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Ken
Whiteley hosts TBS Guitar Workshop
Hugh's Room on Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 2pm
For over forty years, Ken Whiteley has been an active member of the Ontario, Canadian and International folk and blues community. He has represented it in all areas of interest: as a musician, coffeehouse manager, artistic director, writer, producer, contributor and perhaps most importantly- a deep friend to one of the most senior members of our musical community- Jackie Washington.
Ken has always been there with his impeccable and eclectic musical tastes. Try to think of a music festival without him. With his great gospel show, Ken has been a Sunday morning institution for decades. His ability to share his gifts guarantees the success of any music festival he attends.
To follow Ken’s career would be like opening up an encyclopaedia of folk, blues, roots and jazz music.
He began his career with brother Chris in the mid-sixties with the Tubby Fats Original Allstar Downtown Syncopated Big Rock Jug Band playing old-timey, Preservation Hall jazz and jug band music. The band morphed into the Original Sloth Band (the Sloths) who became fixtures in the Toronto coffeehouse scene and at festivals across North America. Their career lasted fifteen years and included a gig accompanying Leon Redbone on Saturday Night Live. Their music was a history of North American roots music - a musical folk festival. To a large degree Ken has become a folk festival himself, mastering guitar, mandolin, piano, organ as well as his vocal and writing talents. When Estelle Klein first brought Ken and Chris to play at Mariposa in 1969, they were hired as songwriters.
By the mid seventies, Ken expanded his focus to include a school portable in North York where he opened Shier’s Coffeehouse. There he introduced a new generation of musicians to Canadian audiences: Stan Rogers, Margaret Christl, Willie P. Bennett, David Bradstreet and The Humber River Valley Boys to name but a few. At the same time, Ken maintained a close association with the Mariposa Folk Festival and was the festival organiser in 1976 and the Artistic Director of the festival in 1978 and 1980. He was also very involved in the development of the school outreach which became Mariposa In the Schools.
Ken began to produce albums and brought his formidable musical gifts to a new audience and their parents through his association with children’s performers Raffi, Fred Penner, Cathy Fink, Al Simmons, Rodney Brown and others. But Ken, with his wide-ranging musical sensibilities and his love for roots music of all types, would not fill these records with musical pablum. He knew many of these tunes were well grounded in the musical traditions of North America and Europe and he sought to renew the integrity in children’s music that had been lacking for a generation. With each release, Ken sought to restore a verité to this genre of music. Parents could listen to these recordings and sing along without cringing! Apparently Ken was on to a good idea and it resulted in big sales and many awards for him and the artists he produced. Since that time Ken has gone on to produce dozens of albums for himself and others- all with his stamp of musical integrity, expertise and authenticity. Blues artists whose recordings he has produced include John Hammond, Paul James, Fathead, David Wall and many others.
Throughout the eighties Ken continued writing his own material and playing clubs, bars, and concerts across Canada and the US. Part of the reason Ken has managed to stay at the heart of things is his ability to find new distillations of his work. I remember seeing him play one night at the Horseshoe Tavern doing an R&B Revue, singing with complete authority the work of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Jackie Wilson. His movements at the organ recalled the rocking motion of Ray Charles. His appearance was Garth Hudson with a blow dryer! Ken knew very well that this former pop music form was now entering the territory of folk preservation.
In the early nineties Ken formed yet another group - perhaps the most memorable of all. He chose two partners in crime: the ever-laconic Mose Scarlett and the ageless and matchless Jackie Washington. The music, of course, speaks for itself, once again spanning generations of musical affections, generations of timeless music and experiences. To attend one of their shows is to listen to a voice of heartening memory. This union has also given Jackie Washington, one of the most senior and beloved members of our community, a golden hour.
It is easy to see, given this wonderful musical legacy and selfless contribution to the musical community at large, why Ken Whiteley was awarded the Estelle Klein Award from the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals in 2005. Other awards have included a Genie Award for Best Original Song in a Canadian movie, the Northern Lights Jackie Washington Award, 2 OCFF Songs From the Heart Awards and a Canadian Folk Music Award. His productions have received 21 Juno nominations (2 winners), 2 Grammy nominations and he’s had 7 Juno nominations as an artist. He’s had 12 Maple Blues Nominations.
- original article by Ian Tamblyn (reprinted courtesy of OCFF FolkPrints)
adapted Jan. 2008 by Shari Campbell
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