October 10, 2011
Toronto, ON

Happy Thanksgiving! It's yet another incredibly glorious day in the big city. I'm relaxing by the metaphorical pool after last night's fantastic Thanksgiving dinner chez moi.  Our meal was delicious and surprisingly vegan, featuring all the traditional fixings à la Sweetland. (And a live concert by the one and only Darlene while I cooked!) Tonight I will also be quite chefly, preparing a vat of saffron risotto for my dear pal Andy White who's in town for a visit.

Besides all the cooking and lounging about in my rose garden, I have been such a busy woman. Making tour plans for coming year, working on the new album, attending strange and adventurous auditions, dancing flamenco in the kitchen, and performing various impressive feats of housework. I've also been working at the Gladstone Hotel lately as an event photographer, shooting some of their amazing music and art soirées. I had a blast there last weekend for Nuit Blanche! You can have a peek at some of my photos from the evening here.

And for new shots from my eternal Adventures in Sweetland...

New concert dates are also now posted on my tour page. Even more coming soon... Stay tuned!

Love,

Sweetland

P.S.  I'm so excited to see all my friends at the OCFF conference in Niagara Falls this weekend! Meet you in a dark stairwell.

At the Gladstone...

August 22, 2010
Owen Sound, ON

Hola from the shores of beautiful Georgian Bay. Came up for the weekend to see my sweet gypsy road sister Darlene rock it at Summerfolk! It's been yet another wet weekend in festival-land but this time I came armed with red wellies and a polka-dot umbrella. Nothing can stop me now!  Had an adventurous eve hier soir at the Saturday night festival after-party ... Many thanks to Chuck & Albert for the lovely company, and of course - the step dancing lessons. Watch out world. Mama's got a new trick.

Backstage at Summerfolk ... more summer festival photos here!

September 1, 2008
Grafton, ON

I've had the most magnificent past few weeks with my friends! Spent last weekend at the Shelter Valley Folk Festival, glorious utopian artistic creation of Aengus Finnan and his amazing community. Hosted the daytime Village Stage there and got to see loads of amazing pals like Darlene, Bob Snider, Brian MacMillan and Rick Fines ... not to mention Lynn Miles who I love so and simply cannot stop listening to!

Last weekend I played the Eaglewood Folk Festival and slept in my sweet little van by the pond ... Thanks to brilliant artistic director Trevor Mills for having me, Darlene, Carrie (you're the best manager ever!) and Nathan Rogers for making me laugh my ass off all weekend. And of course, the amazing Ken Whiteley, friend and producer was there playing along with me ... Next stop NYC. Watch out world. xo

 

At the Shelter Valley Folk Festival ... more summer festival photos

February 23, 2008

Memphis, TN

Greetings from the depths of the annual musical mania that is the North American Folk Alliance conference! This year I've been co-hosting the Little Red Hen Music showcase room with my dear pals Darlene and Jan Bell. We've had a most fantastic and successful year, oh glory! Played some damn fine showcases too, drank some supremely delicious Scotch and most importantly saw tons of my dearest pals I hardly ever get to see. Made some new pals too that I am so excited about (smile.) More on all that later. Now, it's nearly 6 am and it's definitely sleepytime. Nighty-night. x

Andy White came to visit

September 3, 2007
Toronto, Ontario

I had an AMAZING time this past weekend at the Shelter Valley Folk Festival just outside Grafton, Ontario. We had beautiful weather, the lineup was great and there were no shortage of my dearest pals about! (Darlene, Bill Bourne, Trevor Mills and Ember Swift... to name but a few. ) I got to wear a new hat this festival -not literally- as stage host! It was a fabulous learning experience for me and -among other many other things- I introduced performers, caught flying drum-brushes and hosted a symposium discussion panel on muse and inspiration... yum. Now it's time to rest, and recover... xo

At the Shelter Valley Festival I did an incredibly fun
photo shoot with the famous Six String Nation guitar...
(photos by Doug Nicholson)
click here to see
 

April 25, 2005
Sault Ste Marie, ON

It's the last night of sleazy motels for me on this trip, baby. My motel blanket even says "Motel" printed in black ink all across it. Gotta love that. Oh, Ontario-you are so long and take FOREVER to drive through. This was day 2 of the Ontario-haul, all cold and drippy with threats of snow and such. Had to pull over last night in Motel Nowhere due to serious freezing rain. NOTHING good to eat up here for days. Icky white bread and nasty fried soggy potato products prevail. Dreaming of clouds of brown rice sushi lifting me up to the firmament forever... But oh, the beauty. This is true and glorious wilderness country and I am so blessed to be travelling through. It's off to Sudbury to see Darlene tomorrow. Hooray!

love, K

April 16, 2004
Sudbury, ON

After a big lonnnng drive 'cross my home and native land I am settled for a few days in the Big Nickel. Have been kickin' it up with my darling Darlene and dear pal Carrie who has been gracious enough to house this travelling wayfaring songstress... The time here has been extremely creatively productive and Dar and I have been practicing our sword and hoop dance (among other performatory extravaganzas...) And have had many a video and photo shoot to boot. Filmmaker Peter Zwarich took some insane footage of me doin' my sword thang and edited it together with some footage from last night's gig at the Townehouse. It's worth checking out, man. Click on the link below... (Don't forget to download and updated version of Quicktime first.. or it won't work!) As well, masterful Sudbury photographer David Wiewel was so kind as to snap a ton of mind blowing images of all the action. You'll notice his photos all over this page, but click on the links to see more...

Can't believe I'm finally back in Ontario... It's been 22,000 kms of true glory.

Thanks Universe for protecting me all the way!

Welcome home Sweetyland.

Watch Kristin's new
Copper Kettle video Filmed and edited by Peter Zwarich
(You'll need to an updated version of Quicktime to watch...)
download Quicktime here

With Darlene at the Townehouse in Sudbury... more photos here!

January 3, 2004
Toronto, ON 

Happy New Year sweety-pies. I've been having a grand ol' time in Metropolitan Torontonia for the past couple of days. Played and AMAZING show at Hugh's Room last night called "Girls Play Boys" with the delicious likes of Katherine Wheatley, Arlene Bishop, Suzie Vinnick (who SO rocked the house with her Supertramp-express) and many more... Got to dress up in a girlie-tux with bowtie and sing Leadbelly songs all night. I absolutely loved it. Now I'm off to lounge in front of the telly for some quality repeats of Angel, coffee to the max and some serious relax-n-recuperation time... Mmmmm Angel.

Home County Folk Festival presents Kristin Sweetland and Darlene in concert January 23rd in London, Ontario!

October 22, 2003
Sudbury, ON

My pretties, I have been having one rip-roarin' heckuva time up in brrrr-land Sudbury. Was not expecting the cold to encroacheth this quick upon me, but I've pulled out the hats, gloves and little pink leg warmers (and pink poofy everythings) to help me cope. Had extreme amounts of fun this past weekend at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals conference. Hooray for Erin Benjamin and Tara Levesque for all their hard gruelling work! Most memorable moments include: my truly yummy showcase (thanks to the incredible work of the Nutshell Music folks, Ken Whiteley and all the fabulous attendees...) Post-conference decompression swimming and singing with Michael Wrycraft, Liam Titcomb and Darlene, the incomparable bowling extravaganza (damn my socks looked fine with those shoes!) with Geoff Berner, Kris Demeanor, Ken Brown, his lovely Julia and the whole crew... and of course the raging Sunday night bender in my hotel room singing gospel to all wee hours (till the hotel had to sweetly warn us that there were now some "business people" on the floor...ooopsy.) Almost never had so much fun in my life... still recovering. Will be hanging out in Sudbury for another few days so Darlene can show me some local sights (other than the inside of a hotel) then off into the wild yonders for some time off (or maybe I'll just go home, lie around and get a cold or something- now that I actually can.) Yaaayyyy resting!

Kristin showcases at the 2003 OCFF conference, Sudbury, ON
click here for more photos
photography by David Wiewel www.whitetrashink.com

July 23, 2003
London, Ontario

My, it's been SO long since I wrote... shame on me! I guess that means I've been supremely and excellently busy in the best possible way. So far the summer has been truly good to me, festivals, lounging, forest adventures, sleeping in...Mmmmmm. I've also been working hard on booking for the fall, winter and spring and am planning visits to New England, Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, the Southwest US, California, BC, the far reaches of Ont-errible and justa 'bout everything in between. Yayyyy roadtrip!! Most fondest memories of the past few weeks include an incredible weekend at Mariposa with the delicious likes of James Keelaghan, Bob Snider, Michael Wrycraft, Anne Lindsay, Jason Fowler, Jim Moray and the Wailin' Jennies wailin' out the 80s tunes around the piano till all wee hours... Oh my. This past weekend at Home County was true heaven!! The hometown festival proved very fruitful and fun as all heck. Spent much time dancing with the one and only Darlene (and her mighty hula hoop) to the late night croonin' of Jackie Washington ( who played on and on and on and on.... What a guy.) Next adventures will take me to Vermont to perform at my good friend Chris Jones' venue the Eclipse Theater with two of my very favourite players (and people...) Zubot and Dawson. Yay roly-poly hills and Moo Moos and red barns... Rural yum, here I come. 

In the back of Maybelle the Van. Photo by Morris Lamont of the London Free Press.
For recent press photos and reviews click here!!!

Serena Ryder, Darlene and Lady K at the OCFF Conference 2002
MMMmmmmmmmmmmm yellow world.

July 29th, 2002
Victoria, BC

I have just returned from a wonderful weekend at the Islands Folk Festival in Duncan. I had such a great time and I always SO love being on Vancouver Island. My dear friend Darlene and I have been kickin' up all kinds of delicious trouble playing and singing and swimming in the rivers and driving all around...We even got to get up on the mainstage during Chris Chandler and Anne Feeney's set and do our little sword twirling hula hoopin' routine for their fabulous circus song... oh so much fun. Look out world!!! It has now been about five weeks since I left Ontario and the road has been so good to me. I have been mostly in Victoria visiting with wonderful friends, hiking in the forests with the big beautiful trees and spending some time genuinely trying to RELAX... is it possible?? I've actually been running around like a crazy freak show most of the time trying to get lots done...press and interviews and radio and reviews.... getting things all set up for the release of the new album. But Hoooray! It's all done and all my lovely little CDs came in boxes all wrapped in plastic and ready to be sent out into the great yonders of the world. So good. I am so happy with how it's all working out. And they look great. (And they sound great too....) It was so worth the wait. Next it's just about finishing up some business here and heading back up to Duncan next weekend to play another show at Vimy Hall. My friend Longevity John puts on a series of shows he calls "Longevity John's Musical Treats" and they are always such a good time. This time I'll be playing with a fabuloso hard core old school "i just rolled outta the dustbowl" old time country croonin yodelayheehooin' man named Petunia. Petunia is from Toronto but we met through Long John a few weeks ago and had a blast hiking down to the Cowichan river and swimming and swimming and swimming... Long John also has a crazy ol' house full of oh so many puppies (and two wee 6 week old ones...) that are so much fun to visit. There are sure to be Good Times ahead.

fare thee well for now... but more later.