For Immediate Release
Minden, Ontario
Tuesday June 13, 2023
11:30 AM
Release #23-42

Subject:        Minden Hills Cultural Centre presents Backwoodsmen live in the Heritage Village

Ontario’s rural folk song culture is revealed in words and music by traditional music group Backwoodsmen, performing live outdoors in the Heritage Village at the Minden Hills Cultural Centre on Saturday, June 24 starting at 2 pm.

The province of Ontario has one of North America's richest folk-song traditions. Between 1929 and 1960, internationally recognized scholars have documented more than 3,000 orally transmitted folk songs in the province. In 1958, Folkways Records of New York City released the first of ten vinyl recordings featuring Ontario singers and musicians. This little-known piece of Ontario history is presented by Backwoodsmen. The quartet focuses on folk songs documented throughout rural Ontario in the 1950s by song-collector/scholar Edith Fowke.

Backwoodsmen recorded contemporary arrangements of the folk songs, which are also featured in the exhibit Cross Cut by Rob Niezen, currently on display in the Agnes Jamieson Gallery. Backwoodsmen consists of artist and musician Rob Niezen, historian and musician Dr. Allan Kirby, and musicians John Bird and Rob Cory. Rob Niezen and Dr. Allan Kirby also produced a book that introduces Edith’s Fowke’s work, the song lyrics and their history, along with the linocuts of this exhibition.

The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is a public art gallery with year-round exhibitions of local and regional art. The Gallery is part of the Minden Hills Cultural Centre which includes the Museum, Heritage Village and Nature’s Place. The MHCC is located at 176 Bobcaygeon Road, Minden. The Gallery is fully accessible and is open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is by donation.

For questions regarding this exhibit, please call the Community Services Department at 705-286-1260 x 542. For more information, visit the Township of Minden Hills website at https://www.mindenhills.ca

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Contact Information:
Shannon Kelly, Manager of Cultural Services
Township of Minden Hills
PO Box 359, 7 Milne Street
Minden, ON K0M 2K0