Two of the region's strongest blues voices on one stage. Kendra Gale and Amanda Jackson have been doing this for a long time, in different rooms and with different bands, and this show puts them together.
Kendra Gale
Kendra came up in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, playing folk clubs before she picked up an electric guitar and turned the whole thing around. The band she built after that switch is loud, guitar driven, and built around her voice. She won the Galaxie Rising Star award at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival a few years back and has been nominated for an East Coast Music Award in the blues category. If you have not seen her live, expect a set that leans into the rock side of blues, with lyrics that do not mess around.
Amanda Jackson
Amanda is one of the Island's own. She has fronted the Amanda Jackson Band for years and was part of Bad Habits before that, picking up a Music PEI award along the way. Her voice is the thing people talk about. Warm, deep, with a growl when she wants it. The band's last record was recorded in a cabin in the woods on PEI, which tells you something about how they work. Close, unhurried, and built around the songs.
Put the two of them on the same bill and you get a range of blues that covers the quiet and the loud, the old school and the newer stuff. They are not the same kind of singer and that is the point.
Hat Fitz and Cara
Opening the night is a duo from Australia. Hat Fitz plays guitar and sings in a voice that sounds like it has been out in the weather. Cara Robinson is from Northern Ireland and plays drums, flute, tin whistle, and a washboard rigged with cowbells, sometimes all in the same song. They have been touring together for over fifteen years and their live shows are known for being loose, funny, and genuinely moving in the same breath.
Their sound is hard to pin down. Hill country blues, Irish traditional music, a bit of gospel, a bit of roots. What holds it together is the chemistry between them. They are married, and it shows on stage in the way they trade lines and crack each other up.
The details
Date, time and venue for this show will be posted on the schedule page once the 2026 program is finalized. Tickets will be available through the usual festival channels.
If you are new to the festival, this is a good night to start with. Three acts, one room, and enough variety to keep things interesting from the first note to the last.