Homegrown Folk

We welcome Bob Miller to the Headwaters stage for the first time to celebrate the launch of his debut album “Homegrown”.  Bob is a musician and guitar maker from Sharbot Lake, Ontario. Bob got his musical start as part of the folk music scene in Toronto in the 1970s, and he’s been honing his musical skills and instrument-making abilities since.

Bob’s unique finger-picking style on guitar and warm vocals allow him to make familiar traditional songs his own. He performs on instruments that he has hand made himself over the past 40 years.

In February 2021, Bob released “Homegrown” featuring 17 tracks of traditional and original folk music and tunes. Produced by world-class multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Steafan Hannigan, the album features Kaitlin and Meghan Balogh on fiddles, Steafan on more than a dozen instruments and Saskia Tomkins on nickelharpa and fiddle.

Meghan Balogh’s beginnings in classical music quickly turned into a love for traditional Irish fiddle tunes and folk music, in large part thanks to her lifelong friendship with Bob Miller and his family. She has been involved in Irish music in the Kingston area for 15 years, and plays with a number of musicians and bands in the region, including as a founding member of the Prince Edward County-based Celtic folk band, Seventh Town, and the Kingston traditional Irish music trio, No Great Mischief.

Multi-talented duo Saskia Tomkins and Steafan Hannigan live in Cobourg and are well-known in Northumberland as well as afar.  They play a multitude of instruments including violin, fiddle, nickelharpa, and bagpipes. After 22 years of playing together and working as session musicians, S&S released their first duo album in 2017 called “Moorchild”. Artists they have played or recorded with include: Uriah Heep, Loreena Mckennit, Bjork, Depeche Mode, The Band of Hope, SinE, Afro-Celt Sound System, Oliver Schroer, David Newland, Kim Doolittle,  Jimmy Bowskill, The Chieftains,  Tim Edey, Tim Garland, Robb Johnson, Sonja Kristina (Curved Air), Ron Korb, James McKenty, Crispian Mills (Kula Shaker), Donald Quan, Ted Staunton, Sultans of String, Miranda Sykes, Lotus Wight (Sam Allison), Ken Whiteley, and Astrid Young.