Katie Baggs, Summer 2025
Katie is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, mother, and educator based in St. John’s, NL. Her latest single, The Words Are Ours (August 2024), has been praised as a folk anthem and modern protest song for the times—one that will be remembered in the Newfoundland and Labrador musical canon for years to come.
Katie performs her original songs as a solo artist and as a member of folk trio Topanga (with fellow singer-songwriters Valmy and Carole Bestvater). Topanga had an exciting year of rehearsals and performances, culminating in a deeply resonant set at Lawnya Vawnya in June 2025, where they opened for internationally celebrated artists Beverly and Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland to glowing reviews.
Ian Foster, Summer 2024
Ian Foster, native of Newfoundland, Canada, is a storyteller. That music and film are the ways he tells those stories only makes the telling richer still. Once described by CBC’s Bob Mersereau as being “a fine example of what a 21st century folk performer should be doing,” Foster continues to evolve and defy genre, as his latest forthcoming album and film project Close to the Bone (2022) illustrates.
Ian has been compared to diverse artists like Bruce Cockburn, Daniel Lanois, The War on Drugs, Josh Ritter and more, depending on the album of his that you’re listening to. Meanwhile, his film scores draw more on Sigur Ros and Olafur Arnalds textures and ambience. This is not a bug, it’s a feature: it all comes from a love of sonic exploration that has only grown as Ian’s career has moved between touring around the world and producing albums for a diverse set of artists.
Ian has toured in Canada, the U.S, Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, and Italy, and has had his music played on radio internationally. He is a MusicNL and ECMA (East Coast Music Award) winner, a finalist for the International Songwriting Competition, and has numerous co-writes to his credit, including the legendary folk songwriter Ron Hynes.
Ian performs and records both solo, and as a duo with his longtime partner Nancy Hynes, with whom he released the multi-award winning album A Week in December in 2018.
Ana Luisa Ramos, Summer 2023
Ana Luísa Ramos is a singer-songwriter, educator, and music curator. Born in Brazil and based in St. John’s, NL, Ana has been working in the classical and popular fields and has performed in Europe, South, Central, and North America. She holds a Licentiate in Music Education, and a post-graduate diploma in Vocal Coaching, and has studied singing in Brazil, Argentina, Austria, and Canada. Throughout her career, she has recorded over 15 albums for different projects. In 2016 Ana released her first solo album, entitled “Um”, followed by Amanheceu (2021). Over the last few years, Ana has been focusing on her solo career and her duo with Eric Taylor Escudero, “Ana & Eric”. The duo released a self-titled EP (2020), and their first full-length album, “Our House From Here” in the Spring of 2023.k
Nico Paulo, Summer 2022
Nico Paulo is a Portuguese singer-songwriter, performer, and visual artist. After graduating from Design School in Lisbon she called Toronto home for seven years and is now based in St. John’s, NL. Amongst the visual arts, Nico has been a singer since she can remember. She sang for multiple musical projects growing up in Portugal and it wasn’t until she moved to Canada in 2014 at age 21 that she picked up the guitar and started paying close attention to English folk music. Four years later, she gave up her full-time Design job at IKEA and began writing down original music, experimenting with her singing layered with light strumming. Her music is eclectic and mostly derivative from alternative influences weaved into her Portuguese roots and the melancholy of the ocean. A tender and dreamy Indie folk, distinct by her singing melodies and harmonies that pierce through the heart. She performs her solo project and is the backup singer and percussionist for Tim Baker’s and the All Hands band that tours across Canada, the USA, and Europe since 2019. Nico released a single “Please Don’t Forget” in 2019 as well as her debut EP ‘Wave Call’ in 2020 with accompanying music videos. The EP featured Toronto musicians Brava Kilo, Evan J. Cartwright, Kwame Appiah-Kubi, and St. John’s Musician Tim Baker, produced and engineered by David Gavan Baxter. She presented the EP to Europe, starting in Portugal followed by the UK, Ireland, France, and Germany. The latest releases, the EP “Live at First Light” recorded for Lawnya Vawnya Artist Residency and the Portuguese cover of the folk song “O Cavaleiro e o Anjo” by Jose Afonso, were both recorded in Newfoundland. Nico is currently preparing a new release – his time an LP – produced by Josh Van Tassel and Tim Baker, to be announced soon.
Rube & Rake, Summer 2021
The St. John’s based folk duo Rube & Rake have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the MusicNL Music Residency program. They plan to use their residency at Kent Cottage for song writing for their next full-length album, creating and refining new material which will build on the success of their most recent release (2020), Leaving with Nothing. A short video of Rube & Rake’s performance at St. Georges may be found here.
Jake Nicoll, Summer 2019
Jake is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter, producer and recording sound engineer. His compositions and performances have been featured in several independent short films, theatre performances and many albums. He and his partner Kira Sheppard performed at the Brigus Blueberry Festival as his community outreach project.
https://jakenicoll.bandcamp.com/
Kelly McMichael & Maria Peddle, Summer 2018
Kelly McMichael and Maria Peddle of the band RENDERS were chosen by NL Folk Arts Society as the first musicians-in-residence at Landfall. Kelly McMichael, a keyboard/vocalist originally from Peterborough Ontario and Maria Peddle, a multi-instrumentalist and traditional fiddler well-known in the St. John’s folk music community, are inspired to create music together. Their local performance took place at the Newfoundland Distillery in Clarkes Beach.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/kelly-mcmichael-waves-first-listen-1.6026550
Landfall Trust 