Festival Preview: 5 Can’t Miss Bands at Ottawa Folk Festival 2014

By: Krystyn Bristol –  

Where else can you find Grammy-winning artists, loads of craft beer, raffles and charitable silent auctions in the midst of the rivers and trees of Ottawa? Coined as “the great escape”, the 2014 Ottawa Folk Fest is bringing all of those perks and more to the woodsy atmosphere for five days of continuous fun.

Here are five of the many artists playing this weekend that are definitely worth catching:

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Asleep at the Wheel
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With their “kicks on Route 66” and their classic southern sound, this harmonious group has recently celebrated spending forty years together. Now in their fifth decade, the band continues to bring the western swing genre to cities across the country to influence the new generation.

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The Gaslight Anthem
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This Brunswick, New Jersey rock band has a unique sound and hard-hitting lyrics that have kept them on the pedestal of prominence in the punk scene after forming in 2005. Within the first two years of the band’s existence, they played over 200 shows. With four albums in the books, the most recent being Get Hurt, which they released on August 12^th, 2014 via Island, you can believe that their festival set will be full of their classic hits, and new cuts.

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Lorde
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Ella Yelich-O’Connor, aka Lorde, has been a smash-hit making machine since surfacing with “Royals” in mid-2013. This 17-year-old New Zealand native, inspired by Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young, puts on a very sultry and multi-layered vocal performance with catchy beats and sharp lyrics. She remained at the top of the Billboard Alternative Music Charts seven weeks in a row, beating out a 17-year record set by Alanis Morissette. That same chart success also makes her the first New Zealand singer to have four different songs in the Top 20. You’d be remiss to catch her live.

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J. Cole
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After releasing his album Cole World: The Sideline Story in September 2011, J. Cole took the hip-hop world by storm with multiple collaborations (including TLC, Kendrick Lamar, and Miguel), and a hit-single “Work Out”. The North Carolina MC quickly rose to the spotlight as a rap star with a Grammy nomination and he recently released his sophomore LP Born Sinner in June. If you want to see the future of hip-hop, catch J. Cole this weekend.

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Foster The People
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Dance-oriented pop kings Foster the People have been topping the music charts since forming in Los Angeles in 2009. Led by multi-instrumentalist singer and songwriter Mark Foster, this alternative trio has earned their spot as the headliner of Ottawa Folk Fest. With the production of continuous stellar albums and hits that never get old, including the song that made them famous, “Pumped up Kicks”, Foster the People are a promising act for and a great way to close the first day of Ottawa Folk Fest.