In The Key of D

With rain coming down non-stop, I skipped most of the Bloor Folk Festival taking place at Christie Pits Park. However, with Saturday night clearing up, I made it to see Julie Doiron, the last act of day 2. With her 7-week-old sleeping in the audience, she played a 40-min set with a borrowed band, 2 members of Jen Grant's troupe who was scheduled to play a little later at Lee's Palace.

Doiron played a lot of early material because as she kept pointing out, she thought she was done with playing music for at least a few years. Her catalogue was varied: most had a folksy feel whether sweet or bitter but Doiron could also turn on the guitar growl and feedback. It was inadvertently poignant on "The Gambler" with lyrics "He may be a drinker, he don't need no one" when a drunk stood swaying near the stage. Though he was sometimes too enthusiastic in his cheers, this was preferable to the bearded jerk who jabbered incessantly at top volume about the lame band he played in, his life, or his (no doubt long-suffering) friends.