Professional Performers Produced By Volunteers

From the Canadian prairies in southern Alberta comes one of Canada’s most promising new songwriters, John Wort Hannam. John is known for his unique take on the simple day-to-day dramas of the common man through songs that map the landscapes of both the human heart and this vast country of ours. He is a born story-teller with a keen eye for the quirky, and a humble and engaging performer with lyrics that create stories behind the songs. His voice is a constant strong and emotive presence demanding attention tolyrics. And while it is true that John is a relatively new face on the folk/roots scene, John has achieved some fine accolades and seen his profile rise rapidly in a few short years.

Recently Guy Clark invited John to his Nashville home to spend a few days co-writing.John Wort Hannam was a fulltime public school teacher until 2000. Shortly after he began to pursue the long time dream of being a working musician. He released his debut CD “pocket full of holes” in 2002 followed up with his sophomoric CD “Dynamite and ‘Dozers” in 2004 and released his third full-length CD “Two-Bit Suit” in April of 2007.

Two-Bit Suit – John’s debut for the Black Hen Music label, takes his Blue Collar Roots songwriting style and combines it with Steve Dawson's contemporary production elements and sounds. The CD brings together a great cast of musicians that includes Steve Dawson on a variety of stringed instruments, Keith Lowe on bass (Fiona Apple, Bill Frisell), Geoff Hicks on drums, Chris Gestrin on all things with keys and features guest musicians such John Reischman on mandolin, and J.T.King's Jeanne Tolmie and Tyler Bird on backup vocals.

John Wort Hannam has performed at concerts and festivals across Canada, in the United States, and Australia including the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. In conjunction with the Folklife festival, one of John’s songs, “Church of the Long Grass” appears on the prestigious Folkways recording label. He tours actively as a solo, duo, trio, and at times as a four piece band with John on guitar, tenor guitar, and harmonica and his “guys” Tyler Bird on upright bass (and he’s been known to sling an accordion in the van), Darcy Stamp on fiddle and mandolin, and Brad Brouwer on percussion.