Ottawa’s singing/songwriting/entertaining legend John Allaire – along with local opener Kaya Fraser -makes his first foray into Atlantic Canada on his Canadian Maritime Caravan Tour 2025 and its Halifax stop is at The Carleton on Tuesday, May 27th at 7 PM. Tickets are only $15 + HST, a price we set because (a) it’s a Tuesday and (b) we really think he’s a unique, seasoned performer that deserves your attention. Take a shot, you won’t be disappointed!
Award-Winning Songs and Stories with a Rock & Roll Edge
Playing an average of 150+ shows per year around the world, John Allaire is easily one of Canada’s top independent road warriors. He recently celebrated his 3,000th career show with a series of sold out concerts in 2024.
John has won many awards, including the Americana Songwriters’ Association award in Nashville for best lyricist and the Toronto Independent Music Award for “best live show”. Penguin Eggs magazine has called John “the next Canadian music legend” and “a new Neil Young“. His storytelling and quick wit make him a perennial festival favourite and a stalwart club-land institution.
An Ottawa Must See, John is best known around the Nation’s Capital as the host of “The Allaire Show”, a weekly singer-songwriter series packing Quinn’s Ale House in Old Ottawa South, featuring guests from around the world. The show has been running for 15 years. He, along with his backing band, The Campistas, were asked to be one of the opening acts for Neil Young and Crazy Horse on their 2024 Love Earth Tour.
John was a founding member of the ‘80s and ‘90s alt-rock band, The Town Cryers, and has shared the stage with hundreds of other popular acts, including The Black Crowes, Steve Earle, Snoop Dogg, Wilco, Three Days Grace, City and Colour, Blue Rodeo, Alejandro Escovedo, David Lindley, Donovan, HooDoo Gurus, BoDeans, Alanis Morrisette, Drive-By Truckers and many more. In recent times, he has become known as the “poet laureate” of the NHL Network – writing songs and parodies for the sports network and appearing live at the Sirius headquarters in Toronto or on site for special events.
Kaya Fraser is a singer-songwriter from Montreal, now based in Halifax, where she works by day as a public librarian. After several years on the west coast, and a hiatus prompted by life circumstances and a global pandemic, she is poised to return to the stage and studio with a collection of new songs about re-emergence and reconnection with what matters most.
Following in the songwriting footsteps of her father (Allan Fraser of the acclaimed 70’s folk duo Fraser & DeBolt), Kaya began writing her own music in her mid-20s while at graduate school studying Canadian poetry. She released her debut EP, Tremor and Slip, in 2007. Immediately, this recording made reviewers sit up and take notice. It peaked at #3 on the iTunes charts in its genre in France, and received healthy airplay on CBC and on college radio. Exclaim! said this about her first full-length release, Open Horizon (2010): “the album flirts with soul and blues, jazz and country, but ultimately, hangs together as a beautifully cohesive and promising debut.” Kaya has played shows across Canada, opening for the likes of Good Lovelies, Royal Wood, Justin Rutledge and others, as well as festivals such as Home County Folk Festival, Islands Folk Festival and most recently, Ottawa Bluesfest. Her intimate, compelling performances have been winning fans over and creating a quiet buzz among songwriting peers, including Ron Sexsmith, who praised Kaya’s “lovely voice and natural songwriting.”