Shane Cook and the Woodchippers appearing for Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts benefit concert
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
The Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts (KFPA) is pleased to announce the appearance of Shane Cook and the Woodchippers in Stratford for a benefit concert Friday, March 27 at Avondale United Church.
The multi-nominated and highly talented four member group is comprised of Emily Flack (of the band Leahy) on piano, vocals and dance, Joe Phillips (Art of Time Ensemble) on double bass, guitar, vocals and dance, five-time step dance champion and Stratford local Kyle Waymouth on guitar, tenor banjo and dance and, finally, Shane Cook on fiddle.
Cook comes from a long line of fiddlers and musicians in his family. His dad and brother are fiddlers. His grandmother came from 11 siblings and 10 played music in some form or another, so it has always been a part of his life. He began fiddle lessons at the tender age of seven and went on to win fiddle championships internationally.
Members of the band have played together for years in various forms but finally came together to form a band, the Woodchippers. The skillset is stellar with each one experienced in leading concerts on their own but together they are intimately connected.
“What’s kind of fun with this band is we could step out and do a totally different concert every night with one or another leading it,” said Cook. The show promises to be lively and energetic with great Canadian music and step-dancing relying on traditional and original tunes to entertain the audience.
The setlist will include music from their 2022 award nominated album, Be Here for a While as well as traditional fiddle music from across Canada. There will be some new material as well
“That’s one of the amazing things about playing with these three musicians is that none of us are ever happy to settle into an exact arrangement. We all like to improvise and try new things. One of the things that I like to do is go out on stage and not tell them about a particular medley of Canadian fiddle tunes or Celtic fiddle tunes and just call keys to them as we go and watch them all communicate with eye contact or other physical gestures and just play off one another and let an arrangement form on the fly. It’s a lot of trust. We all know each other so well and it’s a blast when it happens,” shared Cook.
He sees in his students how wonderful it is to work towards something like the Kiwanis Festival of Performing Arts. It’s harder to find an outlet for kids to perform so the KFPA is a great opportunity. Having the feedback, seeing other kids, performing in front of an audience are all important elements in the development of a musician.
“I grew up going to fiddle contests and the competition part of it was great, it was wonderful to go through that and feel the pressure and how to handle that, but when I look back it’s also the lifelong connections I’ve made with people through competition that’s been really important to me. It’s something every young player should go through,” said Cook.
Cook is pleased to return to Stratford for this concert. He has appeared with the Stratford Symphony Orchestra and through Stratford Summer Music as well as with other artists.
“It’s always great to come back to Stratford. I love seeing friends and family, but also people that knew my parents and grandparents who after the show come and have these stories to tell that otherwise I would never hear. Stratford is a wonderful town, and I appreciate every chance to come that I get,” Cook said.
This is a great opportunity to catch the band before they head off to Aberdeen, Scotland in June for the North Atlantic Fiddlers convention, an event that happens every couple of years which shares hosting duties between Canada, Scotland and Ireland.
Tickets for the benefit concert are available online at kiwanisfestivalstratford.com/events and are $35 or $10 for children 12 and under making this an affordable family concert.
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