Samantha Christ Francois with The Toasted Westerns

 

Samantha Christ François Sings Songs from Many Lands - from East Africa, France, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, the USA, Canada, and her native Haiti. Since arriving in Ottawa a few years ago, Samantha has beguiled and impressed audiences and fellow musicians alike with her soulful voice, her incredible range, and her uncanny ability to make songs in many languages her own. Among her big local fans are fellow singer Lynne Miles, pianists John Dapah and Miguel de Armas, and folk music legend Chris White. At Red Bird, Samantha will do a program of some very familiar and some more recherché material, accompanied by Ann Downey on bass and Karl Nerenberg on piano -- with a few surprise special guests. 

The Toasted Westerns were conceived in 1988, by the fun and energetic duo of Sally Robinson and Jody Benjamin. Their fame and repertoire grew while busking on the streets of Ottawa, and the sandwich  gradually added local luminaries as sides to become a 5-piece band known as The Toasted Westerns Full Platter. Ann Downey (fries) was on bass and vocals,  Carolyn Stewart (coleslaw) on fiddle, who was later replaced by Vince Halfhide (hot sauce) on electric guitar, and Wayne Ford-Robichaud (pickle) was on drums. They became known as Ottawa’s Favourite Singing Sandwich, in duo, trio and full platter format for 20 years. A CD was cooked up in 1996, entitled Out to Lunch, and they were interviewed by Peter Gzowski and invited to play at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. The music was and is a tasty and engaging blend of old country, old R&B, originals, and early 40’s and 50’s hits. After a hiatus of nearly a decade, The Toasted Westerns Trio (sandwich and fries) was “resurrected” and opened for Ian Tamblyn at the Ottawa Grassroots Festival in 2019. The trio still delivers the filling and satisfying caloric wallop of the old days, on piano, accordion, clarinet, guitar, bass, banjo and vocals.