Steve's Blog
A Concert of Canadiana and a Saturday Edge On Folk full of cool new tunes
Saturday November 1, 2025

1. Madison Violet - The Final Farewell Tour, Sunday November 2nd, 8pm, at Mel Lehan Hall at St. James (3214 West 10th Avenue)

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And for JUNO-nominated, singer-songwriter duo, Madison Violet, that moment is on the horizon. Earlier this year, Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac announced that 2025 will mark both their 25th anniversary, and their final year as a band.

To celebrate, Madison Violet have released The Best of Brenley & Lisa — a retrospective album featuring fan favourites and personally chosen tracks that trace their journey with audiences worldwide. The collection reflects both their enduring careers and the bond they’ve built with listeners over the years. It will be available for purchase at this show.

Sadly, we will not be live streaming this concert, by request of the band. However, we did see their final performance at Cape Breton's Celtic Colours Festival last month on their live stream, and they were in exceptionally entertaining form! If this show is anywhere near as good as that one, you are in for a real treat! Tickets are available here.

2. LeVolume & Deanna Knight Trio, Thursday November 13th, 7:30pm, at Notional Space (1523 East Pender St.) 

We have moved this unique Canadian Double Bill to Notional Space, a warm, intimate east side venue run by our good friends - and Rogue supporters extraordinaire, Mark and You-Mi. LeVolume is an Ontario trio of Juno winners: Jenny Whiteley, Joey Wright, and Julian Brown. They write songs in both English and French, while also interpreting and translating songs by such luminaries as Doug Paisley, Jesse Winchester and Carolyn Mark. Their originals explore topics from first summer love to sub-division dreams, beach-town rendezvous to small-town Ontario’s own ubiquitous Metal Dad. If you love the sound of the rich strumming of acoustic guitars, the bright tinkling of mandolins and ethereal vocals with loads of harmonies throughout, then you will adore this trio! They’re also funny.

Deanna Knight is best known at The Rogue as the chanteuse with the gypsy jazz combo Hot Club Of Mars. She released a fine solo album last year, and will once again be accompanied by Simon Kendall (Doug & The Slugs, Jim Byrnes Band) on keyboards and Eric Reed (also of the Jim Byrnes Band) on guitars. D has been best friends with Jenny for many years, and is also a featured vocalist in BCGD, the Lower Mainland's Grateful Dead tribute band. Tickets are available here and at the door.

3. Raffle 50/50 runs until December 7th!

We just launched another 50/50 raffle. The last one raised over $17,000 (half of which went to the winner, of course! The Rogue is always short of operating funds, and these raffles have surely helped us survive over the past few years. Please support us if you can. www.roguefolkclub.rafflenexus.com

4. Radio Waves

Margaret and I have spent most of the past couple of weeks with Sadie, the adorable dog who makes friends with everyone at our concerts. Now she is back with her owner, Alma MacDonald, and we won't see her for a while. But what fun we had on beaches and in parks from Vancouver to Parksville and Tofino. I've had plenty of late night and early morning walks with Sadie, and haven't been able to find time to write a blog for a while. I have, however, managed to produce a radio show every week. With Sadie sleeping at my feet! 

This week's edition of The Saturday Edge On Folk airs from 8am to noon on www.citr.ca and fm 101.9 in Vancouver. There will be plenty of new releases, with music from as far afield as Malawi, Senegal, Mali, and Zimbabwe, and from all across Canada from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, to PEI, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and BC. Plus a couple for tracks from the great new albums by Alison Brown & Steve Martin, and Robert Plant's new project. And much more. I hope you will tune me in and turn me on. (if you missed it, or want to hear it again, you can find it on the above link for The Saturday Edge.)

Don't forget to say your White Rabbits first thing, and to capture that lost hour of sleep when the clocks go back on Saturday night!