Celebrate The Riverboat
By Greg Quill
26 June 2008, The Toronto Star
The fifth annual City Roots Festival, a free and increasingly robust
weekend-long exposition in the Distillery District of the best Toronto has to
offer in the way of folk, country, blues, singer-songwriters and various related
hybrids, kicks off tomorrow night with its only ticketed event, Riverboat
Revival, at Hugh's Room (2261 Dundas St. W., $15 at 416-531-6604, $17 at the
door).
The concert celebrates The Riverboat coffee house, Yorkville's famous showcase
for original, folk-based music in the 1960s and '70s and host to many of the
world's best-known artists, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ian and Sylvia,
Lonnie Johnson, Steve Goodman, Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs, Willie P. Bennett and Tom
Rush. Their work will be represented tomorrow in performances by contemporary
and veteran roots music favourites, including Ronney Abramson, Laura Fernandez,
Tim Harrison, Jay Linden, Danny Marks, Palominos, Steve Raiken, Suzie Vinnick
and Noah Zacharin.
The festival proper takes place Saturday and Sunday on several stages in the
Distillery District, with some 40 acts - around 150 musicians - including
songwriters Blair Packham, Jay Linden, Jory Nash, Kyp Harness, Paul Quarrington,
Peter Boyd, bluegrass/newgrass wizards Creaking Tree String Quartet and Foggy
Hogtown Boys, blues specialists Danny Marks, Jerome Godboo, Rob Lutes and Doc
MacLean, Afro-Canadian songwriter/guitarist Donne Roberts, and country-blues
outfit Porkbelly Futures, among many others.
For schedule and details, go to torontocityroots.com.