After watching local band Hillsburn blow away a sold out house at The Carleton this past spring, we thought they’d be the perfect act to kick off our 6th annual Halifax Urban Folk Festival on Sunday, August 30th. We’re pairing them up with Australia‘s Oh Pep! and fans of the one will also be fans of the other.

Show time is 8 PM and tickets are $15 + booking fee. This is going to be a great night!

The band first came to our attention – and that of most of the country – when they made it to the CBC Searchlight contest final 10, which is great because they were completely under the radar until then. The band announced at that first Carleton show that they were entering a management arrangement with Groundswell and are now working on their debut full length with The Stanfields main man Jon Landry producing. These cats are going places…

Oh Pep! is a young, sometimes foot-stomping, somewhat heart-breaking, multi-award-winning original folk duo – Olivia ‘Liv’ Hally and Pepita ‘Pep’ Emmerichs – from Melbourne, Australia. They just happen to be in our vicinity because they’re recording an album with our own Daniel Ledwell here in Nova Scotia. It’s a happy coincidence the timing worked not only for HUFF but the opportunity to play with headliners Hillsburn.

Not even 23 years old, Oh Pep! have been awarded Young Folk Performer of the Year 2014 and nominated in the Best Folk Roots Category by The Age Music Victoria Award. They have released two EPs to date and gained rapid momentum, touring Australia, the USA and Europe. Amongst others, they’ve been invited to play at The Woodford Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival the National Folk Festival in Canberra, and Folk Alliance International, Kansas City.

Oh Pep! embark on another great adventure this September with their first North American tour which will see them perform at the Americana conference in Nashville, CMJ in NYC & an array of shows across Canada and the U.S with dates in Europe to follow.