Lomond Sound
About Lomond Sound
Lomond Sound is a folk arts collective that performs and gives workshops throughout the province, including at the Vinland Music Camp. The group consists of Jean Hewson, Christina Smith, Graham Wells, Gayle Tapper, Hugh Scott, Gerry Strong, Jane Dennison, Eric West, Dave Panting, and Gary Green. The group recorded a CD-ROM in 2013, entitled Lomond Sound Live, featuring songs, stories, and dances from Newfoundland and Labrador. The album was recorded at the LSPU Hall in St John’s.
The group has performed at festivals throughout the Province, including the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival (St John’s), the Gros Morne Fall Fair (Cow Head), and Trails Tails and Tunes (Norris Point).
As well as performing, Lomond Sound offers workshops in traditional music, songwriting, storytelling, and dance. Workshop participants develop performance skills, learn the history of the music and various approaches to interpreting it. Please contact us for further information and bookings.
Following are some comments from participants about Lomond Sound workshops :
Their knowledge, instrument skills and progressive teaching style really created a good learning atmosphere.
[The instructors] were enthusiastic and sincere in their comments and suggestions. All were eager to answer questions, provide tips at any time.
Working with these stellar instructors is a highlight.
Very approachable; open to students’ needs.
Jean Hewson
Jean has been performing and teaching traditional songs and tunes of Newfoundland and Labrador for more than thirty years. Her adventures have taken her to folk festivals, concert halls, and seminar rooms throughout North America and the UK. She is highly regarded for her ability as an accompanist and has worked with many of the province’s leading instrumentalists, including Christina Smith, Gerry Strong, Daniel Payne, Dave Penny, Eric West, and Rufus Guinchard. She has also received recognition for her recorded work, including two ECMA nominations (Roots Traditional Group of the Year, 1999 & 2006) and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Traditional Singer of the Year in 2006.
Christina Smith
Christina is recognised as one of the foremost exponents of traditional Newfoundland fiddling. Since 1982 she has been collecting, researching, performing, teaching, and publishing Newfoundland traditional music. She teaches with the Suzuki Talent Education Program of St. John’s, and instructs a course in Traditional Newfoundland Fiddling at Memorial University. Christina tours internationally and records with the award winning groups ‘Jean Hewson and Christina Smith’ and ‘Frank Maher and the Mahers Bahers’. She is the founder and director of the STEP Fiddlers, a group of young musicians who have been performing and recording Newfoundland tunes since 1982.
Graham Wells
Graham Wells is an award winning multi-instrumentalist and singer of Newfoundland and Irish traditional songs. Immersed in traditional music since early childhood, he first learned the button accordion from his grandfather, Edward “Tatters” Walsh, an accordion and mouth organ player from the Battery in St. John’s. A founding member of A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, Wells was also a member of the Juno-award-winning band The Irish Descendants. Graham’s debut solo album, Traditional Music from Newfoundland, was released in 2008 and won the MIANL Traditional Recording of the Year. In 2010, he founded the Irish-Newfoundland Traditional Music Foundation, whose banner event Féile Séamus Creagh, an annual traditional music festival, is now in its 12th year. Wells is Artistic Director of the event.
In 2013, Graham became the first Newfoundlander and Labradorian to complete an MA in Traditional Music Performance from the Irish World Music Academy at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He has since lectured and taught in Ireland, Calgary, Alberta and in his hometown of St. John’s.
Gerry Strong
Gerry is a whistle and wooden flute player who played for many years with Tickle Harbour and now performs with A Crowd of Bold Sharemen. With these groups, he recorded four albums and toured across Canada, Ireland, England, and Australia. Gerry has appeared as a guest musician on a multitude of recordings including that of Irish uillean piper Paddy Keenan. In 2008 he recorded his own CD entitled Velvet in the Wind, which features many of the top traditional players in Newfoundland and Labrador today.
Gayle Tapper
Gayle is well-known as a solo player of folk harp (Celtic & South American), classical harp, and electric harp. She explores her instrument across genres of traditional, world, and improvisational music. Gayle was the principal harpist for many years with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and is currently a member of the folk group The Art Stoyles Band. Gayle’s CD Here the Tides Flow is a distinctive production of world music for harp.
Hugh Scott
Hugh Scott is a singer and musician from Newfoundland. He is also a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and award-winning songwriter (his song Theresa Maria won the 1996 SOCAN Song of the Year). Hugh has opened for Tommy Makem and the Yetties and has played with many other notable artists such as Liam Clancy and Gullivers Spree. His songs have been performed and recorded by Fine Crowd, the Ennis Sisters, Brown Ale, Celtic Wind, and Chris Murphy.
Jane Dennison
Jane has been dancing, calling, and teaching with folk dance groups for over 30 years. She has been a dance instructor at the Vinland Music Camp in Western Newfoundland since 2005 and has performed at festivals, concerts, and special events in Newfoundland, St. Pierre, Quebec, Ontario, and the USA. Jane has a Master of Arts degree from Memorial University with a research focus on the sustainability of set dancing in the province. She is the co-author of Traditional Dances of Newfoundland and Labrador – A Guide for Teachers (Vinland Music 2007).
Eric West
Eric is a guitarist and music arranger/publisher who has performed with a number of prominent musical groups, including the children’s music duo ‘Heather and Eric.’ He has composed and arranged music for radio, television, and stage. ArtsNL awarded Eric the 2007 Arts Achievement Award for his contribution to the arts in this province. In 2017 he received the Memorial University Arts in Education Award, in recognition of his contribution to arts education. He has been the Director of Vinland Music Camp since its beginning in 2001.
Dave Panting
Dave is a multi-instrumentalist, singer /songwriter, composer, and producer. He is a founding member of two influential Atlantic Canadian bands – Figgy Duff and Rawlins Cross. For over four decades he has toured locally and internationally.
Gary Green
Storyteller and author Gary Green has performed provincially, nationally and internationally at a variety of events ranging from youth camps to major festivals. Gary has performed on network television, on radio and in international award winning audio productions. He has been a consultant for the use of storytelling in the interpretation of a provincial and two national historic sites. In addition to teaching storytelling at the annual Vinland Music Camp, he has taught storytelling workshops for other groups in both Newfoundland and Labrador.
Past members:
Daniel Payne, from 2001 to 2021