Brother Bones and friends are back! The Roots for the Sky Revue returns January 9, 2026 with another benefit concert for one of Ottawa’s truly dynamic nonprofits, Community Action for Environmental Sustainability, otherwise known as CAFES.
Brother Bones band has been gigging around Ottawa for twenty years, offering a lively blend of original material from three songwriters whose influences range from The Band and Tom Waits to Elvis Costello. Brother Bones are: Dave Munroe, acoustic guitar, vocals; David Paré, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals; Paul Paré, electric guitar, vocals; Richard Pinet, drums, vocals; Paul Skene, electric and upright basses.
https://brotherbones1.bandcamp.com/music
MacIsaac and MacKenzie Alexis MacIsaac and Calum MacKenzie are a wife and husband duo and among Ottawa finest performers of Celtic and Cape Breton musical styles. Alexis plays a modern blend of Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton fiddle styles, while Calum’s style is influenced by his Hebridean roots and his native Cape Breton. Alexis has performed with such acts as Riverdance, The High Kings and The Paperboys, while Calum has played at home and abroad on both piano and fiddle. Their album The Bay Street Sessions earned them a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination for instrumental group of the year and an East Coast Folk Music Awards nomination for roots/traditional recording of the year.
https://www.macisaacandmackenzie.ca/bio
Maria Hawkins brings her powerful vocals to an eclectic repertoire of blues and soul music. For three decades, Maria has been a major force in Ottawa’s music scene and a champion of arts education. She co-created the Ottawa Blues Society and Blues in the Schools along with her own programs, Blues 4 Kids and Stop the Bullying.
John Sobol is a spoken word wizard who happens to play blistering sax in just about any genre you throw at him. At 15 he was playing five nights a week in Montreal jazz clubs and in the decades since he's performed in hundreds of venues across Canada and internationally, as both a performance poet and musician. A tirelessly smart and wry wordsmith, John alternately provokes and inspires audiences while getting their hearts thumping and their feet tapping.
Vince Halfhide is a veteran of the Ottawa blues scene with a long resume—a master guitarist and inspired songwriter who started making waves in Heaven's Radio, the legendary Ottawa blues and reggae band fronted by Terry Gillespie. Vince has played sideman with artists like
