DeeDee Austin

Saturday marked Night 2 of the Argyle Street Shore Party, and in typical Halifax fashion, the weather felt more like late March than the first of June. It was damp, dreary and chilly, the sort of day that seeps into your bones, and the saturated clouds overhead hung like the sword of Damocles, ready to rain down on the parade at any moment.

The weather hardly deterred the crowd that steadily built throughout the show. Kicking off the afternoon was up-and-coming singer DeeDee Austin, who got her start in country music but has been crafting some gorgeous pop tunes (see “Natural, Born Original” or “Stay Dancin'”)  as of late. There was nary a dry eye in the house when DeeDee settled in behind her keyboard and performed “Buried Truth”.   a song that was crafted to honour the victims and survivors of the Residential School systems.  It was a personal song for DeeDee, as her great-grandmother endured the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. It was a beautiful piece of songwriting and was absolutely heartbreaking. The future is bright for this young singer-songwriter, as her songs can get a crowd moving and dancing along, and they can also reach deep inside to pluck those emotional heartstrings in a way that is usually only reserved for Pixar films.

Nicole Ariana

After a brief changeover, it was then time for ECMA and Music Nova Scotia award-winner Nicole Ariana to take to the Red Bull stage to showcase her 2023 Music Nova Scotia R&B album of the year Crybaby.  This collection of songs sounds as fresh as they did when the album dropped last year, and Ariana’s sultry electro-pop tunes are ear-catching and unmistakable. On this night the talented singer-songwriter was joined by Halifax’s genre-bending psychedelic rockers The Brood (Siobhan Martin, Billy Habib-Taylor, Seamus Erskine, and Jordan Murphy), whose deft hands brought the musicality behind these infectious tracks to life. Towards the tail end, Nicole was joined by an exceptional guest in the way of Justine Beaver, the Canadian Sail GP team mascot.  It was an entertaining set from the wildly talented squad.

Up to this point in the bill, the weather held off, but as The Jenny Wren started getting situated on stage, the wind picked up and a light mist started to fall on Argyle Street, making the already cool evening downright cold.  Again, this was more inconvenient for those in attendance and did not seem to deter the eager (albeit chilly) fans awaiting Baldwin’s arrival on the Argyle Street Red Bull stage.  Some of us in the crowd started to break out ponchos and wraps for our camera gear to keep the elements at bay. Baldwin made his way to the stage, taking his place behind the keyboard and microphone, and kicked off his headlining set.  It was one that

Adam Baldwin

squarely shone a spotlight on his most recent album Concertos & Serenades, while working some newer material into the mix, in addition to those beloved early cuts. With the weather picking up, this photographer took refuge behind the stage to snap a few shots and to escape the rain that had steadily increased as the set wore on.

With the camera gear stowed, Baldwin’s familiar tunes faded into the distance as this writer headed for home to warm his bones. It is always a treat watching Adam ply his craft onstage alongside The Jenny Wren, a band made up of Jordan Murphy, Tori Cameron, Zach MacLean and Ryan (R.C.) Stanley, one of the best that the city has to offer.

Adam Baldwin & The Jenny Wren

Nicole Ariana

DeeDee Austin