Spotlight on the St. John’s Summer Trail Mix

When it comes to musical talent, Newfoundland and Labrador punches far above its weight. Whether it’s folk, traditional, rock, classical, electronic, and on it goes, we’re fortunate to have so many musicians in so many genres who are creating, performing and sharing their creativity and talents with us.

Mix together some of our best and brightest musicians, with the city’s beautiful walking trails, and you’ve got yourself a perfect summer. That’s the whole idea behind the St. John’s Summer Trail Mix, a collaborative project between the City of St. John’s, MusicNL and of course, all of the artists who are taking part.

Travis Richards (with his song "The Daybed") is just one of the local artists featured on the St. John's Summer Trail Mix

No matter what kind of music you’re into, you’re bound to find something you like on the playlist, which features an array of local talent including Mick Davis, Clare Follett, Ana & Eric, Duane Andrews and the Conception Bay String Quartet, David Chafe, The Swinging Belles, The Dandelion Few, Justin Fancy and many more.

“Thank you to MusicNL for partnering with us, and to our local musicians who have applied to be included in the St. John’s Summer Trail Mix,” says Councillor Debbie Hanlon, lead for Arts and Culture.

“Music is so important to our community and culture. We are thrilled to support our local talent while also providing the public with a wonderful and fun playlist to enjoy while they are out and about this spring and summer.”

Mary Barry and her song "Twilight Magic" are also featured on the St. John's Summer Trail Mix.

While the project started within the City of St. John’s, it has since broadened in reach says Rhonda Tulk-Lane, Executive Director of MusicNL.

“We've also extended it to any municipality, so it kind of got even more exciting. But it initially started with just the City reaching out and we loved it, and we did it,” she says.

The St. John’s Summer Trail Mix is available on MusicNL’s website via SoundCloud and Spotify, and is also accessible via QR code on signs posted throughout city parks and trails.

In addition to hosting the playlist and contributing to artists honoraria, MusicNL also provided administrative and technical support for the project. This isn’t the first time that MusicNL has been involved with something like this. This past Christmas, they also hosted a Holiday Trail Mix with local artists as part of a two-week pilot project, which Tulk-Lane says was incredibly well received.

“The downloads and the stats we got were really good…it was thousands and thousands of downloads. So that was awesome. And we just love the fact as well that we're encouraging people to get out and enjoy the outside.”

Since launching, Tulk-Lane says other municipalities in the province have also expressed interest in the project, and MusicNL is still looking for other municipalities to partner with.

“Grand Falls-Windsor said, ‘We're so interested, we'd love to do this as well on our trails’…And we've got one in Reidville, just outside Deer Lake. Manuals River are doing it,” she says.

"It's so exciting, it's growing. So we're working on getting stuff all over Newfoundland and Labrador if we can.”

If you’re a local artist who would like to be featured on the St. John’s Summer Trail Mix, email trailmix@musicnl.ca