The Ottawa Blues Festival is something of a misnomer, and it’s been that way for years now.
The massive ten-day event attracts hundreds of thousands of music lovers with everything from pop to hip hop to country to alt rock – and of course blues and roots music, too. It kicks off Thursday night at Lebreton Flats in downtown Ottawa and runs through July 19th.
The festival’s Joe Reilly says the goal is “to have something for everybody.” He spoke with David Sommerstein for this preview. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
JOE REILLY: There’s still a lot of great soul and blues acts at the core of this thing, but it truly is a giant music festival for Ottawa and eastern Ontario and hopefully drawing in people from western Quebec and upstate New York. And the way you do that is by having a great, diverse lineup with lots of amazing headline acts.
DAVID SOMMERSTEIN: So, let’s try and capture the full range and diversity of what you have to offer. Who are you most excited to welcome to the festival this year?
REILLY: On the 12th, we have summersets, a really great regional act; Leif Vollbekk, an amazing artist who used to be from Ottawa; and the Lumineers all on the main stage. That’s an example of local, national, and international all on the same night on one stage. And we have four stages running at this thing.
Then there’s the Digable Planets opening the festival on Thursday. They emerged in the early 90s as a New York trio, and what they did with only two albums truly set hip hop in a new direction, incorporating jazz and soul into their music. I still remember that first album and just being floored by the sound of this group. I was in my early 30s, and I was like, “Wow, this is amazing.” They disappeared for awhile, but now they’ve come back and they’re doing live stuff.
We also have two of the most significant buzz artists right now on the same night on July 17th. First off is this group from Saguenay, Quebec called Angine de Poitrine. We booked them quite a while ago, and then in early February, KEXP uploaded a video by this duo, and it exploded. They claim to be space-time voyagers. Nobody really knows who they are. They wear these polka-dotted outfits and papier-mache masks and hats. All of their gear is polka-dotted. And the key thing is it’s not just a gimmick. They know how to play. They are amazing players.
And they’re on the same night as Ella Langley, who is kind of the polar opposite in some ways, but is also another musician who has just blown up with her second album that came out in April. I mean, her story is more earthbound, right? She comes from Hope Hull, Alabama. She sang in her Baptist choir. She loves singing with her grandfather. When he died, she was given his guitar. She learned to play and write songs. In 2017, she co-wrote her first song with her aunt called “Clear the clouds”, which you can still see on YouTube. Her second album was number one on Billboard, and she has exploded as a country music star.
You always want to book acts that are going to maybe suddenly blow up, and people are going to get really interested in, and you never know if it’s going to happen. You hope. We have a great programming team, but this night in particular is just going to be kooky with these two acts on stage that same night.
SOMMERSTEIN: I know a lot of people will also be happy to know that Lucy Dacus is performing on July 16th, a great singer-songwriter.
REILLY: I love Lucy Dacus. She has played in Ottawa at our festivals before. Each step, she’s been developing and getting bigger and better. Each album just gets stronger in her songwriting. She’s like an old soul in a young person, and she really explores deeply in song. If you listen closely to her lyrics, they’re stunning.
SOMMERSTEIN: And then the last night of the festival, Sunday, July 19th, is a special night, with Canadian artists the entire day.
REILLY: We sort of abandoned afternoon programming on the weekends a few years ago because it was always really hot and people weren’t coming out as much. But on this day, we’ve decided to kick things off at 12:30 pm and run right through on all of our stages. And it’s all Canadian to celebrate Ottawa’s founding 200 years ago. So we have a special all-Canadian program. It’s headlined by the Guess Who, and also the Sheepdogs.
We also have Natalie McMaster and Donnell Leahy, two amazing Canadian fiddlers who met touring years ago from different parts of the country. They now have a giant family of kids who step dance and fiddle. So, that’s a representation of another part of what Canadian music is all about. Also, on that day, we have Elisapie, an amazing indigenous artist. So, it’s all Canadian. There’s some really great local acts in there as well. It’s going to be a great celebration and a good way to wrap up the festival this year.
