Folk icon Buffy St. Marie's visit to the Maritimes this weekend brings an added bonus. Yukon singer-songwriter Kim Beggs, one of the most respected voices in the current folk scene in Canada, will also be on the bill, as part of the album launch tour for her fourth disc, Beauty and Breaking.

Beggs is one of those who truly gets folk music, and why its different than all the trendy banjo bands out these days. Her music has elements of country and blues and jazz, but the key is the timelessness, and the human values in the songs. Banging away on traditional instruments isn't enough, it's about being in tune with humanity and yourself. Constant traveling across the country has informed her writing, and you'll find regional differences and local cultures, some old, some current. There's the Acadian love story from a couple of centuries ago, in Chemin du Rondin, found in a lumberjack's final letter to his wife. A Sailor's Daughter is a lonely sea tale, the girl left at home, her mother dead and father on the father. She inhabits these characters with a commitment as strong as Emmylou Harris, her voice a key in bringing us into the story.

Beggs does trade in the small, sad stories of life, one person's heartbreak, the real melancholy of life. She also shows the strength in her characters, what kept them together through long struggles, often of the heart. She did this album with producer David Baxter, a favourite of mine who does with sound what Beggs does with words, comes up with a timeless feel, an ambiance that suggests the past, including lots of his echoed guitar. Elsewhere folk/roots elite appear, including Justin Rutledge on banjo, Paul Reddick on harp and vocals, and more voices from Oh Susanna, Kim Barlow and Sue Passmore of the Good Lovelies.

You can catch Kim Beggs opening for Buffy St. Marie on Friday, Oct. 4 at The Playhouse in Fredericton, and Saturday the 5th at Saint John's Imperial Theatre.