Canadian Folk Legend Ken Whiteley Releases His 37th Album, Keep Going
Canadian folk legend Ken Whiteley releases his 37th album, ‘Keep Going,’ today via Pyramid Records, distributed worldwide by Distrokid. A multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer who has been at the heart of Canadian roots music for more than six decades, Whiteley is a Mariposa Festival Hall of Fame inductee, a Genie Award winner for Best Original Song in a Canadian feature film, and the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Maple Blues Awards and Folk Music Ontario. With ‘Keep Going,’ he delivers his most thematically unified and deeply felt work in years – a record that draws from the oldest wells of blues and gospel to speak directly to the moment we are all living through.
The album’s origin is characteristically Whiteley: in February 2025, he slipped on ice and fractured a bone in his ankle. Unable to walk for a month, he sat down, picked up his guitar, and began writing.
“Keeping going in these troubled times is an expression of powerful determination and survival, tempered by the recognition of earthly transience,” he reflects. “I immersed myself in old blues and gospel tunes and that message kept coming up. May listeners also find the inspiration to keep going.”
The result is 12 tracks – seven originals, four classics that speak urgently to today, and one co-write with Eve Goldberg – recorded at Casa Wroxton Studio in Toronto with engineer Nik Tjelios and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering in Montreal.
The breadth of Whiteley’s musicianship across ‘Keep Going’ is remarkable even by his own extraordinary standards. He sings and plays acoustic guitar, resophonic guitar, mandolin, Hammond organ, piano, mandola, mandocello, harmonica, string bass, electric bass, and washboard across the 12 tracks – joined by a cast of trusted collaborators including vocalist Ciceal Levy, drummer Bucky Berger, his brother Chris Whiteley on harmonica and cornet, and bassist Gord Mowat. One of the album’s most moving moments is ‘Reaching Higher,’ featuring the late vocalist Betty Richardson – Jackie Richardson’s younger sister, who passed away in 2018 – on a demo track Whiteley returned to and knew was worth sending into the world. Guest vocalists Eve Goldberg and Pat Patrick appear on the closing co-write ‘At The End Of The Day,’ a twilight meditation on transition and the voices we hear at the edge of night.
The closing track’s lyrics carry the album’s spirit with quiet grace: “I hear something calling me / taking me far away / I hear something calling me / at the end of the day.” That sense of listening for something beyond the noise of the present moment runs throughout ‘Keep Going.’ From the lead track ‘Everybody’s Got to Be Tried’ – built from a phrase remembered from Appalachian banjo legend Frank Proffitt and performed on a 1928 National guitar – to the mandolin-quartet arrangement of Noah Lewis’s 1929 jug stomper ‘Going to German,’ Whiteley draws unbroken lines between the music of the past and the challenges of the present.
“It’s heartbreaking that the systemic imprisonment of young people of colour is still with us,” he writes in his notes. “What I embrace in this song is the affirmation that ‘I’ll be back some old day.’ Keep going.”
The stature Whiteley brings to this record has been earned across one of the richest careers in Canadian music. Beginning his public performances at the age of 14, he has shared stages and recordings with Pete Seeger, John Hammond Jr., Blind John Davis, Stan Rogers, and Tom Paxton. He changed the course of Canadian children’s music through his work with Raffi, Fred Penner, and dozens of others, and has frequently collaborated with his brother Chris Whiteley and niece and nephew Jenny and Daniel Whiteley. He has written more than 400 songs, which have been covered by more than a dozen artists, and has released four albums since 2020 alone – including CFMA award nominees ‘Long Time Travelling’ and ‘So Glad I’m Here.’ These days, as he notes with characteristic wit, he is as likely to be performing at a yoga ashram as a bar, drawing on the full storehouse of blues, folk, and gospel to make music that brings people together.
Hi, Ken! Good to see you again! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
Nobody makes it to 60 years in the music business without doing a lot of different musical things over those decades.
I started performing as a kid. I was 14 years old when I joined the musician’s union. That first group was a jug band, playing a big mix of old blues, jazz and old timey music, mainly from the 1920’s and 30’s. That group eventually grew into The Original Sloth Band. Through the 1970’s with the Sloth Band we played all over North America. By the time we stopped playing together on a regular basis at the end of 1980, the group had grown to 8 people with a rhythm section and 3 female vocalists. We sang everything from Gullah music (possibly the earliest North American Black music) to 60’s R&B, original songs and practically everything in between.
In 1976 I was also asked by a songwriter friend, Raffi, to co-produce his first recording for children. That album, “Singable Songs For the Very Young” went on to sell literally millions of copies and started an 11 year span working with Raffi in the studio and on tour. It also opened the door for me to begin producing records by other artists. I’ve now produced over 180 albums across a wide spectrum of styles including Juno winners and Grammy nominees.
Since the 80’s I’ve led a variety of my own groups ranging all the way from solo projects to nine people including a 3 piece horn section. The focus has been more on songs that I’m writing (I’ve written over 400 songs) but I still draw from the very deep well of folk, blues, gospel, swing and roots music.
Along the way I’ve learned to play over 20 instruments, composed music for film and television (including winning a Genie for Best Song in a Canadian film) and spent 12 years on the Board of Local 1000, the non-geographic (folkies) local of the AF of M.
For me now, one of the greatest things is the profound act of singing with others – both those who I’m on stage with and people in the audience. I feel honoured to facilitate bringing people into literal harmony as our bodies physically vibrate together. I believe music has the capacity to make our lives better both individually and collectively. For as long as I’m able, I want to be able to bring people together through the power of song.
You’ve released 37 albums across more than six decades. When you listen back to Keep Going, what feels different about this record compared to the others that came before it?
Every recording I make builds on what’s come before it while at the same time is an answer to the question “What can I do differently this time?” This project was less about pushing musical or lyrical boundaries and more about honing in on what I do well. It is more focused both thematically and with fewer other musicians. This allows me to lean into my musical strengths and create something clear and more consistent. There’s still lots of variety ranging from solo fingerpicking (A Smooth One), piano based romps (Pallett On Your Floor) and lots of slide playing, both uptempo and slow and intense. It’s all blues based and explores the idea of keeping going.
Unlike some albums which are years in the making this one came together fairly quickly which again adds to the continuity. Besides me on a dozen instruments there’s a core group which include Ciceal Levy (harmony vocals), Bucky Berger (drums), Gord Mowat (string bass) and my brother Chris (harmonicas, cornet). Chris and I have played together our whole lives and really have a special musical chemistry between us.
The album began after you fractured your ankle and were forced to slow down. How did that moment of stillness shape the songwriting, and did the physical pause change how you listened to the music inside you?
Actually, as an active person, being told I couldn’t put any weight on my foot for a month was very frustrating. Still we have to play the hand we’re dealt and one of the main things I could still do while sitting down was play guitar. In the normal course of my busy life I often wish I had more time to just sit and play so finally that time had arrived.
When I’m just relaxing and playing whatever comes into my head, it’s pretty normal for me to play a lot of blues based music. That music is so central to so many other kinds of music including old gospel and spirituals, ragtime, swing and lots more and it just rolls off my fingers. Once it starts rolling I start to come up with new ideas building on the old blues tradition. It’s so easy now to record that raw material on a phone as I go. Then the craft and knowledge come in as I try and listen to the idea, see what it is saying and turn that into a fully realized song.
With regards to “stillness” I have had a daily meditation practise for more than 30 years (and I’m also a certified yoga teacher). So even though my lack of mobility elicited frustration, once I got into the process I was able to be receptive and try to go deeper and really understand the emotion and intent of the music I’m playing, turning it into something new.
Much of the album draws from blues and gospel traditions. What is it about those forms that still feels so relevant when reflecting on the world we’re living in right now?
War, oppression, struggle and the powerful trying to increase their power at the expense of everyone else are not new and are painfully evident in these times. That has motivated people around the world to make music over many centuries as those of us who aren’t the rich and powerful try and tell our stories. That yearning for justice and the small acts of empowerment are beautifully expressed in the blues and gospel traditions. The need to persevere in the face of difficulties never loses its relevance, whether that is at the personal level or the wider societal level. These are the traditions that speak to me and potentially all of us to keep going.
You’re celebrating your 75th birthday with a concert at Hugh’s Room Live surrounded by family and long time collaborators. When you look out at that stage and that audience, what do you hope people feel or carry with them from your music?
At the simple level I hope people both laugh and cry, that there are times we can be thoughtful and times when the rhythms will make us forget thought and move us. I hope we’ll be touched by beauty, impressed by musical virtuosity and experience harmony in our bodies. We’ll share the joy of people making music across time and generations while resting in the present moment.
At the most profound level I hope we all share in a feeling of love. May the music that we make reinforce the deep connection that extends between all of us and beyond. So many people in the world today can feel alone at times and I hope that everyone who leaves Hugh’s Room Live that evening will be refreshed, recharged, connected and have an important role in both giving and receiving love.
TOUR DATES:
March 28 – Guelph, ON – Guelph House Concerts
April 4-5 – Val Morin, QC – Concerts & Workshop, Sivananda Yoga Ashram (Easter Weekend) – sivanandacanada.org/camp
May 1 – Ottawa, ON – Gil’s Hootenanny ‘Songs of Protest, Songs of Hope,’ First Unitarian Church, 30 Cleary Ave., 7:00 p.m. – gilshootenanny.ca
May 2 – Toronto, ON – Hugh’s Room Live – 75th Birthday Bash and Album Celebration with Bucky Berger, Ben Whiteley, Jesse Whiteley, David Wall, Ciceal Levy, Pat Patrick – Tickets: showpass.com/ken-whiteley-75th-birthday-bash
May 16 – North York, ON – Afro Metis Anthem Peace Concert, Don Heights Auditorium, 18 Wynford Dr., Suite 103, 2:00 p.m.
May 23 – Caledon, ON – Whole Village Eco Village Concert
May 28 – Burlington, ON – Retired Teachers’ Luncheon Concert
June 7 – Orangeville, ON – Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival, Orangeville Opera House with Ben Whiteley, Bucky Berger, Ciceal Levy – orangevillebluesandjazz.ca
June 23 – Roseville, ON – Detweiler Meeting House Concert, 3445 Roseville Rd., Ayr