Submitted by:
Micheline Carstairs


The Home Routes House Concerts have entered their fifth season in The Valley, and the variety of shows has the audience enchanted.



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“We have begun to attract artists from different regions, and different genres,” said Tim Osmund, artistic director of Home Routes, “and the Borealis Trail (the route that includes The Valley) is one of the most established and sought-after routes on the circuit.”

This season, The Valley is the culmination of twelve consecutive shows for the touring artists.

“We are last!” said Nancy McLennan, the founding host for Valley House Concerts. “By the look of last week’s show, this is going to be a great year because the artists will have honed their act by the time they get to us, and will want to kick up their heels a bit.”

Last week’s opening show featured a collaboration of a traditional folk singer in Craig Werth and a renowned traditional Celtic singer in Kyle Carey.

The talented artists became a duo, especially for the Home Routes tour.


“They put together a show that highlighted them individually, and also showed how new collaborations can be exciting,” said McLennan. “They had great stories about their trip, all the way from New Hampshire and through, for them, uncharted Canadian territory.”

“Actually,” added McLennan, “Craig toured Canada for many years with David Francey, but this was truly a new experience for Kyle whose stories stemmed from her studies in the Gaelic islands of Scotland.” Werth and Carey brought with them an amazing array of traditional and specialized instruments.

The first show of the season was hosted by Flo and Marv Fried.

“This year we are going to move the shows around the Valley,” said McLennan. “The next show in the series will be hosted by Harley House on a Friday, November 2; guitarist, songwriter and record producer, David Baxter.”

“He is not a young guy, but he does lots of sessional playing and is really respected in the industry,” she said. “His current record has a duet with Catherine MacLellan and he won a 2009 Canadian Folk Music Association nomination.”

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