Block Heater music festival unveils biggest lineup yet, including DJ Shub, Hannah Georgas, Chad VanGaalen

Calgary music festival Block Heater has unveiled its biggest lineup yet to warm up a cold February, with artists that include DJ Shub, Son Little, Chad VanGaalen, Hannah Georgas, Del Barber, Kid Koala and Justin Rutledge.

The fifth annual festival is put on by the Calgary Folk Music Festival from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22. This year, it's at expanded locations in Inglewood — the organization's own Festival Hall, the Ironwood Stage and Grill, Gorilla Whale restaurant/lounge — as well as in the East Village at the King Eddy, Studio Bell and the Central Library.

Folk fest artistic director Kerry Clarke said the lineup for Block Heater 2020 will be the biggest yet, with 38 local, national and international acts in concerts and jams as well as a panel discussion and film.

"It's the ultimate cure for cabin fever," the festival said in a release.

This year, there's a strong contingent of Indigenous artists, including:

• The Godfather of PowWowStep, electronic music pioneer DJ Shub, who is Mohawk of the Six Nations reserve in southern Ontario. A former member of A Tribe Called Red, DJ Shub was nominated for a 2018 Juno for his debut solo EP PowWowStep.

• Poet and spoken word artist Shane Koyczan, who was born in Penticton, B.C., to a mother is of French descent and First Nations father.

• Indie-rock Cree band nêhiyawak — pronounced neh-HEE-o-wuk — who hail from Edmonton on Treaty 6 territory.

Block Heater also has a special Black Future Month focus with performances by AfrotroniX, Son Little, Cécile Doo-Kingué, Élage Diouf, Sunny War, Lynn Olagundoye and Karimah.

Here's the entire lineup for this year's festival:

• 36?

• AfrotroniX.

• Amelie Patterson.

• Amy Nelson.

• Bella White.

• Boogát.

• Carmanah.

• Carsie Blanton.

• Cécile Doo-Kingué.

• Chad VanGaalen.

• David Wax Museum.

• Del Barber.

• DJ Shub.

• Élage Diouf.

• Geoffroy.

• Hannah Epperson.

• Hannah Georgas.

• Jayme Stone's Folklife.

• Jess Knights.

• Jom Combine.

• Justin Rutledge.

• Karimah.

• Kid Koala.

• Laura Hickli.

• Lynn Olagundoye.

• Marlaena Moore.

• nêhiyawak.

• Richard Inman.

• Sam Lynch.

• Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar.

• Shane Koyczan.

• Son Little.

• Sunglaciers.

• Sunny War.

• Tchutchu.

• Villages.

• The Weather Station.

• Wyatt C. Louis.

The festival schedule and ticket/pass information can be found on the Block Heater website.