The Duhks are a young kick-ass folk band hailing from Winnipeg Manitoba, located where the wind stops at the east end of the Canadian Prairies. Their show is a pure, unrestrained and dynamic presentation of traditional and contemporary acoustic music designed to make you kick up your feet and party. Appalachian Old-Time fiddle music mixes with Celtic reels, with French-Canadian folk tunes, with songs of the great songwriters of the last century and with new songs and tunes written by themselves and by their friends. These guys & gals have been stepping over their instruments since birth and that becomes obvious from the moment they begin to play. It’s the mixture of youth and technical skill that fuels the energy always present at a Duhks show. Everyone starts to move; not the “lets be hip” movement prevalent in beer commercials, but a genuine groove that just builds without ever being rude. The Duhks are fun.

Bandleader Leonard Podolak brings his superb banjo playing, his tune writing skills, his singing, his ability as an arranger and his extensive experience as a professional artist into the mix. Leonard is the guy who makes stuff happen. He is the mad scientist who created the former Winnipeg Folk scene wonder Scruj MacDuhk and then toured with them to every major festival in Canada as well as the US and Denmark. Len has always had a gift for seeking and recruiting great players; people who share his intense passion for traditional music and well written new songs. Dugg Simpson of the Vancouver Folk Festival once told this writer that “Leonard is a folk prodigy…people will be telling stories about him at folk festivals thirty, forty years from now”.

Tania Elizabeth has been playing fiddle since she was old enough to hold it in place. Tania is an amazingly skillful, fiery and entertaining fiddler. Her knowledge of fiddle music spans a lot of territory and her ability to absorb music quickly appears limitless. A committed player she has toured from Toronto to Shanghai and from Vancouver to Sidney. She has released two solo recordings, and has served as Celtic instructor at Nashville legend Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camp.

Jordan McConnell’s impeccable sense of timing brings a steadying musical presence to the group. In addition to being a great guitar player he is an excellent vocalist and a fine tenor banjo player. When he isn’t playing folk music he sometimes can be found dabbling in classical guitar and punk. Entirely a renaissance man, Jordan goes beyond simply playing instruments; he makes them. As an active guitar maker his customers include national finger-picking champion Tim Sparks and Danu guitarist Noel Ryan.

Jessee Havey sings with authority. She has real character in her voice and is able to believably sing everything from Old Time ballads to Celtic laments, to blues and torch songs. Hers is the voice “that will.” Her strength and obvious talent had her destined for an acting and theatre-directing career until the lure of folk music lucre swept her off her feet and she decided to run away and join a band.

Scott Senior creates a beat out of everything his hands come in contact with. His percussion on the cajon and congo drums has been steadying bands in Winnipeg for a decade. He gained recognition nationally with pop band Tequila Mockingbird, funked it up with Moses Mayes, and earned international respect through the Afro-Caribbean rhythms of Rodrigo Muñoz and Papa Mambo. His percussion brings a delicate, danceable quality to the Duhks.