JOHN WART HANNAM | CHRIS RONALD | DEC 2 26th, 2023

The Square, Vancouver, Canada

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Two talented, award-winning singer-songwriters join together on stage in a contest to out-do each other. And the winner is ... the audience, of course!

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JOHN WORT HANNAM

In 2001 John Wort Hannam quit his teaching job and spent 10 months depleting his savings while sat at his kitchen table, wearing a lucky hat, writing his first ten songs. Those songs would become his first recording Pocket Full Of Holes, released in 2003.

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Seventeen years later, the Alberta musician has released eight full-length recordings so far, culminating in 2021's 'Long Haul' and has a few feathers in that lucky hat for his offerings. Feathers that include a Juno nomination, three Canadian Folk Music Awards, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, a Kerrville Texas New Folk win, and numerous Western Canadian Music Award and Canadian Folk Music Award nominations.

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Recent years have seen a great deal of change in John’s life - becoming a dad, turning 50, a move to the “big city” of Lethbridge, a long, deep bout of depression, and episodes of losing his singing voice. But John has emerged a better songwriter, a better singer, and a better player. On 'Long Haul', John has further refined his lyrical style and has landed squarely on his niche in the folk-roots world. He’s spent years learning the craft of songwriting and is taking those tools to write some of his most personal songs. He has, quite literally, found his voice.

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CHRIS RONALD

Since emigrating from his native England in 2002, Chris Ronald has earned a place as one of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters creating and performing contemporary folk music. Ronald's stand-out signature sound is steeped in his British background, poetic lyrics, and a buttery fusion of roots and Americana music.

Ronald first got hooked on songwriting at age 15 when he put to music a poem he wrote in high school, but he only started to go public after he moved to Vancouver in his thirties and self-produced his first albums so he had CDs to sell at the intimate gigs he was playing in and around the city. One of these early works caught the attention of The Georgia Straight who praised Ronald’s songwriting and “beautifully clear tenor voice” and wondered “where his obvious talent has been hiding for so long.”

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Encouraged, Ronald decided to go all in on his next project and hired ace producer and multi-instrumentalist John MacArthur Ellis to work on his first full-production studio album. The resulting Timeline (2014) album catapulted Ronald to a new level in his career with, among other accolades, a nomination for “Songwriter of the Year” at the 2014 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Shortly afterward, Ronald was signed to esteemed Canadian folk label Borealis Records to release Fragments (2017) followed by Light & Dark (2021). Both albums achieved top 10 on the FAI Folk Radio chart.

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Chris Ronald is an international touring artist giving concerts ranging from solo to full band, though he often appears in a duo with John Macarthur Ellis. Whatever the format, Chris always draws on his abilities as a highly skilled singer, storyteller and musician (guitar, harmonica, ukulele) to deliver a show that is captivating and unique.

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JOHN MACARTHUR ELLIS

John MacArthur Ellis is a Canadian award-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist who’s known for capturing the hottest sounds in the Americana, alt country, folk, singer/songwriter and roots genres. With a career spanning decades in the music industry, John has made quite a name for himself.