Craig Cardiff — Biography

For presenters, press, and collaborators: choose a short, medium, or long biography below.

Short biography

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.

Medium biography

Canadian singer-songwriter Craig Cardiff has built an independent career around songs that bring people closer together. A JUNO and Canadian Folk Music Award nominee, he combines fingerstyle acoustic guitar, textured vocals, live looping, humour, and direct, personal storytelling. His catalogue includes Floods & Fires, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise), and the True North Records release All This Time Running. His recording of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” was featured on NBC’s This Is Us.

Cardiff’s grassroots approach to touring makes space for theatres, festivals, campuses, house concerts, and community halls. At his shows, the Book of Truths invites listeners to share anonymous stories that can become the beginnings of new songs. Offstage, he facilitates songwriting and digital storytelling through Song Collab Studio and hosts the Canadian music-and-travel documentary series Northern Tracks. His current recording project, Time Machine, explores memory, resilience, and the passage of time.

Long biography

Craig Cardiff makes music that closes the distance between the stage and the people in the room. Since his 1997 debut, Judy Garland (You’re Never Home), the Canadian folk singer-songwriter has built a recording and touring practice rooted in storytelling, participation, and direct human connection.

His performances bring together acoustic guitar, live looping, textured vocal arrangements, humour, and emotional honesty. A living room, a church, a festival lawn, or a remote community hall can be as meaningful a setting for his songs as a theatre. That openness has shaped a touring life across Canada, the United States, and Europe, and a body of work that invites listeners into the conversation.

His album Floods & Fires received a 2012 JUNO nomination for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo, as well as Canadian Folk Music Award recognition. The double album Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Parts 1 & 2 explored full-band and acoustic arrangements. In 2021, True North Records released All This Time Running, produced and engineered by Steven Ryan and David Campbell. The album received Canadian Folk Music Award nominations for Contemporary Album of the Year and Contemporary Singer of the Year in 2022.

Cardiff’s recordings have also reached listeners through television. His version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” appeared in season three of NBC’s This Is Us. His recording of “Dirty Old Town” earned Gold certification in Canada.

At the heart of his live work is the Book of Truths: a notebook passed through the audience, inviting anonymous reflections, hopes, confessions, and heartbreaks. Its pages create a shared space between performer and listener, and some become the raw material for new songs. The related Books of Truth audio series carries that interest in personal stories beyond the concert room.

His commitment to participation also runs through Song Collab Studio. Working with artists, producers, educators, and school communities, the initiative supports songwriting, recording, animation, and digital storytelling. Collaborations with Ontario school boards have helped young creators develop ideas into finished songs and multimedia projects, including student-written climate-change songs and a digital storybook about Rosa Parks.

As host of Northern Tracks, Cardiff explores Canadian music and community stories through an independent travel-and-music documentary series. Teeny Tiny Desk Concerts offers another intimate setting: stripped-down acoustic performances and the stories around them. His current recording project, Time Machine, continues his exploration of memory, resilience, and how people make sense of their lives through songs.

Booking & contact

For concerts, interviews, workshops, and collaborations, email Craig. Include your location, proposed dates, and a little about your event or project.

Shows & tickets · Music and social links

Beyond the stage

Music is a way to bring people together. Explore Craig’s projects in education, documentary storytelling, audience collaboration, and intimate live performance.