Three Acadian singer-songwriters surrounded the Quebec superstar Michel Rivard as he hosted the Nov. 15 SOCAN Songwriters’ Circle that opened the 2008 FrancoFête de Moncton festival in the city’s Capitol Theatre. The evening was attended by an 800-strong audience of delegates, fans and celebrities, including the CBC president Hubert T. Lacroix. SOCAN was represented at the event by the Quebec region membership manager Joanne Pouliot.

Having spent the day in rehearsal, performers Édith Butler, Michel Rivard, Lisa LeBlanc and Danny Boudreau were in fine form for their evening presentation on acoustic songwriting, interacting with the audience and answering questions with their usual wit and good cheer. When Édith Butler recounted that she had recently come across an old song on a cassette at the bottom of a drawer, Michel Rivard came to the rescue and explained what a cassette was "for the sake of the younger people in the audience."

Lisa LeBlanc, a gifted teenage artist, described a song she had written to reassure her parents, who were worried because she was now “living alone in the big city“ of Montreal. The great Édith Butler, who normally moves about the stage during her feel-good shows, was sitting down for a change, and took the opportunity to tell anecdotes about her 40-year career as part of this entertaining program dedicated to the joy and the art of writing songs.