“A maverick balladeer” (The Echo), his original compositions as well as interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs are “disarmingly artful” (Toronto Star) and reveal the stories of real people and familiar places with an honesty that won him the prestigious New Folk Songwriters’ Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.

Finnan released two critically acclaimed albums, Fool’s Gold (1999) and North Wind (2002) before taking an extended hiatus from touring to found Art Beat (a community outreach initiative), serve as Board President for Folk Music Ontario, and found the Shelter Valley Folk Festival, where he served as Executive and Artistic Director for seven years). For the past three years he has worked as Touring Officer for the Ontario Arts Council.

Finnan was invited to contribute the only original composition on Beautiful, the first ever Canadian tribute album to Gordon Lightfoot, sang at the first ever reunion concert of Ian and Sylvia Tyson hosted by the Mariposa Folk Festival, and was interviewed for CBC’s 30 year commemoration of Stan Rogers for The National’s feature Only in Canada.

His love song Lately was awarded Folk Music Ontario’s Songs from the Heart Award, while his haunting song O’Shaughnessy’s Lament (written in the graveyard of a Northern Ontario silver-mining town) has been recorded by renowned Irish-American tenor Seamus Kennedy. His song My Heart Has Wings aired during the final season of CTV’s Flashpoint.

As he prepares for a new studio album in 2014, Finnan returns to touring with the release of his long anticipated live recording Once Upon a Time.