CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD

“Unpretentious, clever and direct folk rock that’s so big-hearted it hurts, every time Cornfield straps on a six-string, you just know that Joni Mitchell is smiling somewhere.” - CBC Music "A force to be reckoned with." - Exclaim! "As soon as you see Charlotte Cornfield play, you know it: she’s the real thing," says Maisonneuve Magazine. At nearly 6 feet tall, with tousled blond hair and a comic demeanor, Cornfield "has something luminous about her." Whether standing at the microphone, playing a savage guitar line or holding it down on the drums, the 23-year-old soulful folk rocker brings a rare intensity to every performance. The daughter of a cellist/radio-producer father and writer mother, the Toronto native spent her childhood in a tangle of words and music. She burned holes in the discographies of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young in between lessons, rehearsals, and a gamut of other extracurricular activities. When she wasn't on the move, the budding rock poet hung out in the basement with paper and pen, filling notebook after notebook with lyric ideas. At 17, Cornfield moved to Montreal to study jazz drumming. She was quickly immersed in the city's bursting music community and in no time had put together a band and cut an EP, It's Like That Here (2008), which received critical acclaim. Her first few local gigs led to appearances at the Mariposa, Montreal and Ottawa Folk Festivals and before long she found herself juggling full-time university with a growing touring schedule. By the time her second EP "Collage Light" came out in 2009 she was also moonlighting on the drums for several Montreal bands. After graduating in 2010, Cornfield returned to Toronto to work on her first full-length effort Two Horses. Released in late 2011, the album reflects the duality of Cornfield’s musical influences: the deep lyricism and raw emotion of Mitchell, Dylan, and Young, mixed with the intense energy and hookiness of late-70’s New York rock and roll. Two Horses has received praise from such industry luminaries as Seymour Stein, Alan Cross and Martin Atkins and has vaulted Cornfield to mainstay status on the Canadian music scene. Cornfield has appeared at Hillside, The Montreal Jazz Festival, South by Southwest, Canada Music Week, In the Dead of Winter, and Pop Montreal, and has shared the stage with Anais Mitchell, The Sadies, Ron Sexsmith, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Rose Cousins, and many more. She's also scooped an armful of awards along the way, including the Concordia Montreal Jazz Festival Award, the St. Ambroise Music Bursary and the Montreal Awesome Foundation Bursary.