“Canada’s finest singer songwriter.”
– Dave Marsh, Rock critic, historian & author
Singer/songwriter James Keelaghan is a gifted storyteller. His love of history and his deep affinity for Celtic and Anglo folk traditions give those stories wings.
“That’s the music that really speaks to me. That’s my heart music,” says the veteran Canadian folk artist. As for the stories themselves, they tend to be inspired by social and justice issues, historical wrongdoings, sometimes the landscape and other times love and personal relationships. “I’m always trying to find the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances,” he confides.
During his roughly 40 years as a performing artist he’s made an indelible mark on the musical folk landscape. He’s released 13 albums, the latest of which, Second Hand, was nominated for Canada’s highest music award, the Juno, for Traditional Roots Album of the Year. He’s already won one Juno, a Canadian Folk Music Award, received five other Juno nominations and four other Folk Music Awards nominations. He’s performed in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Ireland, the U.S and across Canada.
“He displays a genius for finding his way deep inside big stories, building them outward from palpably intimate moments.” – The Boston Globe
In 1994, he won the Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year for My Skies.
Nominated for 5 other Juno Awards
His well-worn Laskin guitar was built in 1981 and is the guitar used in every concert and recording session since then.
You can find him in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Named Fellow Of Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
His areas of historical specialty are The History Of Science and World War 1.
His song, Kiri’s Piano - about the Japanese internment in Canada - is a part of the permanent exhibits in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.
The album Second-Hand spent 3 months in the top 10 of the FAI folk charts.
Second-Hand is the ‘Number 1 Album Of 2022’ - Penguin Eggs Critics Poll.
Nominated for Solo Artist of the year for the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Artistic Director of the Summerfolk Music & Crafts Festival in Owen Sound since 2011
“He is one hell of a good songwriter, and as a guitarist his playing is practically faultless.” – Time Out, London