Jean-Baptiste Cardineau

Jean-Baptiste’s mandolin playing and musical style is influenced by the early innovators Bill Monroe and notably by his friend and former mentor Frank Wakefield.
In his final year at Berklee College of Music and with a debut record coming out in Spring 2026 featuring some of the Northeast’s most mythological figures (Stash Wyslouch, Max Wareham, Sam Stage, Chris Sartori and more), JB has already been given the honour of being proclaimed the winner of PSB Records’ Song’s for Social Change contest as well as first place in mandolin at the 2025 Freshgrass Awards. The record highlights his unique mandolin playing as well as his original songwriting style.

Jean-Baptiste will be joined at Water Sound Festival by Jono Townsend (Guitar, Vocals) and Timothy Loten (Banjo) of Crooked Creek, a Montreal-based bluegrass and Canadian roots band formed in 2019, known for combining traditional bluegrass with folk singer-songwriter styles inspired by rural Canada.