Each summer, Prince's Island Park hosts the Calgary Folk Music Festival — an event that's going strong more than four decades since it was founded in 1980.
From July 25 to 28, the 2024 edition brings together more than 70 artists from around the province, the country and the world for a four-day festival of family-friendly fun. It will be home to an incredible seven stages (not to mention a family zone, beer garden, arts market and more).
Below are Exclaim!'s picks for the five must-sees of the festival. Four-day passes and single-day tickets are available here.
Luna Li
Toronto multi-instrumentalist Hannah Bussiere Kim went from Exclaim!'s Class of 2020 to become one of the early pandemic's surprise successes, thanks to viral videos that showed her playing every instrument in her mellow, intricate instrumental jams. Now, having achieved internet fame, she's taking those mega chops back out onto the stage in support of her upcoming album, When a Thought Grows Wings.
Nicolette & the Nobodies
Yeehaw! While the Calgary Folk Music Festival spans all sorts of genres, Nicolette Hoang connects the events with its rustic roots. Raised on classical piano before becoming a devoted jazz cat in high school, Hoang discovered country music as an adult — and now she kicking up dust in Canada's country scene, having recently delivered her barn-burnin' debut LP The Long Way.
NYSSA
A couple of years back, NYSSA summoned the spirit of Jim Morrison with a scorching performance Doors cover set on Halloween. She brought that same classic rock mojo to this year's Shake Me Where I'm Foolish, touching on glam and punk with her mystical, theatrical spin on the sound of '70s guitar music.
The Roots
The Roots have been around for nearly as long as the Calgary Folk Music Festival itself, and they've established themselves as one of the most progressive, influential and singularly captivating forces in full-band hip-hop. Combining crowd-pleasing fun with incisive politics, look for them to bring the same good mood they set as the house band of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
KT Tunstall
Suddenly I see one of the definitive radio rock songwriters of the '00s! "Suddenly I See" is a defining hit in a career full of successes. She's got two and a half decades worth of albums and signature songs to draw on throughout her set, but let's face it — you simply can't miss the moment when she plays her big hit and the crowd inevitably goes bananas.
