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NLFB releases full lineup ahead of July 7-10 festival

In addition to names like The New Pornographers and Judy Collins, the festival will feature St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Born Ruffians, The Weather Station, Begonia, Balaklava Blues, and more.
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St. Paul and The Broken Bones will play Northern Lights Festival Boréal on July 9. 

In March, Northern Lights Festival Boréal (NFLB) organizers released the first round of the lineup for the concert series, to be held July 7-10 on the shores of Ramsey lake and a few locations around the city. 

Now, they are releasing the full schedule, and in addition to indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers, American folk/pop icon Judy Collins, African guitar tour-de-force Bombino, NLFB organizers have announced the addition of Saturday headliner, Alabama soul and indie rock sensation St. Paul & The Broken Bones, as well as Born Ruffians, The Weather Station, Begonia, Balaklava Blues, and more.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones are a world-renowned eight-piece band based in Montgomery, Alabama, with soul as the backbone, while extending into indie rock, psychedelia, and beyond, said a press release from NFLB. 

“They’ve released four full-lengths, have done all the major TV appearances (Letterman, Colbert, Kimmel, Conan etc.) and have played the world’s major festivals (Coachella, Bonnaroo, Glastonbury etc.),” states NFLB. “Now they bring their explosive and ever-evolving sound to Sudbury’s Grace Hartman Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 9.”

Added to the Friday, July 8 main stage lineup will be Toronto indie rock band Born Ruffians, who will also appear in a festival workshop performance with other artists. Originally from Midland, Ont., Born Ruffians went on to tour with such artists as Franz Ferdinand, Peter Bjorn and John, Caribou, and more. Born Ruffians will appear alongside artists such as Bombino, Paul Collins’ Beat, and Leyla McCalla on the festival’s Friday night main stage. 

The Weather Station, a project of Toronto songwriter Tamara Lindeman, will be featured on the festival’s canvas cabaret stage on Sunday, July 10. 

Emerging out of Toronto's vibrant folk scene, Lindeman debuted a moody, introspective sound with her independently released East EP in 2008. Her LP The Line followed in 2009, and Lindeman earned a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination in 2013 for a co-write with Steven Lambke of the Constantines.

Now in 2021, “Lindeman leads us into a brilliant and bold new sonic landscape with Ignorance,” states NFLB. “The record continues to garner accolades, having landed at No. 1 on the Canadian Indie Label Chart with Pitchfork giving the single Robber a spot on their The 100 Best Songs of 2020.”

NLFB has also announced the addition of acclaimed synth-pop-soul artist Begonia to Thursday’s night main stage, supporting headliner The New Pornographers. Their album was nominated for a JUNO Award for Adult Alternative Album Of The Year and was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. It was one of Exclaim’s Most Underrated Albums of the Year and spent 10 straight weeks as the No. 1 album in Canada on Earshot’s Top 50 chart.

Balaklava Blues, scheduled to appear on the canvas cabaret stage on July 9, is the brainchild of Mark and Marichka Marczyk, creators of the multi-award winning Counting Sheep and leaders of the mighty Lemon Bucket Orkestra, also appearing at the festival. Falling somewhere between a traditional song cycle and a full blown multimedia techno show, the duo “fuses Ukrainian polyphony and other folk traditions with EDM, trap, dubstep, and more as a launching pad to explore the seemingly never-ending blues that have long emanated from the Ukrainian steppe,” said NFLB. 

These are just some of the featured artists that have been added to the schedule of about 45 acts, in about 100 performances. Also appearing will be: Juno nominated R&B innovator a l l i e;  Canadian Folk Music Award winning folk-country songwriter Spencer Burton; lyrical folk storytellers Bad Actors (formerly of Sudbury ‘bloodgrass’ band Murder Murder); and Canadian Folk Music Award nominated, Indigenous singer-songwriter David Laronde from Temagami; and more.

As is a signature aspect of the festival, several themed ‘workshop’ performances will group together artists from different acts for special, collaborative appearances. Some of the workshop themes planned for 2022 include a special '50th' workshop featuring songs tied to the festival's history, as well as: ‘Celebrating our Heroes Departed’, ‘Global Percussion’, ‘Festival Tales’, ‘The Cypher: Freestyle Session’ and ‘Trad Tunes’ (traditional songs only).  

Tickets can be purchased at the following Sudbury outlets: The Refinery (Notre Dame), Jett Landry Music (Lasalle), The Townehouse Tavern (Elgin), A&J Home Hardware (Bouchard), and Walden Home Hardware (Reg. Rd. 24). 

You can also find tickets and the full schedule here


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