Songs In The Round - Frank Fiction, Joel Parisien, Nolan Gibson

Songs In The Round returns to Crown & Press on April 23rd—an intimate, Bluebird-inspired evening where three artists trade original songs and stories. The audience sits close on all sides, watching the musical conversation unfold in real time and becoming part of the exchange through reactions, laughs, and the odd gut-punch.

This month features:

The regular host of Songs In The Round, Frank Fiction is the new project from Juno Award–winning songwriter Elias Dummer (frontman of The City Harmonic). Performing unreleased alt-folk songs and a few sideways covers, he draws from two decades of quietly crafted material.
His writing leans into vulnerability and a crooked smile, echoing Jason Isbell, Rufus Wainwright, Andy Shauf, and John Prine. With 100M+ streams and multiple Billboard-charting singles behind him, this project steps into something looser, grounded, and deeply human.

Joel Parisien is a Toronto-born, Hamilton-based singer, songwriter, and producer whose deep baritone and keyboard chops are rooted in soul, gospel, and classic R&B. As frontman of Newworldson, he earned four Juno nominations, landed three top-five Billboard singles, and headlined festivals across North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. He also produces and writes for Chops 'n' Soul, a funk/soul project collaborating with ex-Parliament/Funkadelic members including Bernie Worrell and Fred Wesley. Whether he's behind a Rhodes or standing at the mic, Parisien brings a rare combination of schooled musicianship and raw groove.

Nolan Gibson is a Norfolk County–based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who started sitting in with local blues and roots bands at 14, most notably The Shoeshine Boys and Jesse Murphy Trio. Since then he's played in a bluegrass duo with Eric Brousseau and a folk/soul/roots duo with Amber Banks, among other collaborations. His lyrics draw on John Prine, The Band, and traditional folk music, and no song is safe from creative reinterpretation — he tends to reshape his material from one performance to the next. He's the kind of artist who learned by playing, making him the perfect addition to Songs In The Round.

Born from Frank’s decade in Nashville and the ethos of the Bluebird Café, Songs In The Round is a stripped-back concert where three artists share the stage at once—taking turns sharing original songs (or songs they wish they'd written!), responding to each other, and letting their songs breathe.

These nights tend to sell out. If you want a seat in the room, don’t wait.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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