Portia White

[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to Refocus.

Our guest today is Chris White.

Based in Ottawa, Chris White is a songwriter, guitarist, community music organizer, and longtime champion of folk music.

A founding member of the Home Roots House Concert Network and former artistic director of the Ottawa Folk Festival, Chris has spent decades creating opportunities for people to connect through music.

He's also a longtime host and producer of Canadian Spaces on CKCU-FM, Canada's longest-running folk and roots radio show.

So we take turns.

Sometimes Carolyn and I host together, 'cause that's a fun thing to do, but she does host shows on her own as well, as does Anne Marie Bruegger.

And there are other hosts as well, Teresa Bandrowski, and the duo of CA and Sunny, along with their friend Bernie White.

You have a pretty musical family, so talk a bit about your musical roots.

My most famous relative is Portia White, who was originally born in Truro, but then the family moved to Halifax.

And she became known as an unbelievable singer of concert-style material.

And fortunately, we have some recordings of her performing at Town Hall in New York and concert halls in Atlantic Canada.

And eventually she moved to Toronto, became a voice coach.

But...

Portia White, for people, if you're not familiar with her, you can find her album, actually, on my Bandcamp page, which is chriswhite2.bandcamp.com. Chris White 2, the digit 2.

And so...