Women of Folkways

Recognized for her dynamic style, passionate compositions, and vivacious stage presence, Darla Daniels is a Métis Fiddler, singer-songwriter, actor, and emerging composer. From Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, Darla is celebrating 20 years of sharing her love for Traditional Métis Fiddle music while cultivating a new, vibrant style of her own. She is a gifted songwriter, bringing powerful imagery to listeners' minds with a lyrically driven Roots style. Her debut vocal recording project, "1992" is set to release in 2025. She has performed on the stages of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Newport Celtic Rock Festival and the one-and-only Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but today, she is here with you.

A true preserver of the spirit of folk music, 2022 Juno Award Winner Maria Dunn is often compared to Woody Guthrie for her keen social awareness and unvarnished melodic songs about ordinary people. Her latest album Joyful Banner Blazing (2021) celebrates resilience, grace, gratitude, solidarity, joy and the love that fires our actions to make the world a better place.

Pamela Mae left a career in labour relations in 2022 to spend the better part of the next three years living in a van as the bass player and co-rabble rouser in a folk music duo with longtime traveling troubadour Scott Cook.  They toured North America and Australia collecting stories, sharing songs and purveying hope. Pamela fronted Edmonton-based old time string band, The Strawflowers and, in the early noughties, the Riverdale Bluegrass Band, both of which would often be found making people smile at the Strathcona Farmers Market. She believes that songs have work to do in the world and sets out to do just that with her banjo, guitar, upright bass and homespun vocals.

Dana Wylie is a singer of rare gift and a crafter of deeply felt and sharply observed songs. Praised for being as dexterous with words as she is with her guitar, piano and remarkably powerful voice, she writes with equal parts craft and passion. Penguin Eggs magazine once called her the only artist about whom they have “felt comfortable comparing favourably to Joni Mitchell in the scope of her talent EVER.”