Folk Alliance International brought some magical music moments to Montreal in February

Folk music isn’t exactly my area of musical expertise. The most intimate experience I’d had with the genre prior to last month’s Folk Alliance International was volunteering at my hometown’s Calgary Folk Music Festival, but that was 13 years ago. As fun as that was, it was nothing compared to the sheer scale and ambition of this conference.

Back in town for the first time in six years, Folk Alliance was held at the downtown Sheraton from Feb. 19 to 23. I decided to go check it out on Friday night to see what it was all about. I’d interviewed FAI’s executive director Jennifer Roe prior to the event, but I needed to see how it all went down in practice.

What I saw exceeded any expectations I could’ve had. The expansive hotel environment made the whole experience overwhelming by default, but that was in addition to being surrounded by people, many of them from around the world, some of them playing guitars or pianos, sometimes with folks forming crowds around them.

The real festival magic happened between the 7th and 10th floors, where basically every room had a late-night private showcase going on, starting around 10:30 p.m. Yes — the FAI conference literally takes over a hotel and puts on little shows where guests would’ve otherwise been staying. Pretty cool, eh?

Of course, this means either enduring an agonizing wait in line for the elevator (public showcases took place on floors below those ones) or making that character-building journey up the stairs to the seventh floor. Two people greeted me on two separate occasions saying, “Feel the burn!” upon them noticing I was out of breath. At least they understood the struggle!

I eventually bumped into two industry pals — shoutout to Jérémy Spellanzon and J-P Sauvé — and basically let them lead the way while I followed. The entire experience was full-on sensory overload, and in the best kind of way if you love this kind of music. 

Over two nights, I watched bits and pieces of sets from Lisa LeBlanc (whom I’d watched play an official showcase the night before), the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Tennyson King, R.O. Shapiro, Maya Killtron and Geneviève Racette as I was rapidly moving from room to room (and floor to floor). Refreshments and snacks were given out in many rooms, including a “sober room” with strictly non-alcoholic drinks, and the Ontario & Friends Room on the same floor offering beer (they had to resort to Asahi after running out of Ontario-brewed stuff).

Another element I really loved was the “musical chairs” event that took place in room 908. Four artists, each with their chosen instrument (usually an acoustic guitar), take turns playing one of their songs one by one. It’s an intimate and communal experience both for the artists and those watching them, and even Ron Sexsmith was among the participants on Saturday night. 

The conference was also great for networking, so long as you didn’t mind yelling from time to time given the noise and commotion around you. Meeting Basia Bulat and Lisa LeBlanc was a nice ribbon on top of an already thrilling experience — one I enjoyed so much that I didn’t let my claustrophobia deter me from going for a second straight night. It was a super fun experience, and one I sincerely hope doesn’t take another six years to come back.

This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of Cult MTL.

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