The Toronto-based "Friends" boast six versatile musicians, four fine singers, three songwriters, a brilliant joke teller, one Order of Canada, one Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and one of the longest track records in Canadian Folk Music. This totally uncategorizable collection has been together, with a few personnel changes, since their inauguration at Toronto's Fiddler's Green coffeehouse in 1971. Nobody, not even the Friends themselves, can predict what might happen during one of their concerts, but it always includes humour, powerful vocal harmony, great musicianship, social commentary and an irresistible urge to dance.

The Friends are Ian Bell, Alistair Brown, Grit Laskin, Jeff McClintock, Ian Robb and James Stephens. In 2003, the band received the Estelle Klein Award, given by the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals, for service to folk music in Ontario. Each fall, they get together for their annual “World Domination Tour”, a tradition that this year, once again, happily includes Ottawa.