“The Riverthieves really brought the good to our stages at Stewart Park - high energy, excellent musicianship and the ability to connect with the audience in the best way. Thoroughly enjoyable!”
– James Keelaghan, Artistic Director, Stewart Park Festival
"The Riverthieves present a lively mix of trad tunes and originals. We've presented them for a number of years now at Rock Barra Retreat in eastern Prince Edward Island. They are an annual favourite with our audiences."
– Teresa Doyle, JUNO nominee
"There is a real appropriateness of the repertoire chosen, including audience favourites, Canadian and Celtic Folk classics, and original compositions. The level of difficulty and unusual demands this diversity of material calls for is met with skill and musical understanding."
- Byron Hermann, Independent Music Professional, Director and Producer
"The Riverthieves put on a fantastic show at the Metcalfe Fair, southeast of Ottawa in the fall of 2017. They are a very talented group who kept the crowd dancing all afternoon! The Riverthieves are able to adapt any show to suit their audience all while providing hours of entertainment for both the young and the young at heart. A highly recommended group who will surely bring your next party, festival or event to life!"
– Colleen Magee, Director, Metcalfe Fair
"Full of energy and imaginative lyrics, you'll be stomping your feet the whole time."
- Nathalie Cleroux, Artistic Director of the Almonte Celtfest
Riverthieves • A bit about us
The core members of Eastern Ontario’s Riverthieves have been playing music together since the early 2000s, first as the house band at the Royal Oak on the Canal and in scores of other bars and pubs from Renfrew to Trenton. Eventually, as the bar gigs were interspersed with festival shows and small halls - venues friendly to original music - the Riverthieves began presenting their own songs. In 2009, the band recorded a very memorable live show at the Almonte Town Hall before a sold-out audience. It was released as their first album, Bandit Queen, the following year.
But the band went into hibernation for half a decade as the the two serving military members of the band completed back to back Afghanistan tours and Devon also deployed to Haiti before being posted to Valcartier, Quebec. The band was not reunited until the Fall of 2015 when Devon was posted back to Ottawa. The boys dedicated themselves to a second album, composing and arranging relentlessly through 2016, and recording between January and March 2017 with Mike Kay. The tracks were mixed by Chris Bradley. The Riverthieves’ first studio album, Soldier, consists entirely of original tracks exploring the Canadian military experience, past and present. It considers soberly the cost of service, celebrates the joie de vivre of the soldiering culture, and pays special tribute to family, home, loss and hockey.