Craig Cardiff playing a guitar

Craig Cardiff

Craig Cardiff is a JUNO and Canadian Folk Music Award nominated singer-songwriter known for intimate storytelling, acoustic guitar, live looping, and a deep connection with audiences. His recordings include Floods & Fires, Love Is Louder, and All This Time Running. Beyond touring, he brings music and stories into communities through Song Collab Studio, Northern Tracks, and the Book of Truths.

babies like my music. nobody bought a shirt. 

Live From Everywhere · 2

i played for babies. tough room. no merch sales.

there’s a performance called Babies Like My Music?! on Patreon. the question mark is doing some work.

i like sharing these little moments between shows. the audience changes; i keep bringing the guitar.

if you’d like to be in the next room, find a show near you here. grown-ups welcome.

— craig

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11/08/2026

Craig Cardiff builds songs the way people build friendships—one honest, quiet moment at a time. Armed with an acoustic guitar, textured vocal loops, and an uncanny knack for making a soft-seat theatre feel like a 2:00 AM kitchen table, he has quietly amassed over 160 million catalog streams on Spotify and a Canadian Gold certification for his original breakout single, "Dirty Old Town."

Every Cardiff show is a two-way street. At the center of his touring life is the Book of Truths—a travelling notebook featured on CBC Tapestry that gets passed through the audience, collecting anonymous confessions, breakups, and quiet hopes that often spark new melodies on the spot. That community-first spirit carries offstage into Song Collab Studio, where he mentors youth and schools through songwriting and multimedia storytelling, as well as Northern Tracks, an independent documentary series exploring local music communities across the country.

His catalog is stacked with critical milestones, from the roots-rich Floods & Fires to the sweeping double LP Love Is Louder (Than All The Noise)—which Exclaim! praised as cementing his spot in the “upper echelon of Canadian folk artists”—and his True North Records release All This Time Running, hailed by Americana UK as a “richly rewarding album from a songwriting master craftsman.”

That songwriting caliber has earned Cardiff JUNO Award and Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, prime television syncs on NBC’s This Is Us, and billings alongside Canadian royalty like Gord Downie, Blue Rodeo, Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards, and Hawksley Workman. Even the late Gordon Lightfoot took notice, famously dubbing him “a songwriter who needs to be heard.”

Cardiff is on tour this fall across Europe, the UK, and Canada, while putting the finishing touches on his next studio album, Time Machine—an evocative new collection exploring resilience, nostalgia, and the shared ties that keep us grounded.

Artists Opened For / Shared Stages With

Explore the full alphabetical artist list →

Festival Highlights

Selected past festival appearances:

  • Mariposa Folk Festival (Orillia, ON) — 2014 — Web | Insta
  • Ottawa Bluesfest (Ottawa, ON) — 2016 — Web | Insta
  • Islands Folk Festival (Duncan, BC) — 2017, 2019 — Web | Insta
  • Canterbury Folk Festival (Ingersoll, ON) — 2018 — Web
  • Festival of Small Halls (Tatlock Community Hall, ON) — September 29, 2019 — Web | Insta

Explore the full festival list →

In the Press

“Richly rewarding album from a songwriting master craftsman.”
— Jonathan Smith, Americana UK, May 18, 2021
All This Time Running — 9/10

“…puts him solidly in the upper echelon of Canadian folk artists.”
— Jason Schneider, Exclaim!, November 18, 2013
Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Parts 1 & 2

“…the model of how to be a successful independent Canadian musician.”
— Jason Schneider, Exclaim!, November 22, 2013

“Cardiff charmed the audience with his vocal intensity and playful performance.”
— Kendra Stanyon, The Queen’s Journal, November 1, 2005

“Craig Cardiff is the people’s singer-songwriter”
— kawarthaNOW, headline of Bruce Head’s feature, November 6, 2018