Nashville Comes to Canso for the Stan Rogers Festival 2007

Posted on Jul 11 2007 in Music

by Josh Measures

The 11th edition of the Stan Rogers festival featured a collection of artists from Scotland to Tuva, but it was the overload of Nashville talent that truly blew the Canso crowd away.

First time performer at Stanfest, Audra Raulyns, a Toronto native who has been living in Nashville since she was a young girl, took the stage by storm; her sultry jazz vocals booming from her tiny frame.

Raulyns, still in a bit of shock from the outpouring of support from fans and musicians alike, described her StanFest experience. “I was incredibly honoured…It’s been a wonderful experience. Everyone in Canso has been lovely. It’s nice to be able to honour such a prolific writer,” said Raulyns.

Lucky audience members were able to capture three intimate performances with Raulyns over the weekend. She performed songs off of her 2006 release All That. The StanFest rookie appeared quite comfortable on stage, joking and laughing between songs. Favourites included radio single “No Halos” and title track “All That”.

Raulyns said one of StanFest’s keys to success are the intimate songwriting workshops. Raulyns, who participated in two over the weekend, believes the workshops are a great way to build talent. “I’ve noticed that year after year this is a festival that builds songwriters and entertainers. One year there is an artist that is a smaller profile, like myself, and then the next year it grows, and then the next year it grows,” said Raulyns.

Although the festival is over, there is still some good news for Audra Raulyns fans; she has already promised to return next year if invited.

Nova Scotia’s own Gordie Sampson took to the main stage on the closing night of the festival. He has lived in Nova Scotia most of his life, but recently relocated to Nashville. Sampson, who was making his third trip to the Stan Rogers festival, says he was blown away by this year’s edition. “It’s really great. There’s a heavy focus on songwriters this year, which is really good. It’s great having Gretchen Peters here this year too, she’s an amazing songwriter,” said Sampson.

Gordie will spend the next two months writing and recording his upcoming album in Nova Scotia before heading back to Nashville.