Ottawa Grassroots Festival  2025

The Ottawa Grassroots Festival is a family-friendly indoor celebration of folk music, dance and spoken word. The annual (April) festival is a non-profit organization run by volunteers.  Evening performances are ticketed concerts, by top artists. All daytime activities are free for everyone to attend: workshops, sing-alongs, kids’ activities, choir, jam sessions, and more.

Ottawa Grassroots Festival

Join us at the Ottawa Grassroots Festival 2025 for an amazing weekend of live music, interactive workshops, and plenty of fun!

First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa

The Dusty Drifters emerged out of Ottawa in 2008. Spending several years hosting the popular Bluegrass Sundays at Irene's they became one of the region's most celebrated and recognized Bluegrass bands. They've since produced an album and have played many local festivals where they continue to gain fans of all ages with each appearance. Their bluegrass/new acoustic sound is filled with a mixture of fresh arrangements of old favourites and original songs. The lineup includes Paul Roberto (guitar, lead vocals), Stuart Rutherford (Dobro, fiddle, vocals), Anthony Bacon (banjo, cello, vocals), Brent Weatherall (Bass, vocals), and Gilles Leclerc (mandolin, vocals)<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheDustyDrifters" title="https://www.facebook.com/TheDustyDrifters" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/TheDustyDrifters</a>

The Barrow Gang Buskers, originally an all-acoustic busking band, is a 5 - 6 piece rotating cast of gang characters. Punctuated by their stage antics, they play a rockabilly mix of toe-tappin' tunes including original songs written by George Stryker. George, once known for the best pompadour in Ottawa, is a long-time Rockabilly singer/songwriting performer and fronts the group as Clyde Barrow with his guitar Bonnie. He began his career over 40 years ago as the leading man in several Rockabilly ensembles who opened for acts such as the Stray Cats, Meatloaf, Rosanne Cash to name a few. The remaining graffs and quipsters, AKA Blanche (Jill Shipley), Chuck (Kevin Smith), Baby (Cyndi Kennedy), and Buckles (Ken Hatcher), are notable long-time musicians from all walks of life with a passion for energetic and entertaining fun.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thebarrowgangbuskers" title="https://www.facebook.com/thebarrowgangbuskers" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/thebarrowgangbuskers</a>

Lynn Miles is an award winning singer-songwriter, record producer, teacher, writer, public speaker.She’s also pretty funny, a 3 minute standup routine is at the top of her bucket list.Lynn has 16 albums to her credit. She won a Juno award (Canadian Grammy)in 2003 for Roots Traditional Album of the year, and went on to be nominated in the same categories in 2011 and 2006. She is also the recipient of 6 Canadian Folk Music Awards including 3 for songwriter of the year. Her 2 most recent awards we given to her duo THE LYNNeS for songwriters of the year, and ensemble of the year at the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards. In 2016, Americana artist Clair Lynch recorded Lynn’s song “Black Flowers” on her Grammy nominated album “North By South”.Lynn estimates she’s written about 900 songs, she’s never done an official count.<a href="https://lynnmiles.ca/" title="https://lynnmiles.ca/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://lynnmiles.ca/</a>

Evangeline Gentle is a Scottish-Canadian internationally acclaimed folk-pop songwriter, performer and vocalist based in Ontario, Canada. Contemplative and affecting, Evangeline’s lyrics evoke lush emotional landscapes within the listener and seek to unite audiences with a sense of “sameness”. A celebration of queerness and queer culture is woven throughout Gentle’s upcoming release Where The Diamonds Are, best heard on singles “Gay Bar” which debuted on CBC q, and “Bad Girls”. On this she says “While many have never been to a gay bar, most know the euphoria of getting dressed up to go out dancing with friends. We are inextricably connected by our shared emotional, human experience. I love that songs remind us of this.”<a href="https://evangelinegentlemusic.com/" title="https://evangelinegentlemusic.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://evangelinegentlemusic.com/</a>

<h3>THE DEVIN CUDDY BAND</h3>Devin Cuddy is a singer songwriter based in Toronto. From an early age he was drawn to music of the past. While sifting through his father's (Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo) CD collection, he found the music of Louis Armstrong and New Orleans blues piano players like Dr John and Professor Longhair. After attending York University for Jazz Piano, Devin starting hanging around Toronto's Cameron House, where he was inspired by the local singer songwriter scene. He began his performing career alone at the piano, playing every Wednesday night. It was during this time that he began writing and testing out his own material on an ever growing crowd. Drawing from inspirations like Randy Newman and Steve Earle, Devin started to build up a catalogue of his own material.<a href="https://www.devincuddy.com/home" title="https://www.devincuddy.com/home" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.devincuddy.com/home</a>

Josh Ritchie is a born performer. Ever since he could stand he's had a guitar in his hands and songs in his bones. From the minute the kid walks on stage it’s obvious he was meant to be there. Ritchie commands audiences with the confidence of a seasoned front man, serving them larger-than-life, stadium-rock energy at every show.<a href="https://www.joshritchiemusic.com/" title="https://www.joshritchiemusic.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.joshritchiemusic.com/</a>

All events for the 2025 festival will be held at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. Seats are on a first come basis. Doors open at 6:30PM. Please come early to get a good seat. <blockquote>OGF 2025 EVENING CONCERT SCHEDULE:</blockquote><blockquote>THURSDAY, APRIL 24</blockquote><blockquote>THE DUSTY DRIFTERS - 7:30PM</blockquote><blockquote>THE BARROW GANG BUSKERS - 9PM</blockquote><blockquote>FRIDAY, APRIL 25</blockquote><blockquote>EVANGELINE GENTLE - 7:30PM</blockquote><blockquote>LYNN MILES - 9PM</blockquote><blockquote>SATURDAY, APRIL 26</blockquote><blockquote>JOSH RITCHIE - 7:30PM</blockquote><blockquote>THE DEVIN CUDDY BAND - 9PM</blockquote>

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Ottawa Grassroots Festival 2025

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