Rootstock lineup Aug. 27 in Niagara includes Steven Page

Note: Press release announcing the Rootstock lineup at Jackson-Triggs winery amphitheatre on Aug. 27

ROOTSTOCK

FEATURING: Steven Page, Joel Plaskett, Sarah Slean and Hawksley Workman

Date: August 27, 2010 8:00pm
Location: Niagara Peninsula
Contact: 905-468-4637 x 2

*(Jackson – Triggs will be providing amphitheatre chairs this year!)

Price:
$61.00

For ONE NIGHT ONLY, our open-air amphitheatre will play host to the second wine country Canadian Songwriters’ Circle, ROOTSTOCK! The evening will be an intimate and interactive experience with four of Canada’s top musical artists: Steven Page, Joel Plaskett, Sarah Slean, and Hawksley Workman.

Called “Rootstock” as a play on words for the combination of wine (grapevines) and music (the ever-so famous Woodstock), this vision is inspired by the fact that “roots” provide the core lifeline, foundation and identity that defines and creates fine music and fine wine. All four musicians share their talents, performing and interacting with each other and the audience.
(Price per person is $61.00 plus taxes and handling fee)

STEVEN PAGE

For twenty years, Steven Page was the lead singer and songwriter with Barenaked Ladies, the Toronto-based band he formed in 1988 with Ed Robertson.

Known for his dynamic, physically exuberant performances, his powerful tenor, quick wit, and an arsenal of songs that span the gamut between humor and pathos, Steven and the band toured the world, selling out venues ranging from Madison Square Garden to the Royal Albert Hall.  They sold nearly 15 million albums and won numerous Juno awards as well as two Grammy nominations and two Gemini awards for their work on Canadian television.

He left the band this year to pursue a solo and theatrical career.

On his own, Steven released an album written and produced with Stephen Duffy, called “The Vanity Project” in 2005. He has composed music for Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,”(2005) “Coriolanus,”(2006) and Ben Jonson’s “Bartholomew Fair” (2009) for Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival. In 2007, he hosted his own national radio documentary series, “All The Rage” on Canada’s CBC Radio One. An album of songs recorded with the Art of Time Ensemble, made up of classical and jazz players, is due to be released in early 2010. He is also working on a new solo album, slated for release in mid 2010.

Steven is back on stage again, playing a mix of familiar old favourites and test-drives of new material.

JOEL PLASKETT

Canada has produced some of the world’s most enduring songwriters and Joel Plaskett is being hailed as one of the best.
Over the last three years, Joel has toured extensively both solo and with The Emergency, to sold-out clubs, theatres and headlining festivals throughout Canada, the United States and Australia – all on the heels of great Canadian success with his Make A Little Noise DVD & EP (2006) and concept record, Ashtray Rock (2007).

Topping that off was Joel’s Juno Award nomination for Songwriter of the Year and his placement as First Place Winner in the 2008 Great American Song Contest and the Billboard World Song Contest for his single “Fashionable People” (in the Pop Category).

Joel’s latest release, triple album “Three”, is his most ambitious work to date and features a stellar line up of guest musicians including his father Bill Plaskett, Rose Cousins, Ana Egge and his band, The Emergency (Chris Pennell, Dave Marsh and Peter Elkas). Received with overwhelming response from media and radio programmers across the country, the reviews were stellar for lead single, “Through & Through & Through”. Joel and his latest effort, “Three” won the 2010 Juno for Best Alternative Album and received a nomination for the prestigious 2009 Polaris Music Award.

Without a doubt, another personal career highlight for Joel and his band was sharing the stage opening for the legendary Paul McCartney (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) performing to an audience of over 50,000.

SARAH SLEAN

Over the course of her twelve year career Sarah Slean has made six albums, starred in short films and a movie musical, published two volumes of poetry, held exhibitions of her paintings, and shared the stage with four of the country’s leading orchestras.

She has been nominated for two Gemini Awards and three Junos, and her records have been released in mutiple countries world wide.

Her latest album is called the The Baroness. An EP of its outtakes entitled The Baroness Redecorates showcases her remarkable talent as a string arranger. She has just completed a degree in music and philosophy at the University of Toronto. Her current project, due out in April 2011, is a double album entitled Land & Sea that will capture the two most prominent sides of Slean’s musical personality: the clever, infectious pop reminiscent of “Sweet Ones”, her first major radio hit in 2002, (Land, produced by Joel Plaskett) and dreamy, dark, string-soaked cabaret balladry (Sea, produced by film composer Jonathan Goldsmith).

HAWSLEY WORKMAN

A musician of incredible velocity, Hawksley Workman is at the top of his game when he has the solitude and serenity to write and record his music in atomic bursts, focused into monastic postures, accessing grace and brilliance in fluid, sweeping motions.

With his increasing rock triumphs, growing fan communities and formidable body mass, Workman has evolved from the slight, pin-striped oddball with a critically-acclaimed diamond voice, to the panoramic, guitar-punishing superstar with no performance limits.