Joanne Crabtree and Paul Mills, known individually as pioneers in Canadian roots music, teamed up early in 2006 to produce a CD showcasing her warmly vibrant voice and his playfully elegant guitar. Flight of Fancy was released in January of 2007.

As Flight of Fancy was taking shape in the studio, Crabtree&Mills played a series of concerts before sold-out houses in Toronto. The music they made was so exciting, and the chemistry between them so strong, folks stood up and cheered. 

Paul says, "I love playing with Joanne. There's a great sense of fun and musicality in everything we do. The material she brings to the duo is always interesting and stretches me as a guitarist." 

Joanne says, "On stage and in the studio with Paul, I feel as if I've come home. Our musical styles fit hand in glove. Whether the song is a clever Cole Porter standard, or one of our own compositions, Paul's sparkling and mischievous playing encourages me to put my heart and soul into every note I sing".

In the summer of 2007, Joanne was gripped by a song-writing fever that resulted in eight new songs. Just as the fever was beginning to wane, Paul joined in, and over many snow-bound days in late 2007, they collaborated on three additional heartfelt songs. Those eleven songs - some sad, some funny, some from personal history, some plucked from thin air – those songs are the essence of Freedom, and from creativity to civil rights, freedom plays a role in every one of them.  

Armed with their own writings, two songs from tradition, two from like-minded authors,  and the feeling they could not wait to start sharing this new repertoire with the world, Paul and Joanne headed back into the recording studio in 2008. The new CD, Freedom, is the happy result.

Joanne Crabtree

I am a city singer.  

The people who lit the darkness for me were the anonymous creators of the ballads in Dr. Child's literary collections, the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Len Chandler, Martin Carthy, and a long line of torch singers from Ruth Etting to Doris Day.

 And even though I was born on Ilkla Moor (without a hat, I'm told), and even though my father was a Yorkshireman who sang me Widdicombe Fair while I was still a babe in arms, my artistic roots took hold in the poetry-filled coffee houses, the after-hours jazz clubs, the earnest folk venues of Toronto in the late fifties and early sixties.

 My career as a solo folk singer began in 1960 at a Grey Cup party at Toronto's Park Plaza Hotel and ended in 1966 at Toronto's Riverboat in Yorkville. In between were many coffee houses and campus concerts in Ontario, Western Canada and the British Isles. During that time I sang hundreds of songs on a regular basis.

 After the birth of my first son, my folk-rock band, Hard and Soft, kept me busy enough musically until 1978.

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 In 1966, I put aside music as my principal pursuit, and from then until 1990, dedicated my life to becoming the best parent and best psychotherapist I could possibly be. Those were joyful and productive years, but eventually the need to express myself through music returned in a powerful way, and I began seeking the path back to a musical life, a path that eventually led me to the Millstream Studios in Toronto, and to the most rewarding musical collaboration of my life, my partnership with Paul Mills.

 From the working relationship between Paul and me have come two exciting album projects, a performing duo, and the inspiration for most of the best songs I’ve ever written.

Paul Mills

Paul Mills is a graduate engineer, musician, musical arranger, graphic designer, and record producer/engineer.

 This unique combination of skills has resulted in a varied career. He joined CBC Radio in 1972 as a music producer and later moved over to the Radio Drama department as producer and executive producer. As a music producer for CBC Radio in the Seventies, he conceived and produced a national folk music program called “Touch The Earth” which was hosted by Sylvia Tyson.  As a drama producer, he developed the award-winning series, “The Scales of Justice” which was later adapted for CBC Television.  Later, he was put in charge of planning the radio facilities in the new CBC building in Downtown Toronto and eventually became a senior manager for CBC Radio. 

In addition to his work at CBC, Paul Mills has been part of the Canadian folk music scene and recording industry for over thirty years.  He has produced over 130 albums working with artists such as the late Stan Rogers (all but one of Rogers’ albums were produced by Mills), Sharon, Lois and Bram, Eric Nagler, Ron Hynes and John Allan Cameron.  He is one of the founding partners of the folk music record label called the “Borealis Recording Company”.  He operates his own recording studio called “The Millstream” which is kept busy with several of his own record production projects.

January of 2006 saw the release of his first solo album, "The Other Side of the Glass". which was critically acclaimed. His performing career has included his own solo work plus accompanying a wide variety of other artists. He is also part of the children's group, The Celtic Rathskallions.

Since 2007, he has been one half of the duo Crabtree and Mills – a group whose ever expanding popularity is keeping him busier than ever.

Albums produced or engineered by Paul have earned four gold records (sales over 50,000), two platinum records (sales over 100,000), 5 Juno nominations – Canada’s equivalent of the Grammies – and 5 East Coast Music Awards.  Natalie MacMaster’s record, “My Roots are Showing”, which Paul engineered, won the 1999 Juno award for best instrumental album.  Sharon Lois & Bram’s recording “Skinnamarink TV”, co-produced by Paul won the 2000 Juno for “Best Children’s Album”.  Ron Hynes’ CD “Get Back Change”, received the East Coast Music Awards nod for Best Album and Best Country Album of the year in 2004.