Maria Dunn

A storyteller through song, Maria Dunn combines North American folk and country music with the influences of her Celtic heritage. Born in Scotland and raised in Ontario and Alberta, she writes songs inspired by historical and contemporary characters, capturing their struggles and triumphs in her lyrics. In 2002, Maria received a Juno nomination in the Roots/Traditional Solo category for her second recording, For a Song.

Maria's newest CD, 2008's The Peddler (her first distributed through Outside Music; www.outside-music.com), consists of songs that have a distinct Celtic influence. To do justice to the songs on The Peddler and give them the appropriate Celtic music arrangements, Maria once again involved Shannon Johnson as producer and the excellent band The McDades (2007 Juno winners for their CD Bloom; www.themcdades.com ) as musicians and collaborators on the song arrangements.

Maria's 2004 project, We Were Good People, explores the stories of working people in Western Canada--tales of resilience and hope through experiences of immigration, internment, exploitation and The Depression.

"...remarkable singer-songwriter, think of her as a distaff Woody Guthrie." Mike Ross, Edmonton Sun