Great Lake Swimmers
country · indie folk · acoustic rock
Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian indie folk band led by singer, guitarist and harmonica player Tony Dekker, active since 2003 and based in Toronto after forming in Wainfleet, Ontario, near the Lake Erie shore. The group works as a revolving ensemble around Dekker's songwriting; recent lineups have included Erik Arnesen on banjo, electric guitar and harmonium, Bret Higgins on upright bass, Ryan Granville-Martin on drums and Kelsey McNulty on keyboards, with Julie Fader, Miranda Mulholland, Sandro Perri, Colin Huebert and Darcy Yates among past members. The band is known for recording in resonant spaces rather than conventional studios. The 2003 self-titled debut on weewerk was cut in a grain silo, Bodies and Minds (2005) in an old church in rural southern Ontario, and Lost Channels (2009) across the Thousand Islands region at Singer Castle in Hammond, New York, St. Brendan's Church in Rockport, Ontario, and the Brockville Arts Centre. Ongiara (2007) marked the move to Nettwerk and widened their audience, and Lost Channels was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize and nominated for a Juno Award for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, an honour New Wild Everywhere (2012) also received. A Forest of Arms (2015) was recorded partly inside Tyendinaga Cavern and Caves, the oldest natural cavern in Ontario, and The Waves, the Wake (2018) was written without acoustic guitar and cut in the 145-year-old Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church in London, Ontario, using harp, pipe organ, marimba, woodwinds and lute. Uncertain Country arrived in 2023 after three pandemic-slowed years of work. Their ninth album, Caught Light, was released in October 2025 and recorded live in five days in Ontario's Ganaraska Forest with producer Darcy Yates and engineer Jimmy Bowskill, drawing on early-1970s folk-pop and what Dekker describes as a deliberately less precious, more direct approach.
Upcoming shows in Pennsylvania
- Great Lake Swimmers — Sunday, October 11, 2026 · 7:30 PM at Milkboy
Where they play in Pennsylvania
Upcoming shows in Virginia
- Great Lake Swimmers — Monday, October 12, 2026 · 8:00 PM at Jammin' Java
Where they play in Virginia
Upcoming shows in California
- Great Lake Swimmers — Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at Felton Music Hall