has gained a reputation for sparkling harmonies, solid instrumentation (piano, guitar, ukulele, accordion, and banjo), and stellar songwriting. Gathering Sparks was nominated for a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the year based on their self-titled debut EP and their first full-length album, “All That’s Real,” was released in fall 2019 by Borealis Records.
Beyond performing and teaching, Eve has been involved in numerous community efforts over the years. She was one of the organizers of The Woods Music and Dance Camp for over twenty years, was a founder of Common Thread: Community Chorus of Toronto, helped start ArtsCan Circle, served on the board of the Ontario Council of Folk Festival (now Folk Music Ontario), and was the first office manager at Borealis Records.
In 2021 Eve was recognized with the Estelle Klein Award for her outstanding contributions to the folk music community in Ontario.
Debra Cowan
“Stunning” is the word often used to describe Debra Cowan’s vocals. She performs unaccompanied or with guitar, interpreting a wide range of traditional and contemporary songs. She is a full-time performer who bridges the old and new with a refreshing stage presence and has released six recordings, all having earned praise on both sides of the Atlantic. She tours in the United Kingdom and in North America and can often be seen on stage with her good friend, singer and musician John Roberts. Debra is a proud member of American Federation of Musicians Local 1000 and endorses Harvey Leach guitars.
Tret Fure
Tret Fure began her career at the age of 16, singing in coffeehouses and campuses in the Midwest. At 19, she moved to LA in hopes of obtaining a record deal. Within a year she was performing as guitarist and vocalist for Spencer Davis, touring with him and penning the single for his album “Mousetrap”. She went on to record her own album “Tret Fure” in 1973, on MCA/UNI Records, with the late Lowell George of Little Feat as her producer. With the success of that release, she opened for such bands as Yes, Poco, and the J Geils Band.
A prolific artist in the contemporary singer-songwriter arena, Tret Fure has released 17 albums and CDs over the course of her 51 year career. In addition to being a gifted songwriter, Fure has engineered and produced countless recordings by a variety of artists, including her own work.
In the early 80s, Tret moved to the independent side of the industry discovering the blossoming genre known as Women’s Music. She recorded with and produced some of the best of women’s music including mixing the legendary “Meg & Cris at Carnegie Hall” (1983). She worked as a duo with Cris Williamson throughout the 90s, producing, engineering and releasing 3 CDs together. Now after 9 acoustic releases on her own label, “Tomboy girl Records”, she has re-established herself in the folk world
Some highlights from her career include:
1990 – Voted both Best Guitarist and Best Engineer in a Reader’s Choice poll in “Hot Wire: The Journal of Women’sMusic & Culture”.
2004 – Winner of the South Florida Folk Festival Singer/Songwriter Competition in 2 out of 3 categories, Best Overall and Best Up-Tempo Song.
2004 – Winner of the Women in the Arts “Jane Schliessman Award” for Outstanding Contributions to Women’s Music.
2009 -Voted “Pride In The Arts” Favorite Female/Lesbian Musician.
2009 – Winner of the Women in the Arts “Janine C Rae Award” for the Advancement of Women’s Culture.
2011 – Winner of the Women in the Arts “Phyllis Roark Memorial Award” for Philanthropy.
2015 – “Rembrandt Afternoons” (2015) was chosen by the acclaimed folk music show ‘Midnight Special’ as their album of the week.
2017 – 2nd place winner in the “Musicians United to Protect Bristol Bay” songwriting contest for her song “The Fishermen of Bristol Bay” (2015).
2018 – #1 song ”Lessons From Home Plate” from the CD “Roses in November” (2018) for the month of June in the FAI FOLK CHART.
2020 – 1st place winner in “A Still Small Voice 4U” songwriting competition with her song “Monuments”.
2021 – 2nd place winner in “A Still Small Voice 4U” songwriting competition with the song “Louder Than the Guns”.
2021 – #1 song “Monuments” from the CD “Stone by Stone” (2020) for the month of February in the FAI FOLK CHART.
2021 – #1 song “Roses in November” from the CD “Roses in November” (2018) for the month of November in the FAI FOLK CHART.
2021 – #14 Album for the year with “Stone by Stone”. #9 song for the year with “Monuments” and #25 artist of the year.
Wanda A. Fischer from WMAC Northeast Public Radio has this to say, “Roses in November is yet another masterpiece from Tret. Exceptionally crafted songs delivered with passion, conviction and, yes, soul. Tret weaves magic both in the lyrics and between the lines. This will certainly be on my “Best of 2018” list.”
In addition to touring and recording, Tret teaches guitar and songwriting individually and in workshop settings. She paints pet portraits on commission and, an accomplished cook, Fure has also published a cookbook, “Tret’s Kitchen”, featuring her own recipes. Along with bridging the marketing, production, music and art worlds, Tret served for 6 years as President of Local 1000, The Traveling Musicians Association–a union geared toward helping traveling musicians find security and longevity.
Tret is truly a Renaissance Woman!