#The next big thing concert series

“We’re coast-to-coast-to-coast and we’re growing at an extraordinary rate.”Įach circuit consists of six musicians performing a series of 12 concerts from late September through April. “As of February 3, 2011, we will have 14 circuits of six performers,” says Podolak. Since 2006, Podolak - founder of the Winnipeg and Vancouver Folk Festivals - has been operating Home Routes, an organization that books performers exclusively into house-concert circuits across Canada. In Winnipeg, renowned promoter Mitch Podolak says the demand for house concerts is skyrocketing, and he’s generating the business to prove it.

The allure for people to invite musicians into their homes for intimate shows seems to be growing, and not just locally. The kids sent out e-mails, and within 24 hours, two shows were sold out. “So I got this idea: let’s just have kids come and sing at the house.

It didn’t matter - whenever people came over, we did that. “After dinners, we’d always have people over with guitars and we always sang around the living room. “Our house has always been filled with music, and people came to our house to jam all the time,” says Joanne, whose fulltime occupation is teacher consultant. So why are the Sleightholms opening their abode to the public? Joanne Sleightholm says it’s a natural extension of their music loving lifestyle. will feature local country music warbler Lindi Ortega Indiana folk singer-songwriter Stephanie Lambring and two of the Sleightholms’ own budding artists, Madeleine and Gavin Slate the former is a Nashville songwriter and the latter has just finished recording his debut album with producer Colin Cripps. Reasonably priced at $10 - all proceeds go to the musicians and sound-system rental - the two 90-minute acoustically-driven shows beginning at 6 p.m. Inspired by the tiny Nashville restaurant that launched the songwriting careers of thousands, the Sleightholms are staging their second series of in-the-round performance house concerts for two, possibly three shows on January 8 in their living room, which holds 45 people. Next weekend, Joanne and Blair Sleightholm are bringing the Bluebird Café concept to their spacious Yonge and Eglinton-area home.

The next big thing concert