My Sweet Patootie is more fun than drinking martinis at a tractor pull! They are the “li’l big band” that’s busy ripping up the pea-patch with their very own strain of hayseed jazz. Armed with fiddle, finger-style guitar and two voices, My Sweet Patootie is an old-fashioned shotgun wedding of cool uptown swing and rural Ontario grit.  Mark S. Tucker of the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (FAME) describes them as “a world of string wizardry”.

Based in Mount Forest, Ontario, Terry Young (guitar & vocals) and Sandra Swannell (fiddle & vocals) met as soloists touring and recording with Canadian Folk Music Award winning veteran roots-group Tanglefoot. They soon discovered a mutual love of big bands and swinging country blues. Thousands of miles and shows later, when Tanglefoot made the decision to trade in a life of touring for shuffleboard and wearing pants up to their armpits, Terry and Sandra changed into their zoot suit and party dress to re-emerge as My Sweet Patootie. They had one goal, to produce fun music with deadly playing. While their new sound is a complete departure from Tanglefoot, Terry and Sandra deliver a stage show packed with the same amount of energy, charm, wit and humour.

Sandra and Terry are both long established artists in the Canadian folk-roots community.  Terry Young's dexterity and aggressive approach to his finger style guitar work is described as a "virtuosic" by BBC critic James Harrox, and "jaw dropping" by FAME's Mark S. Tucker. He is a skilled multi-instrumentalist (mandolin and banjo) and holds a bachelor of music degree in voice from the University of Western Ontario. 
 
When Sandra Swannell recorded with the legendary Stompin’ Tom Connors in 2005, she was in the middle of writing a suite of musical sketches for string orchestra. After years of juggling the folk world with classical (principal violist of the Georgian Bay Symphony), she finally grabbed her fiddle and jumped the fence into the roots music world for good.

Terry and Sandra’s highlights and accomplishments include performing at Roots of American Music Festival in New York, the Canadian High Commission in London, and the internationally-syndicated WFMT Midnight Special Festival in Chicago and winning 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards. In 2007 they performed with Tanglefoot at the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and rededication of the restored memorial at Vimy, France.

My Sweet Patootie uses a light-hearted satirical approach to their song writing as a vehicle to explore life in rural and small town Ontario. Material is drawn from the unknown and unsung characters and obscure events that explore the quirky side of rural Canadian sensibilities, such as self-deprecation, understatement, eccentricity and principle. They tackle everything from urban social-political pressure on rural areas, poverty, the environment, all the way down to singing dogs, aging and how to get rid of someone you don’t like.

Their first album “Nowheresville” was produced by Canadian blues-roots legend Ken Whiteley at his studio Casa Wroxton in Toronto Ontario. It includes the marvellous talents of Dave Young (Oscar Peterson) on upright bass, Bucky Berger (Chilliwack) on drums, as well as graphic design by Juno award winner Michael Wrycraft.

“These were musicians embracing the fun that makes music one of the greatest forces in our lives, even interspersing Flight of the Bumblebee or Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy into their own tunes. What impressed me most was just watching the two of them happily lose themselves in the music, then letting the audience in on their many lyrical gags with a sly wink and a grin that lets you feel an equal part of the whole thing. ”
- Aaron Stewart "Keeps Me Alive"

 One Page Bio Download