Bios

MINI DUO BIO

Simon & Garfunkel meets Johnny and June; this Toronto duo is known for their deft songwriting, beautiful harmonies, and poignant ballads. Their second full-length studio album is set to be released in Spring 2015.

MINI BAND BIO

Hailed as “one of the top 5 folk bands to watch in Toronto” by BlogTO, this folk-rock band are known for their three part harmonies and live shows that draw you in with both barnstorming singalongs and poignant ballads.

SHORT BAND BIO

Galaxie Rising Star Award winners and recent Colleen Peterson songwriting award nominees, The Young Novelists play barnstorming singalongs and heartfelt ballads with equal parts craft and care. Hailed as “one of the top 5 folk bands to watch in Toronto” by BlogTO, The Toronto-based folk-rock band layer their three-part harmonies and wry lyrics about about love, loss, regret, and redemption over intricate arrangements played with passion and precision. As a band and a duo (Graydon James & Laura Spink), The Young Novelists have entertained audiences in venues large and small across Canada and into the northeast States and have shared the stage with artists such as Cuff the Duke, The Strumbellas, NQ Arbuckle, and Craig Cardiff. Their debut EP, was called “a work of unpretentious brilliance” by Exclaim! Magazine and earned them comparisons to The Band, Blue Rodeo, and Wilco by the Toronto Star. Their latest full-length album has been hailed as “another triumph…likely one of many more to come” by Grayowl Point. The band is currently working on their second full-length studio album, produced by Carlin Nicholson (Jason Collett, Zeus, The Golden Dogs) which will be released in Spring 2015.

SHORT DUO BIO

Simon & Garfunkel meets Johnny and June; this duo is the driving force behind the critically acclaimed Toronto folk-rock band The Young Novelists. Known for their deft songwriting and gorgeous harmonies, they have toured across Canada and the northeast States as a duo and with their band, in support of their latest album “in the year you were born”. Winners of the Galaxie Rising Star Award in 2010, and twice runner-up for the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award (2013 and 2014), their first EP was hailed as “a work of unpretentious brilliance” by Exclaim! Magazine. They have since released two albums to further critical acclaim and have shared the stage with such acts as Cuff the Duke, The Strumbellas, NQ Arbuckle, and Craig Cardiff and made numerous festival appearances from the Mariposa Folk Festival to the Halifax Urban Folk Festival. Relying on their shared passion for storytelling, the husband and wife duo sing songs about small towns, redemption, love, and loss. Their second full-length studio album, produced by Carlin Nicholson (Jason Collett, Zeus, The Golden Dogs) will be released in Spring 2015.

LONG BAND BIO

In 2009, Graydon James had to make a choice. He had travelled from his small town roots, through a college town (where he all-nighted his way to a B.Math), and on to the city life in Toronto where he was an unsuccessful actor, unsuccessful writer, and a drummer for nearly a dozen unsuccessful bands. And the first band that he fronted had just imploded. He did what any self-respecting mathematician does when the chips are down: he went to his basement and recorded 52 songs, releasing 40 of them as a double-album titled goodnight, young novelist – an ode to his decision to focus as much as possible on his own music.

By the end of 2012 Graydon James & the Young Novelists – the band originally assembled to tour that double-album, cherry picked from the indie bands that James knew and loved around Toronto – had won the Galaxie Rising Star award, played numerous festivals (including NXNE, CMW, Halifax Urban Folk Festival, OtherFolk, Winterfolk, Niagara’s In The Soil festival, and the Burlington Sound of Music festival), shared the stage with such iconic artists as Lowest of the Low, Cuff the Duke, and Craig Cardiff, and released three warmly received recordings. Their first EP, a small town eulogy, was released in April 2011 and was hailed as “a work of unpretentious brilliance” by Exclaim! Magazine. During the tour to support the EP’s release they recorded a live album, live at dublin st. church, which was released in November 2011. Shortly thereafter they went into the studio with producer Chris Stringer (Ohbijou, Timber Timbre) to record their first full-length studio album with assistance from a FACTOR recording grant.

Released in September 2012, in the year you were born showcased the Young Novelists’ hard-earned, road-tested musicianship but also pushed the band’s boundaries, adding new textures and instrumentation – including string arrangements by Jaron Freeman-Fox (The Opposite of Everything). The combination of warm harmonies layered over deftly wry lyrics and intricate arrangements received critical praise and exceptional reviews. Vue Weekly said, “[No] gimmicks or studio trickery here, just good old-fashioned musical talent that combines soaring three-part harmonies, a host of instruments and storytelling to create an end result that emotes and entertains.”

Equally at home on a festival stage or playing a full-band house concert, Graydon James & the Young Novelists have played every kind of venue from small cafes to the storied stage of The Horseshoe Tavern, from The Neptune Theatre in Halifax to Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. The band is flexible and talented enough to play roots-rock barnstormers and heartfelt folk ballads with equal parts craft and care, capable of dynamic shifts that keep audiences enchanted and entertained. Underneath it all are the songs, whether they are about love or loss, the tragedies of high school, the joys of parenthood, small town dreams, or big city truths, they are the connection between the musicians and the audience.

Every show is a new story to be shared and a new voice added to the sing-along choruses.