Events Archive - Old Church Theatre

Mia Kelly and Blair Dunlop

Mia Kelly (Canada) and Blair Dunlop (UK) join forces for reciprocal tours in Winter 2025.

Two of the finest songwriters on the contemporary singer songwriter scene join forces for reciprocal tours. Five special nights of UK touring followed by five nights in Canada.

In an exciting transatlantic collaboration, alt-folk Canadian Mia Kelly and British singer-songwriter Blair Dunlop will embark on a series of intimate performances in the winter of 2025. Having met in Kansas City in 2023 Blair Dunlop and Mia Kelly found an instant connection through their songwriting. This led to them co-writing Mia’s single – Meaning Well, a standout track from her sophomore album “To Be Clear” released in October 2024.

On the heels of the emergence of this song, and with mutual interest to continue touring in each other’s countries, Blair invited Mia as special guest for five intimate shows in the UK in February 2025. Mia returns the favour as they tour Ontario a few weeks later.

This is a show you won’t want to miss!

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About Mia Kelly:

“great stage presence and songs worth hearing” – Americana UK

“stunningly expressive voice” – Ottawa Citizen

Through the lush folk and earthy Americana of her sophomore record To Be Clear, Mia Kelly establishes herself as a spellbinding voice, blurring the lines between intimate memoir and compelling semi-fictional narratives.

Performing in both French and English, Kelly enthrals listeners with a distinctive blend of Folk, Rock, and Blues. Recently awarded Young Performer of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Kelly is swiftly gaining recognition as a poetic lyricist and is making her mark in the Canadian folk music scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSw3Llmdy9w

About Blair Dunlop

“A cult hero whose work is adored by those who come across it” – Clash Music

“An adept guitarist whose epic songwriting instincts prevail…” – MOJO

Blair Dunlop is an award-winning British singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has released 5 albums, 2 EPs and toured around the globe. Blair burst onto the scene with his debut album ‘Blight & Blossom’ in 2012, showcasing virtuosic musicianship and lyrical maturity, and was awarded a prestigious BBC Folk Award in the wake of its release. A string of critically acclaimed albums followed, along with headline tours and festival appearances in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. ‘Gilded’ and ‘Notes from an Island’ were released on his own label and singles ‘The Egoist’ and ‘356’ received national playlist status on BBC Radio 2. Following this, ‘Trails: Queensland’ (2021), Blair’s first live album, documented a tour of rural Australia, playing for isolated communities. From Glastonbury to Tuscany, Queensland to Palestine, Blair has brought his musicality and storytelling to audiences young and old. Album five, Out of the Rain, released on 24th May 2024 and consolidated Blairs place in the UK Singer Songwriter sector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUbZz2MCsR4&t=9s

Find Mia on socials:

Website: https://miakellymusic.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miakkelly/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miakkelly/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QvVwM4jqnOtzctJZr2Bch?si=4Uv_yoKJSxuRCDikkGp_OQ

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/mia-kelly/1448615675

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MiaKelly/

Find Blair on socials:

Website: https://blairdunlop.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/blairdunlop/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blairdunlopmusic

X: https://twitter.com/BlairDunlop

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7n6bYneSU1ygSj0CevdvTD

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/blair-dunlop/403456867

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BlairDunlopMusic

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” -a dramatic reading

It won’t be long before homes are made Christmas cozy with the scent of pine, the sound of carols and the warmth of family. Quinte and area

residents are invited to celebrate this festive time with our Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” dramatic reading.

The Old Church Theatre productions of A Christmas Carol were started by Roy Bonisteel and featured many guests over the years. We’re continuing our tradition at the Old Church and offering a dramatic reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” this year with Astrid Young, Rita and Richard Turtle, Ian Feltham, Darren Moore, Victoria Farrell, and Rick Zimmerman as our readers. Pete Manheim will be our minstrel.

Hope you can join us for a special Sunday afternoon.

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Jenny Whiteley’s Hootenanny Review

Jenny will be joined by Luther Wright, Sam Allison, Carolyn Mark, Slo’ Tom and Friends.

Music critics have compared Jenny Whiteley’s striking vocals and songwriting to Emmy Lou Harris and Lucinda Williams, raving that she “swings effortlessly from black-hearted back-porch Americana to Laurel Canyon country” (No Depression).

Jenny got an early start playing music with her father and uncle, Chris and Ken Whiteley, who formed the popular Original Sloth Band in the heyday of Toronto folk. Throughout Jenny’s childhood, she and her brother Dan were along for the ride at countless concerts and festivals, and before long they were singing and playing washtub and washboard alongside their dad and uncle in The Junior Jug Band.

Fast forward to a brief brush with academia to study anthropology at Concordia in Montreal, Jenny returned to Toronto where she taught herself to play guitar in her early 20’s and pursue her songwriting career in earnest. After several years performing and recording with her bluegrass band Heartbreak Hill, Jenny recorded and co-produced her first solo effort, a self-titled album, in 2000. The album won the Juno Award for Roots Traditional Album of the year. Jenny’s follow-up record Hopetown was her first with producer and friend Steve Dawson. Remarkably, this record won the Juno for Roots Album in 2003, making Jenny one of only a few artists to win Juno Awards for their first and second records. Her next two albums Dear (2006) and Forgive or Forget (2009) also earned glowing reviews from critics in North America and Europe.

Whiteley has co-written songs with Colin Linden, Fred Eaglesmith, and her musician husband Joey Wright, among others, and has collaborated with many other renowned Canadian artists, recording vocals on Sarah Harmer’s hit song “Basement Apartment,” Melwood Cutlery’s Campfire and Prairie Oyster’s re-release of “Man In The Moon.”

In addition to her two Juno wins, she has been nominated four times as a solo artist and with The Junior Jug Band and Heartbreak Hill. She has a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award for her song “Baby, I” as performed by Amy Millan, a gold record for her family band’s recording and has toured all over the U.S., Europe and Canada, performing at nearly every major music festival including Edmonton Folk Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, Mariposa, Stan Rogers Fest, Stardust Picnic, and many more.

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Doc MacLean

Doc is a weathered, wily, but infinitely likeable storyteller/performer. Writing from the dark side of the blues highway, Doc’s distinctive vocals and bare fingers National guitar plot an intense, emotional remapping of contemporary Delta blues and roots music.

Forty-five years ago Doc was playing Charlie Patton songs in Son House’s living room. From back porch to big porch. The storyteller. An emotional remapping of contemporary delta blues. At one time Blues Revue Magazine called him the “Prince of Darkness.” There’s redemption here beyond the simple, acoustic medium– and an appeal that reaches well beyond the Crossroads.

It’s a career built on hard travel and performance. Early roots in Mississippi. Chicago. Atlanta. Canada. Toronto. Months and years spent living in cars, sleeping on floors, couch surfing. Repeat appearances at some of America’s best folk and blues venues. A lifetime spent on the Blues Highway with some of its most significant artists.

Long ago MacLean established his annual, 100 plus show, National Steel Blues Tour to play all parts of North America. In the process, the Tour itself became legendary. Ice roads to the arctic. Crazy, burning highways through the desert wilds. Hard travel, wrecks, and tough North American weather. In recent years the Tour has reached Africa, where Doc now spends the majority of his time. “No venue too large, too small, too grand or too humble.” Even places lost in the folds of the map. The thing that has been carried is returned. People Magazine followed Doc’s 2017 Crossbones Tour through the South African Townships, calling him a “beautiful storyteller.”

Doc continues as a blues vagabond, travelling most of the year and writing from the dark side of the highway. A songster from the delta tradition, he explored and resided in the American rural south at a time when it was much less visited than it is today, and had mentors like Son House, Peg Leg Sam, and Sam Chatmon. Gifted by the grandchildren of slaves, MacLean now sings his own stories and tells his own songs in his own voice. His mostly resophonic, finger style slide guitar pays sonic homage to Patton, House, and Big Joe Williams, in a roots based, yet contemporary context.

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Teilhard Frost

“An accomplished singer and multi-instrumentalist, Teilhard captures the spirit of the old-time music better than anyone I know.
He is a natural born entertainer whose stage presence is a joyful experience!”
-Rick Ceballos, Artistic Director, Champlain Valley Folk Festival, Vermont, USA.

Canadian musician and instrument maker, Teilhard (tay-YAR) Frost specializes in traditional folk music with a focus on Appalachian old time music. Growing up on Manitoulin Island, Teilhard was surrounded by fiddle tunes, old songs, farming life and the bush. At the age of three he was given a harmonica by his father and his great-grandfather’s fiddle from his Mum. These instruments have taken him around the world, making friends and delighting audiences.

Teilhard has spent the last twenty years touring with the trio Sheesham, Lotus and ‘Son. Together they’ve recorded seven albums, and 31 sides on laquer at 78rpm. His latest solo recording on Wolfe Island Records, ‘Four and Twenty Blackbirds Dancing on a Deer Skin’, is a collection of traditional music found in the Appalachian highlands, some early era banjo tunes, and harmonica songs.

These days, Teilhard lives on Wolfe Island in the St. Lawrence River where he makes banjos, his supper and his bed.

Teilhard is bringing Jason Mercer (Ron Sexsmith, Ani diFranco) with him to the Old Church on Nov 2nd!

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Melissa Payne leads “Songwriters in the Round”

Join us for an intimate “Songwriters in the Round” concert at The Old Church in Trenton featuring Rebekah Hawker, Kate Suhr, Emily Burgess, and Melissa Payne. Rebekah blends country and folk, inspired by legends like John Prine, while Kate’s fluid voice and emotional storytelling draw you into deep waters of love and loss. Emily’s vibrant guitar work and passion shine through her performances, and Melissa, rooted in old-time fiddle and Celtic traditions, brings heartfelt storytelling and collaborations with Canadian icons. Don’t miss this unforgettable evening of connection and creativity!

We’re so happy to have Melissa back to the Old Church and to have the opportunity to host her “Songwriters in the Round” with such an amazing group of talented musicians.

Melissa Payne, a musician hailing from Ennismore, Ontario, has made a lasting impact on the music scene. Rooted in old-time fiddle and traditional Celtic music, Melissa has blossomed into a successful solo artist with three full-length albums. Her live performances have garnered critical acclaim, and she has collaborated with renowned artists like Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor, James McKenty, Matt Mays, Natalie MacMaster, cellist Nathaniel Smith, and Jimmy Bowskill. Melissa’s latest single, “So Real,” showcases her honest and vulnerable approach to songwriting.

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Rick and Friends

It’s September, and Rick Zed is heading “back to school” at our third “Rick and Friends”. Steve and Tyler Wilkinson are returning for another

super musical session, and joining us this time around are the equally awesome Megan Hutton (Instant Rivalry) and her partner Gabriel Guadagnin.

The first two “Rick and Friends” were sold out so be sure to make your reservations now.

Great music, cold drinks, Wood-fired pizza (weather permitting)…all adds up to one fun evening a the Old Church!

100% of donations at the gate go to the artists.

You have to hear Megan Hutton, of Instant Rivalry in her newest duo, “Megan and Gabriel” as they make their Old Church Theatre debut!
Their original songs and even their approach on covers are captivating.
What to expect?
Timeless harmonies, powerful voices, a fresh sound and songs.

Steve and Tyler Wilkinson are best known, along with Amanda, as the Juno Award winning Country trio The Wilkinsons. They are both seasoned songwriters and Steve co-wrote the single “26 Cents”, a number 1 hit on the Canadian county music charts, and a Top 5 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles Charts.
With great songwriting, storytelling, and and the enjoyment he gets sharing some of their favourite songs, you’re guaranteed that their performance will be “fun for the whole family!

Reservations

Note: Our patio concerts will be held outdoors with wood fired pizza available. Gates open at 5 for the 6pm show. In the event of inclement weather we will be able to move the concert indoors. The show must go on, but pizza may not be available. Check in with us on the day.

Feb

Fri

2025