Brianna Lizotte

Born and raised in a musical household in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Edmonton-based fiddler Brianna Lizotte is keeping her family musical traditions alive. As a kid, the Métis musician dreamed of playing the fiddle at kitchen parties, like she saw in her family’s home movies, and asked her mom for a fiddle at age 10. She started getting paying gigs at age 13 and by 16 she had won the rising star award from the Alberta Men and Women of Country Music in 2016.

Since then, she has continued to celebrate the traditions of both her family and the larger Métis community. “The thing that makes fiddle music in the Métis music world different from bluegrass or Irish or Scottish is that horse gallop rhythm,” she told CBC. “You could hear that rhythm pretty much in every tune that you play.”

In addition to regular gigging, for among others, the pope (as part of the Canadian Indigenous delegation to Rome), she has also released two albums: Scratch ‘Em and Winston & I, which earned her a JUNO nomination in 2025.

Brianna and her husband Ethan Graves teach Métis History Through Music and Dance workshops to students across Alberta, and she’s an in-demand session musician as well. This is one unique musical voice to watch. -EL

SUNDAY 1:30 – 2:35pm Trad-ically Hip East Stage
SUNDAY 3:00 – 4:05pm South Stage