Onion Honey

On the eve of Onion Honey’s first Canadian Folk Music Awards (nominated for Contemporary Vocalist of the Year, 2025) comes a new single about hope.

Woody Guthrie’s hope machine may feel like it’s broken down at the side of the road, but this song encourages listeners to use whatever fuel might be at hand to keep going. A poetic, timely track for Canadians and others who are pushing back, the title Spite, Rebranded quotes a post by Tumblr user a-star-that-fell, and songwriter Esther Wheaton’s intricate lyrics are dotted with a rich selection of references - John Hughes’ Some Kind of Wonderful, Emily Dickinson, the Japanese kintsugi technique, Aristotle’s Physics, and the legend of Sisyphus among others. The track features a contemporary string band arrangement of clawhammer banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and double bass with banjo and guitar solos and a solo vocal by Wheaton.  

The band recorded this single in February with Andy Magoffin at his House of Miracles in Cambridge, Ontario.

Find it on a streaming service near you or buy a download right here on onionhoney.com

We're so excited to announce that Esther and Foul Weather Friends have been nominated for the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Singer of the Year!

Have you been missing your weekly Sunday morning dose of folk music and strange banter? Well miss it no more! Banjo Church is back for the winter months, now that we're not as buried in the busy gig season!

Tune into the livestream every Sunday at 11 AM Eastern, from now until … some time in the new year! You can catch us on either Youtube or Facebook, and hang out with us in the chat! If you miss the livestream, you're never late for Banjo Church! You can always catch us on the replay, which is posted to Youtube and Facebook shortly after we wrap up the stream.

See you there!

This summer is shaping up to be a busy one! We're excited to be back at Goodlot a few times this summer, with two appearances in June. The porch party season is off to the races with Hohner Ave, Grand, and Ayr porch parties in the next few weeks - these are some of our absolute favourite shows. 

In June we're taking some longer trips and playing some very local shows, we're ready to hit the road and get our busy summer off to a great start! If you see us out there at a show, come say hi, we'd love to see you! 

Listen Now! 

Hell or High Water is a song about the most famous shipwreck in history, but it doesn’t dwell on chaos, destruction, and loss (like the many other Titanic-inspired songs). Instead, it tells of the RMS Carpathia: the small steamship whose captain, crew, and passengers joined forces to overcome weather, ocean, and odds to rescue all survivors. The words are based (with permission!) off of a wonderful re-telling of the story written by Tumblr writer MyLordShesACactus that always makes songwriter Esther Wheaton tear up - you can read the original post here.

Part stirring sea shanty, part lyrical old-time ballad, the music and arrangement reflect the lyrics; each band member relays part of the story solo until a powerful final chorus is sung in unison. With references to Blind Willie Johnson’s God Moved on the Water, Gillian Welch’s Ruination Day, and Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Hell or High Water blends its folk touchstones into something new and compelling. 

Onion Honey recorded this single in March with Andy Magoffin at his House of Miracles in Cambridge, Ontario. 

Hey pals! I know it has been one million years since we sent out a newsletter, but we are alive and still doing the things. We just got back from the Old School Bluegrass Camp (we went as campers) and it was an amazing time for music and people and team-building! We stayed at Fort Onion (and also up super late jamming every night):

We are still doing Banjo Church every week on Youtube and Facebook - Sundays at 11 AM, ET. We post a Google Slides document with the charts, we talk to you all in the chat, we play a bunch of songs together - it's the perfect amount of social interaction for a bunch of introverts sometimes. Folks tune in while cooking and cleaning and gardening, also, which gives off weekly-radio-show vibes in the best way.

We're also working on a couple new full-length albums, both of which are full of brand new music. The practice schedule is a work of administrative genius, let me tell you. People keep taking vacations and having lives.

Here's where you can find us over the next couple months:

July 22, 12:30 PM: Lunch gig at UW's The Grad House

July 23, 7:00 PM: Wixan's Bridge Pub - Springtide Music Festival

August 5, 12:00 PM: Owen Sound: Music at the Market

August 12, 7:00 PM: TWB Brewing

August 13, 7:00 PM: Waterloo Brewing Taphouse

August 27, time TBD: Galt Porchfest

Here's a track from the archives! Dave and Esther playing a pretty-as-heck version of "The Butcher's Boy" with Esther on oboe (!?). BLAST FROM THE PAST

Happy September everyone!

It's been a good long time since you've heard from us; it's been a weird time for everyone, us included! We've had to cancel most of our live shows for the summer, so we haven't had a heck of a lot going on!

If you miss us, the duo version of the band (and sometimes the trio version) have been doing weekly livestreams on Sunday mornings every week, at 11 AM! We play some of our regular repertoire, with a larger-than-usual serving of gospel music. We started out calling it the Gospel Brunch stream, but folks started calling it Banjo Church, and it stuck!

So come join us for some chit-chat, some gospel music, and a healthy helping of irreverence. You can find the stream on our Facebook page, or on our Youtube channel. You can also check out previous streams, if you've been missing out. :)

We've also actually got a real live in-person show coming up! The duo will be playing as part of the upcoming Schneider Creek Porch Party, at the Schneider Haus in Kitchener on September 19th! Many other groups will be playing on various porches in Kitchener, so check out the Schneider Creek Porch Party website for details!

Every Sunday, 11 AM
Banjo Church
Facebook or Youtube

Saturday Sept 19, 4:15 PM - 6:00 PM
Schneider Creek Porch Party
Schneider Haus, Kitchener ON

We're very excited that all our December shows will be fully festive sets! We have our usual two - the Grand Trunk Saloon on the first Wednesday of the month and Seven Shores Cafe on the second Sunday - and we're back to Durham's Garafraxa Café (where we had literally the best time in the spring) on December 20th. We're working out some fun MULTIMEDIA stuff too - projecting lyrics, choreographed Walk-Off-the-Earth style bass playing, all manner of thrilling developments as well as releasing all our recorded Christmas music (and a new single) to streaming services! Oh man! 

For our Hallowe'en gift to you we assembled in Kayleigh's basement to beg Jolene not to take our man:

Lyric credits to Tumblr users prettyokayray, blad-the-inhaler, butts-for-days, charlesoberonn, and animatedamerican