“Our goal for Rodeo was to create a folk sound that was authentic, original, and exciting to listen to. We wanted to create a community vibe like you'd find at a Legion Hall on a Saturday night, where kids and old people are dancing, and people are balancing pot luck suppers on paper plates, and nobody notices how sad the stories inside the songs are, because the music makes them happy. ”
Ingrid MacDonald
Folk Singer - Song Writer - Collaborator
Ingrid bought her first guitar at age 15 with prize money won in a Lion’s Club public speaking contest.
She listened to the nine Joni Mitchell albums from Song to a Seagull to The Hissing of Summer Lawns so often that she memorized all the words. Favourite Joni song? Just Like This Train
As a teenager, spent two summers in north western Ontario as a Junior Park Ranger in Ear Falls Provincial Park. Lakes and fish, forests and fires, gold mines and abandoned towns from when earlier mines went bust. Camp fire songs.
Another summer was spent hitchhiking, with guitar, to the west coast with a friend.
Hoping to be a visual artist, Ingrid went to OCAD. Floundered there until all the air came out of the art balloon.
With Elaine Duffy and Laura Young, formed the folk singing trio Three Bird Limit. Performed traditional and original songs at Scallywags, Free Times Café, Kensington Café, Cabbagetown Festival and protest marches.
Up the road to University of Toronto for Literary Studies. Co-hosted By All Means, a mid-day magazine show on campus radio, editorial member and writer for an upstart feminist newspaper, OtherWise.
Worked as an editorial intern at Broadside Feminist Magazine. Wrote articles, mostly art reviews. Paste up and writing for Rites Magazine for Gay and Lesbian Liberation. Production manager at NOW magazine.
Residency at Banff Centre for the Arts to complete the short story collection, Catherine, Catherine, published by The Women’s Press.
Wrote a play, The Catherine Wheel, with theatrical productions in Toronto at Buddies in Bad Times and in Chicago.
Taught The Art of Short Story Writing at George Brown College’s Continuing Education Program. Developed the concept of the five aspects of the hero’s journey: Hero, Burden, Ally, Opponent and Prize.
All the while, writing songs and playing guitar. Learned the craft of songwriting at SongStudio, the songwriting program lead by Blair Packham and Allister Bradley. Worked with mentors: Barbra Lica, Andrea Ramolo, Jerry Leger, Simon Wilcox, Craig Northey, Danny Michel, Rik Emmet, Dayna Manning, among many others.
Voice lessons and vocal coaching with Elisabeth Pomès of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Rodeo, Ingrid's debut album, produced by Gavin Gardiner, and featuring Chris Coole, John Showman, and Ben Whiteley, released in June 2023.
Press photos
Photo of Ingrid MacDonald by Colin Medley
Ingrid MacDonald
folk singer, songwriter
Photo by Michelle Quance
Left to Right: Chris Coole, Ben Whiteley, Gavin Gardiner, John Showman, and Ingrid MacDonald, in the studio. Photo by Michelle Quance
SONG INTRO'S FOR USE BY RADIO and PODCAST HOSTS
THERE, THERE, THERE IS NO THERE Words and music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 3:16)
RODEO’s lead track “There, There, There is no There” is a full-on wall of bluegrass.
Fiddle and banjo in the hands of Canada’s best bluegrass players: John Showman and Chris Coole of Lonesome Ace Stringband.
The lighthearted lyrics are philosophical and playful: “Let’s say that you’re travelling on a high-speed train” leads into the idea that we are travelling but can never arrive “there” because we are only ever here.
This song uses the word “there” 13 times in a chorus that is only 18 words long.
"There, There, There is no There": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, bass, percussion, vocals; Chris Coole: banjo; John Showman: fiddle.
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
________________________
GIVE AWAY MY TURN Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:20)
Those looking for a folk anthem to navigate the complexities of our time will find it in “Give Away My Turn.”
Ingrid’s lyrics get to the root of the problem and that is our inclination to take more than we need. In the chorus, she asks: “Will I never learn to take just what I need? Will I never learn to give away my turn?”
Producer Gavin Gardiner made excellent to choices on the arrangement, creating a toe tapping barn dance of a song, propelled by the stand-up bass playing of Ben Whiteley, the banjo playing of Chris Coole and fiddle of John Showman.
"Give Away My Turn": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, percussion, vocals; Chris Coole: banjo; John Showman: fiddle; Ben Whiteley: upright bass.
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
___________________
RODEO Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 3:41)
Title track “Rodeo” starts with a witty self assessment: “I got waterproof shoes, a big heavy overcoat, a gown in the closet and a skeleton or two". Ingrid says this is her most autobiographical songs, even though she does not have “a skirt made from a parachute, and a watch that will chime if my heart skips a beat or two.” The autobiographic element is the sadness of arriving late and yet the acceptance of it still being a perfect moment, “I get to the rodeo just as they fold the show. Old friends from long ago still know how to show mercy”.
"Rodeo": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, bass, Mellotron, vocals
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
_______________________
ALL FALL DOWN Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:31)
Set in a small Ontario town, and unspooling like a tragedy in three acts, parents struggle with their son’s self-destructive path in “All Fall Down”. “You’re still our son, that won’t change, want you to know.”
Chris Coole gives the song a hurdy gurdy feel with the mellow voicing of the gourd banjo.
"All Fall Down": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, bass, Mellotron, percussion, vocals; Chris Coole: gourd banjo
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FOGHORN Words and Music by Matt Gerber and Ingrid MacDonald (Length 3:40)
A shipwreck off the coast of Newfoundland in 1854 inspired a lighthouse keeper in the Bay of Fundy to invent the foghorn. The invention of the foghorn inspired Matt Gerber and Ingrid to co-write “A Brief History of the Foghorn”.
The song feels like sea shanty welded to the iron and steam bellows of the foghorn's mournful sound. The fiddle playing of John Showman and the cello of Ben Whiteley give the song an east coast character. A soundscape of waves and a distant foghorn can be heard in the last moments of the song.
"A Brief History of the Foghorn": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, Mellotron, vocals; John Showman: fiddle; Ben Whiteley: cello, upright bass
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
_________________
LIVING WATER Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 3:16)
In this arrangement, a single acoustic guitar gives the song a resonant sparseness that suits Ingrid's singular, earthy vocals. Gavin Gardiner’s guitar playing gives “Living Water” a rootsy bluesy tone.
In the lyrics, three biblical characters (John the Baptist, the woman at the well and the prophet Jonah) are connected by their need for living water. “Give me some of that living water, I need it for my soul.”
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner.
__________________
OH, CECELIA! Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 2:45)
In “Oh, Cecelia!” Ingrid touches on a teenage crush and on her Cape Breton heritage (her paternal grandfather Murdoch John MacDonald was a railway station master in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia).
This song’s quirky and uplifting chorus features a pink t-shirt "the one that says Cape Breton Highlands National Park”.
Accordion, horns, and harmonica lends “Oh, Cecelia!” a jauntiness that suits the happy and yet sad lyrics about throwing one’s life over in order to travel with an unpredictable friend.
"Oh, Cecelia!" Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, harmonica, percussion, Mellotron; Ben Whiteley: upright bass.
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner
_____________________
GOSPEL SONGS AND HONKY TONKS Words and Music by Stewart McKie and Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:27)
Songwriter and impressive baritone Stewart McKie joins Ingrid in this duet that they co-wrote about former lovers crossing paths long after their lives have gone in different directions.
One lover has lived the itinerate life of a preacher and musician, “Doing what I love, what I believe” singing gospel songs in honky tonks. The other lover has settled down with her family and is no longer free to follow the tugs on her heartstrings for her former lover. “I got these folks depending on me. They’re my gospel song, they’re my honky tonk.”
The song has an up-tempo barrelhouse arrangement that is perfect the refrain of “Gospel Songs and Honky Tonks”.
"Gospel Songs and Honky Tonks": Ingrid MacDonald and Stewart McKie: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, Mellotron; Ben Whiteley: upright bass.
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner
FOREST FIRE Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:09)
A forest fire near Logan Lake in the British Columbia interior forces a child and her father to leave their farm behind and evacuate with horses and a dog.
Lush and cinematic with atmosphere, Gavin Gardiner lends harmonica and blends his plaintive vocals with Ingrid's to tell the story of this family’s escape to safety.
"Forest Fire": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, harmonica, vocals; Chris Coole: banjo; John Showman: fiddle; Ben Whiteley: upright bass
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner
_______________
HUGH FROM TEXAS Words and Music by Greg Kelly and Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:39)
Co-written with Ottawa folk legend Greg Kelly, “Hugh from Texas” tells the story of two 19-year-old girls and the Texan trucker who gave them a ride.
Up-tempo and humorous, the song is filled with winsome observations, “Linda took up with a biker she met. They got married not long after”. The song serves as a way of saying thanks for the kindness of someone who was “there when we needed a friend”.
Hugh From Texas: Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, harmonica, percussion; Ben Whiteley: upright bass; Bob Wiseman: piano
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner
_____________
EVANGELINE Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 3:25)
Ingrid adds her name to the list of songwriters who have written a song called “Evangeline”. This is a pure and beautifully traditional song, destined to become a favourite for singing around the campfire. A lover regrets that she knows she is breaking a heart: “Evangeline, we’ve been over and over this, you know that I love you, but I have to leave you now.”
"Evangeline": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, percussion, vocals; John Showman: fiddle; Ben Whiteley: upright bass.
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner
___________________
THE HEART IS THE LAST THING TO GO Words and Music by Ingrid MacDonald (Length 4:05)
Ingrid says this song was written by her life, almost verbatim. It tells of the reconciliation of a son with his mother “at the edge of the gossamer of life” only days before her death.
John Showman provides a pristine violin solo to complement Ingrid’s heart aching vocals in “The Heart is the Last Thing to Go”.
"The Heart is the Last Thing to Go": Ingrid MacDonald: vocals; Gavin Gardiner: guitar, bass, Mellotron; John Showman: fiddle; Ben Whiteley: cello
From the album RODEO, released May 23, 2023. Produced by Gavin Gardiner