A fun, local, cultural experience, this event promises to be a feast for the senses.
Sonic Harvest returns to Woody Point for two weekends of unforgettable music, food, and stories in the historic Woody Point Heritage Theatre. Join us for incredible cultural experiences, outstanding Newfoundland performers, outdoor adventures, and a true sense of community in the heart of Gros Morne National Park.
Our LineuP
Sherman Downey AND the Ambiguous case
Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case have long held a special place in the hearts of Newfoundland music fans — and far beyond. Blending the best of country, folk, and pop into a melodic roots-rock sound, they’ve floored critics and audiences alike with sophisticated arrangements, boundless energy, and a warmth that lingers long after the last chord fades.
Frontman Sherman Downey rose to national prominence in 2013, winning CBC Radio 2’s Searchlight competition for Canada’s Best New Band. From there, the group built a loyal and growing fan base, topping the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 charts for over 14 weeks, touring across Canada and as far afield as Australia, and earning five MusicNL Award nominations, including Group of the Year, FACTOR Album of the Year, and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year.
Their debut album Honey for Bees (2010) and subsequent releases captured both the vitality of their live shows and the meticulous craft of their studio work — a rare feat that won them acclaim as one of the East Coast’s most exciting acts. Fans came for the hooks, stayed for the storytelling, and left grinning from ear to ear.
In 2015, the band members went their separate ways, leaving a devoted audience with memories of nights spent dancing, singing, and laughing together. Now, after nearly a decade apart, Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case are reuniting — bringing that same joy, connection, and musical magic back to the stage.
This isn’t just a concert; it’s the next chapter in a story fans have been waiting to hear again.
RusselL deCarle
It’s late, and the bar is crowded. The music is loud, and people are dancing. The bartender needs a smoke, and you could use a smile, a conversation, a moment of recognition…
But you are alone in this crowd, along with the singer Russell deCarle. Like him — and his music — you are holding it together with equal measures of heartbreak and hope.
So join Russell; sink into his third album of songs that touch the heart, celebrate the truth, and provide warmth and company in the noise of the crowd.
Alone in this Crowd is the title of Russell deCarle’s third album; it feels like the soundtrack of a movie in the days just before they invented Technicolor.
And, even more than his two previous albums, it may surprise those who remember deCarle as the lead vocalist and bassist of the iconic Canadian country roots band Prairie Oyster. He is no stranger to awards and accolades — his “Oyster years” were rewarded with six Juno Awards, more than a dozen Canadian Country Music Awards and enough gold and platinum records and #1 singles to fill a living room wall.
The truth is, though, that Prairie Oyster was always more than a “country” band, and deCarle’s warm, burnished and intimate voice has always honoured an eclectic range of songs.
True to form, Alone in this Crowd offers a fluent collection of songs that mix southern soul and restrained balladry, with obvious touches of jazz, blues, old-school country, and western swing.
Russell deCarle’s songwriting has absorbed all those influences, and he avidly listens to smooth soul singers and the men and women who made early country music so compelling. Like his previous (debut) solo album Under the Big Big Sky, there are eight original songs here, and three covers.
Shelly Kawaja
Shelly Kawaja is the author of The Raw Light of Morning, winner of the 2022 BMO Winterset Award. Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in several magazines such as Riddle Fence, Horseshoe Literary Magazine, The Humber Literary Review, The Dalhousie Review and Post-Colonial Text. She was shortlisted for the Bridge Prize, the Writer's Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador's Fresh Fish Award and was the winner of the GritLit 2020 short fiction contest. Shelly is a graduate of UBC's MFA program, Memorial University of Newfoundland and The Humber School for Writers. She lives in Corner Brook, NL where she is teaching creative writing at Memorial University's Grenfell campu
Pollen Nation - Amanda Oake & Chef Nathan Hornidge
Amanda Oake and Chef Nathan Hornidge are the team behind Pollen Nation Farm in Little Rapids, Newfoundland and Labrador. Amanda is an entrepreneur who leads land based education and community food security work. Nathan designs Bee to Table tastings and dinners that pair the farm’s Varroa free, place driven honey with regional seafood and wild foods. Together they work with knowledge keepers, fishers, growers, and foragers to support Indigenous food ways and respectful harvest. Pollen Nation Farm holds Original Accreditation and received the ITAC Indigenous Culinary Experience Award 2025. Their collaboration helps make the Humber Valley a destination, not just a stop on the way to Gros Morne.
DaVe Penny & Daunt Lee
Dave Penny has established himself as a Newfoundland and Labrador comic songwriter/storyteller, which over the past 25 years has brought him around the province as well as parts of Ontario, PEI and New England. He chronicles current events, or makes up stories with razor-sharp lyrics and clever satire.
His 2017 release, All Turned Around, was nominated for a MusicNL and a Canadian Folk Music award for Traditional Artist of the Year. In October 2020, Dave released Chip Wagon Ahead, another album of original songs, which has been nominated for a MusicNL award for Celtic/Traditional Artist of the Year.
Since 2018 he has been collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Daunt Lee. They have been entertaining at various folk festivals and small stage venues with driving tunes and a unique blend of humour.
TaMMY DUTCHER
Tammy Dutcher is a singer/songwriter from Stephenville, Newfoundland. Tammy’s music has a country feel with a touch of Newfoundland spirit. Tammy’s song writing was greatly influenced by the classic country singers she grew up listening to like George Jones, Don Williams, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.
Growing up in a family that loved and played music at house parties, Tammy was inspired to pick up the guitar at the young age of ten. She learned a few chords from her mom one night and then never put the guitar down again.
Tammy was a closet singer until one night a friend asked her to join him on stage for a couple songs. After that Tammy began doing her own performances for people. Since then Tammy has performed for various functions from fundraisers to shows at the local Arts and Culture Center.
Tammy wrote her first song at sixteen years old. While teaching in a community in Northern Manitoba from 2000 to 2005, Tammy wrote 14 songs inspired by her students and her friends. In 2020, Tammy picked up the pen again, inspired by her online Facebook fans, and wrote a number of songs and to this day she continues to write and now has about 43 originals.
Recently Tammy has been venturing out to numerous functions across the island where she gets the chance to share her songs and her love of music.
TONY BERGER
Dr. Antony Berger taught geology in Canada, England, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, and worked for the NL and Canadian governments. In retirement, he helped to lead international projects developing tools for tracking rapid landscape change, and studying past human responses to natural change. He has written many scientific articles and books, including The Good and Beautiful Bay: A History of Bonne Bay to Confederation and a Little Beyond (Flanker 2014) and No Place for a Woman: The Life and Newfoundland Stories of Ella Manuel (Breakwater 2020). Tony has been a part-time resident of Bonne Bay on and off since the 1940s, and now moves each year between Nova Scotia and Woody Point, where he and others are working to on an archive on the history of Bonne Bay (see www.bonnebayhistory.ca).
Michael & Louis McDonald
Lou and his little brudder Mike. If you don’t know who they are, come and have a look. If you do know who they are, that will definitely help with your decision. Either way, it’s probably gonna be a laugh.
Zaynab WiLSON
Zaynab Wilson is a multi-modal artist who is passionate about music in the community, creative collaboration, and fully exposing her artistic process through live and improvised performances. She draws from her unique upbringing in a steelpan family ensemble and creates original work as a singer, strummer, drummer, and composer. The musical style blends her rhythmic interpretation of her Afro-Caribbean heritage with soaring soulful vocalizations into songs and stories of wonder and reflection. Zaynab has recently released an EP, A Way Home, which received a 2025 MusicNL award nomination. Caribbean Beat magazine acknowledges how, in her three-song EP, “heritage and home become anchors for lyrics where a diasporic perspective is evident”.
Sonic HarvesT Schedule
Friday, September 26
Song & Stories Circle
An intimate evening with great songwriters and storytellers, featuring Sherman Downey, Dave Penny & Daunt Lee, and more.
Saturday, September 27
Writers in The Community
An afternoon exploring Woody Point, with performances by a author Shelly Kawaja, local historian Tony Berger, and a culinary experience by Amanda Oake & Chef Nathan Hornidge, owners of Pollen Nation. Hosting and music by Sherman Downey.
Starting at the Woody Point Heritage Theatre.
Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case Reunion Show
For the first time since parting ways in 2015, Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case — one of Newfoundland’s (and Canada’s) all-time favourite bands — are reuniting. And they’ve chosen Woody Point as the place to make it happen.
Once — and in Woody Point only!
Sunday, September 28
Local Food Producers Market
Featuring meats, cheeses, and vegetables from local farms and producers.
Friday, October 10
Open Mic with Mike & Louis McDonald
Featuring talented community members from Woody Point, Glenburnie, Trout River, and the wider Gros Morne area.
Saturday, October 11
Russell DeCarle Trio
A warm, intimate evening of country music with one of Canada’s most beloved and distinctive country voices, Russell DeCarle, joined by Stephenville's own Tammy Dutcher as the opening act.
Our HARVEST Supporters
Sonic Harvest Sessions would not be possible without the generous support of our funders, sponsors and community partners.
About Sonic Harvest
Sonic Harvest Sessions is an annual fall festival taking place in October at the Award-Winning Woody Point Heritage Theatre and in the community of Woody Point. Sonic Harvest highlights the diverse and emerging musical and other creative talent in Newfoundland & Labrador, and beyond.
In 2021, Friends of Writers at Woody Point launched the Sonic Harvest Sessions initiative to increase cultural offerings at the Heritage Theatre and Gros Morne National Park outside the primary tourism season and foster live music creation and presentation in rural Newfoundland. Entering its fourth season and to celebrate year of the arts, Sonic Harvest Sessions continues to captivate audiences to experience the intimate magic at Woody Point Heritage Theatre through music, stories, and friends and to enjoy the unique hospitality of the community and town of Woody Point, nestled in the heart of the beautiful Bonne Bay, Gros Morne National Park.
The lineup has featured such talents as The Kalimbas (Ireland), Dennis Parker, Fairgale, Rosemary Lawton, The Catch, Graig Young Trio, Kacie Callahan, Baraka, Glen Tilley & Bill Rose, Pretty Archie, Nick Earle, and the Proper Things.