Ron Hynes

NL folk (Newfoundland and Labrador folk) is the traditional and popular song-and-dance idiom of Canada’s easternmost province. It blends Irish, English, and Scottish balladry and dance tunes with local sea songs, work chants, and comic narratives shaped by outport life, fishing, seafaring, and communal celebrations. Typical sound features fiddles and diatonic button accordion, backed by guitar, mandolin/bouzouki, bodhrán, spoons, and the region’s iconic “ugly stick.” Reels, jigs, polkas, and waltzes sit alongside narrative ballads and call‑and‑response choruses that invite group singing. Melodies often remain modal (Dorian/Mixolydian), and arrangements range from kitchen‑party acoustic to rock‑energized folk ensembles.