Ian Robb and James Stephens have only recently come together as a duo, but they are no strangers to each other’s music, having shared the stage countless times in such bands as Jiig, The Old Sod Band and the internationally-acclaimed vocal harmony trio Finest Kind. Both are long-serving veterans of the Canadian folk scene: Ian’s earliest folk influences were in the 1960s English folk clubs, before emigrating to Canada in 1970. He is well known as a singer of traditional folk songs, a “writer of old songs” and an accomplished player of the English concertina. James’s considerable notoriety stems from a four decade career as a multi-styled fiddler and multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer and producer of a “Who’s Who” of Canadian singer-songwriters and traditional and “World” musicians, not to mention his work as a much-respected teacher and influencer in the Canadian fiddle community.
Together, Ian and James blend their instruments and voices in a unique mixture of old and new folk music from both sides of the Atlantic. The songs are timeless; the sound is rich. Their first duo recording, “Declining With Thanks” was released in November 2021.
“This is such a lovely record, mostly traditional songs along with a couple of Ian's originals, all beautifully arranged and performed. I've tried a number of times to tell him, but Ian refuses to believe or acknowledge just what an enormous influence he was on the singing and song writing of my brother Stan back in the day, not to mention our band. Thanks, Ian for sending it along. And thanks to James and crew for such sweet and elegant playing. I need to lie down for a while”- Garnet Rogers, Facebook 2021
IAN ROBB
Ian received the 2005 CFMA for “Best singer, Traditional” for his work with Jiig, and was a co-recipient, as a founding member of The Friends of Fiddler’s Green, of the 2003 Estelle Klein award for “significant contributions to Ontario’s folk music community”. He is perhaps best known for his 25 years with Finest Kind, touring regularly in Canada, the US and UK.
JAMES STEPHENS
James was honoured with Steve Fruitman’s 2002 Porcupine Award for Record Producers, and his work in the studio has resulted in a number of Juno, CFMA and East Coast Music Award nominations for his clients. From 2011 to 2013, he lived in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he made numerous recordings of Pakistani traditional, classical and pop musicians and participated in a number of western/Pakistani “fusion” concerts.
