Blues Summit Panelists:

Matt Andersen is a well-known and established part of the East Coast music landscape and a favourite live performer at clubs and festivals. He has just released his first studio album of original material, Something in Between.

 Derek Andrews is an arts consultant, concert promoter and volunteer with a wide range of non-profit music organizations including Small World Music, Worlds of Music Toronto, Folk Alliance Canada, the Guelph Jazz Festival and is founding President of the Toronto Blues Society.

 Velma Barkwell is a respected music industry veteran with expertise in licensing music for film and television, music publishing, soundtrack development & production, music supervision, and overall creative project management. She is the Director of Music Licensing for Sony BMG Music Canada, and the founder/music supervisor for East End Music Productions.

 David Baxter is a guitar player, songwriter, and producer extraordinaire. Performing regularly with Justin Rutledge, Treasa Levasseur, The Undesirables, and Blue Rodeo, he has just released his debut solo album, Day & Age.

Catharine Bird is a freelance grant writer for arts organizations and artists. With more than 15 years experience in the music industry including stints as a record label executive, booking agent, manager, music festival coordinator and director of a national arts organization, Catharine's diverse experience is an asset to decoding the application process.

Brian Blain is a popular mainstay of the Toronto music scene both as a player and behind the scenes. Originally from the hills of rural Quebec, he has been performing his unique brand of slow-cooked, contemporary country blues for more than 40 years - soulful, thoughtful, always entertaining.

Ray Bonneville’s gritty storytelling and deep-grooving blues style has won him much critical attention including a Juno Award for his album Gust of Wind. A world-class guitarist, harmonica player and hard-hitting songwriter, he has just released his sixth album, Goin’ By Feel.

Rob Bowman is a Professor in Ethnomusicology at York University, Grammy-winning liner note writer, award-winning author, broadcaster, and 2008 Blues Booster of the Year. His book, Soulsville U.S.A.—The Story of Stax Records, has garnered numerous honours, including the  Sweet Soul Music Award at the Poretta Soul Festival, Italy, and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award.

Debbie Brown is a former Twisted Pines Festival founding partner and General Manager and has recently developed Stellula Music in Schools, a program designed to promote music and arts for young people in Simcoe County communities. This year, students will write and perform their songs, document their work through newsletters and videos and taking part in monthly meetings with professional musicians.

Michael Jerome Browne is a master of multiple roots styles, a fine singer, a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter (in collaboration with lyricist B.A. Markus) and a record producer. He has been nominated three times for Juno awards in the Blues and Roots & Traditional categories.

Krista Culp joined FACTOR in July of 2006 as their Communications Manager. As Communications Manager, Krista is responsible for maintaining relationships with Canada’s private radio broadcasters, attending industry events, panels and information sessions and all the while, answering any questions you may have about FACTOR.

Jeff Davis is the organizer/presenter of the Playing with Fire concert series in Omaha, Nebraska. Jeff became passionate about music when as a teen he first heard Roy Orbison and became a Blues Hound after seeing B.B.King at the Fillmore West. 

Carlos del Junco has toured Canada regularly since 1996 and tours often in Germany and the United States. Juno winner and seven time Maple Blues Award winner, he has just released his fifth record, Steady Movin’.

Karen Doyle is a Program Officer with the Department of Canadian Heritage's Arts Presentation Canada Program.  The program funds professional arts presenter organizations, arts festivals, and presenter support organizations across Canada   

Chip Eagle is the publisher of the two largest Blues publications in the world, Blues Revue and BluesWax.com and the two largest Folk music publications, Dirty Linen and FolkWax weekly. He is also a partner in the VizzTone Label Group.

Rico Ferrara has been a mainstay on the Canadian Blues scene since 1997 and is involved with The Barrie Waterfront Festival, The Beaches Jazz Festival, the Wasaga Beach Fest, and his company Blues For A Big Town. The Waterfront Blues Festival is his pride and joy where he takes free rein in all the booking, media relations, and stage management.

Richard Flohil is a 40-year veteran of the Canadian music business and heads a small, but extremely busy, music publicity and promotion company working with Stony Plain Records, Downchild, Roxanne Potvin, Treasa Levasseur and Paul Reddick. 

Jostein Forsberg has been in a leading role of the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway since 1990 and was one of the initiators of the Norwegian Blues Union in 1997. He was the chairman of the board for the Norwegian Blues Union for four years and has also worked as a developer for the European Blues Center in Notodden.

Bruce Forth is the Chairman of the Southside Shuffle Blues and Jazz Festival, which is now entering its eleventh year.  Since its inception in 1999, the Festival has grown from a modest one day event featuring two acts to a five day festival drawing close to 100,000 people to its many stages and venues.  

Alec Fraser plays electric bass guitar for The Jeff Healey Band, Jerome Godboo, and the upright bass for Brokenjoe. As a producer he has three Juno awarded albums and multiple Maple Blues awards for recording and bass playing.

Sarah French is a life-long blues fan who is happy to make a living through music. She is a publicist in Toronto, working with True North Records and has worked with Richard Flohil and Jeff Healey.

Amos Garrett has been playing guitar for more than 40 years - and his list of credits is exhaustive. One of the most lyrical and original guitarists playing today, his single note solos and melodic figures are so distinctive that it is virtually impossible to mistake them for anyone else’s. 

Jean Guillermo After retiring from IBM, Jean launched Blues sur Seine ten years ago.  The festival features blues in the schools, social initiatives, extends into 22 regional cities and involves a variety of audiences. Twinned with Montreal's Festiblues, Blues sur Seine received a Blues Foundation "Keeping the Blues Alive" award in 2008.    

Darcy Gregoire A licensed agent since 1994, Darcy joined The Agency Group in Toronto in 2007 after seven years as President of LiveTourArtists. Darcy serves artists of a variety of musical genres. His blues music clients include Harry Manx and Sue Foley.

Chuck Jackson is a founder of the Southside Shuffle Festival in Port Credit and is the singer of infamous Canadian blues band Downchild. Together with Downchild he has won seven Maple Blues Awards including the Blues With A Feeling Award presented for Lifetime Achievement in blues music.

ShoShona Kish is a multidisciplinary artist who has fused her art school training with her first love of music and songwriting. She has become best known for her work as a co-creator and front woman for the Juno-nominated group DiggingRoots and has won a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award and the Best Blues album at the Indian Summer Music Awards.

Larry Kurtz is half of the band Trouble & Strife and also hosts Roots’N’Blues on 88.8FM. In 2003, Larry founded the Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival which has since grown into one of the most popular and successful festivals in Ontario.

Michele Lundeen is editor of the Blues Festival Guide magazine and a respected singer/songwriter/bandleader. This six-time San Diego Music Award "Best Blues" Nominee was a 2006 IBC "Best Self-Produced CD" finalist and also competed in the IBC band division in 2001. Michele is a Blues In The Schools presenter, a founding member/former editor of two blues societies, and owner of a graphics/print broker business.

Danny Marks is a winner of the Toronto Blues Society's Blues with a Feeling Award for lifetime achievement in music and broadcast. As well as hosting JAZZ.FM91's Saturday night blues show, bluz.fm, Danny is also an in-demand guitar player.

Mark Monahan is the founder of the Ottawa Bluesfest. Mark fills the role of executive director and, along with a volunteer board of directors, provides leadership for the festival organization. He is the artistic director and is responsible for all artist negotiations and bookings.

Trevor Mills is not only an in-demand bass player and performer, but also programs the long-running Eaglewood Folk Festival. He has been invited to this conference for his knowledge of the online webisphere amassed through running his own website programming business and just generally thinking all that stuff is neat! 

Chris Murphy is a musician, bandleader, and booking agent based out of London, Ontario. He performs regularly with Jack de Keyzer, has led his own band since 1985, and is a member of the Maple Blues Band.

Rodney Murphy is the Education and Outreach Manager for SOCAN - the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. He spends most of his time attending shows, seminars, and industry events providing member education and public speaking on behalf of SOCAN.

Errol Nazareth has been playing with words professionally for over 16 years. He's written for NOW Magazine, EYE Weekly, and is a music columnist with The Toronto Sun. He's a regular contributor to CBC Radio's Metro Morning and Big City Small World.  

Paul Northcott was a founder of the Mundy's Bay Folk Society and the Orillia Spring Blues Festival. In 1997 he created the Twisted Pines Blues Festival; which has morphed into the Twisted Pines Music & Arts group in recent years: hosting concerts, films, art gallery tours, children's workshops and an annual music festival each May long weekend. 

Jacques Noel has been involved with the FestiBlues International de Montréal since   its foundation in 1998. He has always been involved in the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Francofolies de Montréal, Blues High Way.

Doug Ritchie has been the Managing Director of the Downtown Kingston! organization since 1983. Downtown Kingston! has run more than 1300 music concerts, created a world famous street performer festival – Kingston Buskers Rendezvous, an the award-winning Limestone City Blues Festival.

Chris Robinson has worked as a Music Supervisor for Film and Television w/ Arpix Media since 1999.  In that time he has worked on wide variety of productions, helping drive the music creative via song selection and licensing, negotiating rights and fees for everything from top 10 hits to indie bedroom studio recordings.  He also consults with score composers to help shape the overall score sound of various productions.  He is currently working on season 2 of the CTV / CBS series Flashpoint, and season 1 of CTV / NBC series The Listener.

Shannon Peet worked as a professional musician and producer during the eighties and nineties, commissioned and recorded new work, presented and toured extensively, dabbled in theatre and dance, and spent a lot of time traveling between New York, Holland and her home in Toronto. At the Canada Council she has worked extensively with most programs in the Touring Office and the Music Section with a couple of recent detours (including Theatre) along the way.

James Pew is owner and in-house producer at the Toronto-based independent recording studio Euphonic Sound. He’s also a partner in the boutique pro audio shop Origin Audio Electronics, and the founder of Toronto based independent record label  Broken Window Records. 

Greg Sarni is the founder of Blues Trust Productions and the Boston Blues Festival. Non-profit promotes Blues music through presentation and publicity. Produced two live recordings from the Boston Blues Festival. The Blues Trust honors veteran performers with the Blues Trust Lifetime Achievement Award and assists artists with emergency  relief.

Lily Sazz has been the musical director and keyboard player for the highly-acclaimed Toronto Blues Society Women’s Blues Revue and currently performs with award-winning funk groove r'n'b band Groove Corporation. She is a long-time member of the Musicians Advisory Council of the Toronto Blues Society

Brian Slack is a manager and agent representing premier blues, jazz and roots artists across Canada and abroad. In addition to his roles as Artistic Director of four Quebec festivals, including the Tremblant International Blues Festival and the Maximum Blues    International Festival, he is a festival and artist consultant. Brian is a founding member and the Vice President of the Montreal Blues Society.

Mark ‘Bird’ Stafford earned his nickname from his ability to soar on the harmonica in the fiery fashion of Charlie Parker. Mark shares a phenomenal passion for making music and, as he's been performing since he was knee-high to a sharecropper, he's developed a musical voice that's become somewhat legendary in these parts - and beyond. 

Eric Thom has come by his blues honestly – first, as a fan and, second, as a writer. He writes, reviews and photographs the blues for Blues Revue (U.S.) and Exclaim and Penguin Eggs (Canada), writes the occasional feature article and enjoys working with the Maple Blues Awards nominating committee.

Ed Torres is the President and General Manager of Skywords Radio, a national broadcasting company that employs over 40 people in offices from Halifax to Vancouver. Ed is also the Chairman of CIDG-FM and is working to license Canada's first All Blues commercial FM station

David Travers-Smith is a Toronto-based Producer, Engineer, Mixer and Musician. Recordings he has produced and/or engineered have garnered seven Juno Awards, along with nominations and wins at the Maple Blues Awards, Western Canadian Music Awards, American Folk Alliance Awards, American Indie Music Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards, and East Coast Music Awards  

Suzie Vinnick is an award-winning singer, songwriter and musician. She was nominated 2008 & 2007 Female Vocalist and 2007 Bassist at the Canadian Maple Blues Awards, and was the recipient of three 2006 Canadian Maple Blues Awards for Female Vocalist, Bassist and shared Songwriter of the Year with Rick Fines for their 2006 release, Nothing Halfway.

Ken Whiteley is one of Canada's most respected "roots" musicians. Drawing on his incredibly rich background in blues, gospel and folk styles, this six time Juno award nominee has played at virtually every major folk festival in Canada and has received 11 Gold or Platinum albums, 18 Juno nominations, 2 Juno winners and 2 Grammy nominations, with total sales in excess of 6 million copies.

Garrett Zack is a co-developer and producer of The Cowpie Blues Festival, developed and produced “Blues on the Mall”, the largest blues music performance series in the State of Michigan, and is also an active traditional musician who plays guitar, mandolin and fiddle.