Connie Kaldor

Connie Kaldor has spent more than 45 years creating beautiful songs, telling great stories and making people laugh.

Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Kaldor emerged during an extraordinary period in Canadian folk music, alongside artists including Stan Rogers, Ferron and Valdy. Armed with an unmistakable voice, memorable melodies, prairie-sized personality and a gift for finding the extraordinary in ordinary lives, she became a festival headliner and built a devoted audience far beyond Canada. 

But Connie has never been the kind of singer-songwriter who simply walks onstage, sings her songs and goes home. She actually began her professional life in theatre before leaving it behind for music in 1979, and some of that theatrical instinct came with her. At a time when folk performers often kept a certain distance from their audiences, Connie talked to hers. She joked with them. She told stories. She broke down the wall between performer and listener, developing a style that could be uproariously funny one minute and deeply moving the next. 

The Boston Globe captured it beautifully, calling her “a masterful performer, wildly funny one moment, deeply personal the next.”

Along the way, Kaldor has become one of Canada's most celebrated folk artists. She is a three-time Juno Award winner, a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and an honorary doctorate recipient from the University of Regina. She has toured throughout North America and across Europe, India and China, sharing stages with artists including Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, Sylvia Tyson, The Chieftains and Daniel Lanois. 

And then there is “Wood River,” which is one of Kaldor's best-known songs, it has become something close to a Canadian folk standard, sung by choirs and audiences throughout North America and named one of the top Canadian songs by Canadian Geographic. 

More than four decades into her career, she is still writing songs that matter. Her 18th album, Keep Going, takes on perseverance, resilience, grief and loss with the emotional depth and humor that have always distinguished her work. 

Awards and accolades tell you something about Connie Kaldor, but they don't tell you what happens when she gets in front of an audience. For that, you have to be in the room. And we can't think of a better room for it than Caffè Lena. We saw her at NERFA (Northeast Regional Folk Alliance) last year and were blown away. Come spend an evening with one of Canadian folk music's great originals—a songwriter, storyteller and entertainer who can make you laugh, break your heart, and send you home carrying a song you didn't know you needed.

SAMPLE SONG

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