KITCHISSIPPI CONNECTIONS: Local talent takes to the stage at Ottawa music festivals

By Bradley Turcotte

Ottawa will be booming this summer as music festivals make a comeback.

Touted as the largest music festival in the country, Bluesfest runs July 6 to 16, with headliners like Weezer,

Shania Twain, and the Foo Fighters. Kitchissippi-born guitarist Jesse Greene, along with her bandmates, Kitchissippi resident Dave Schroeder and Jeff Asselin, rock the Barney Danson Theatre stage at Bluesfest, July 7 at 8:00 p.m.

Born to musical parents, Greene first played piano before switching to guitar while attending Canterbury High School. Greene recalls playing in a Beatles cover band with the school principal as their drummer while wearing a mop on his head. “We were not popular,” Greene laughs.

With influences ranging from Joni

Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt to Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin, Greene’s output is powerful and raw, pulling from blues, folk, and rock.

Jesse Greene Band’s Bluesfest set will be “an outpouring of emotion,” Greene previews, as her mother, Heather Walters, passed away earlier this year.

“It was heartbreaking. She has been my biggest supporter. She did all the graphic design for the band. She was an amazing singer and an amazing person. I am going to be doing some tributes to her,” Greene said.