Diana Braithwaite, has been instrumental in keeping the blues alive on a national and international level, and as the worlds' music press has testified, her name is synonymous with quality and authenticity. A graceful performer who "sings from the heart", Braithwaite has risen to the top of the international blues scene over the past decade as a remarkable performer that shouldn't be missed, one of the authentic Blues singers of our time and a true lady of the blues.

Braithwaite was dubbed a "national treasure" by Bluz FM radio host Danny Marks. A gifted and captivating performer, Diana was chosen by Sarah Mclachlan to open Lilith Fair at the Molson Amphitheatre , before 18,000 people, Her talent, and authentic blues shows have led her into the company of such stalwarts as Mel Brown, Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker and Jeff Healey. Appearances at shows in Massey Hall in North America, concert halls and festivals in the U.K. and Europe led to her reputation as a world class blues singer.
Kansas born multi-instrumentalist, Chris Whiteley, has been playing the blues for over 30 years with such great blues artists as Taj Mahal, Chuck Berry, Sam Chatmon of the Mississippi Sheiks, and Bukka White. Whiteley performed and recorded with Blind John Davis, the great Chicago musician and house piano player at Bluebird Records and has appeared on Saturday Night Live. A featured performer at the Chicago Blues Festival, Whiteley tours regularly with Stuart McLean's Vinyl Café on CBC and over the years of his successful career has had the opportunity to work with many of the greats playing the kind of traditional blues he loved.

Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley have both had extremely successful careers as Canadian Blues artists both within this nation and internationally. Each has played with the genre's top musicians and has won multiple awards and respect for their own albums and those of other musicians that they have contributed to. Collectively they have been awarded 8 MAPLE BLUES AWARDS and 6 Juno Nominations. In 2010, Braithwaite and Whiteley won Socan's Best Songwriters Award. They are currently nominated for Best Blues Acoustic Act with the Maple Blues Awards. Night Bird Blues their last album reached number two on B.B. Kings Bluesville network on XM satellite radio , with over 18 million listeners across the U.S. and internationally.

Diana Braithwaite's personal history as the direct descendant of American Black slaves that were able to escape to freedom in Canada through the Underground Railroad led to the creation of a multimedia musical history concert created and performed by Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley entitled Sugar and Gold, The Story of the Underground Railroad in Canada, that Braithwaite and Whiteley have taken to primary and middle schools across North America and England.

This presentation presents wonderful proud stories and songs of the life and times of early Black pioneers in Canada, and includes both traditional and new original songs that help to demonstrate the realities of the times. Using storytelling, visual slides and photos, the two musicians bring to life the participants of the process: the abolitionists, conductors, coordinators and families that lived the experience of the Underground Railroad.
The unique concert and first of its kind in North America, uses original and traditional songs to look at the lives of early Black settlers in Canada.

The Sugar and Gold concert includes performances of 10 - 12 songs, some that are originals by Braithwaite and Whiteley and some that are their arrangements of traditional historic songs. Eleven of these songs are available on the Sugar and Gold CD that Braithwaite and Whiteley created in 2008.

Sugar and Gold has performed to date to more than 40,000 school kids across North America and both students and teachers were very impressed with the detail and learning it provides, combined with the entertainment of Underground Railroad-era songs and music.

In a unique multimedia performance, The February Blues festival will host the Sugar and Gold performance and a lively gospel concert that follows the performance with Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley and band.