There's a certain idyllic vision I have of folk artists on tour. I imagine them living in a world where everyone travels by train, where each evening brings a new hootenanny in a new town, where shows happen in pubs and houses of kind folks, and where everyone eats biscuits. A lot of biscuits. I had thought this world ceased to exist when Woody Guthrie settled in New York, but no, apparently Canada still has it locked down. Or at least a couple of our city's intrepid singer/songwriters lived the dream for the last two months.

I'm talking about Gabrielle Papillon and Corinna Rose, two rising artists who have a rootsy grounding that expands outward into different textures like rock, punk, country, and even prog. A couple months ago, during that weird warm streak (you know the one), we had ice cream and spoke about their upcoming Canadian tour. They would be getting around on Via Rail, which has a residency program that invites musicians to perform on the train, going all the way from Montreal to Vancouver and back to Halifax. I heard about all the interesting turns they would take along the way - house shows, stops in small towns, a CMW showcase, and more, while hearing some stories from stories from tours past and learning more about the Canadian folk circuit. This was Corinna's first national tour, while Gabrielle had a couple under her belt.

They're sure to talk about how it went at their homecoming show at Casa del Popolo tomorrow. For now, check out the photos they sent back to me along the way. The captions are gabrielle's

Our lovely birth/ Cabin for two with bunk beds!

Corey playing bingo with some friends. I will later have to pry her away from this and send her to Bingo rehab as she seems to have developed quite the habit...

Surprise! A passenger came up to me and said, "Hey! You're in the paper!" Woo! Winnipeg version of the Mirror.

Yes. That's a giant lizard adorning the stage of our Winnipeg show. What about it?

This is heaven. It's actually a bakery in Edmonton called Duchess. I would almost move to Edmonton for this bakery. Okay not really. We did spend a lot of money here and everything EVERYTHING we ate was divine. We did not eat this cake. It was too expensive. But we ate lots of things like it!

And then it snowed on April 5th... This was the morning we were driving to Canmore from Edmonton. We were somewhat dismayed but we made it!

This is so cool! It's a bed frame being used as a box garden! (In Vancouver.)

Our lovely audience at Cafe Deux Soleils. This was a really lovely show!

Train ride from Vancouver to Toronto. Man it was snowing! This was mid-April!

Gabrielle Papillon and Corinna Rose play tomorrow, May 15, at Casa del Popolo, along with Brie Nelson.

Top photo taken from Corinna Rose's tumblr.