New BrunswickGrade 9 student Emma Dawson eagerly awaits her chance to perform original music at Harvest Music Festival.Fredericton high school student anticipates her moment in the spotlightIan Curran · CBC News · Posted: Sep 10, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoEmma Dawson performs her original music at a local coffee house in Fredericton. (Emma Dawson)Harvest Music Festival is just around the corner, filling the downtown streets of Fredericton with music once again.Alongside headliners, this year’s lineup will include a series of young performers who hope to establish themselves in the local music scene.Fredericton High School student Emma Dawson was sitting on her couch when she got the news that she landed a set at the festival.”I think I fell on the floor,” said Dawson. “I screamed with joy, ran into multiple rooms to tell people.”Dawson is in Grade 9 and writes her own original indie-pop songs.She’s already been performing her music at local festivals and coffee shops around the city.”I’ve never really promoted myself as a teenage musician,” said Dawson. “I always worry that someone’s going to look at the number 14 and decide ‘we don’t know if she has the experience,’ if she’s able to travel that far, if she’s going to be good.”On Saturday, she’ll perform 11 original songs at one of the festival’s busker stages.WATCH | ‘I think I fell on the floor,’ says teen after getting tapped for festival lineup:High schooler lands opportunity to fulfill rock star dream on stage14-year-old Emma Dawson is preparing to perform 11 original songs at Harvest Music Festival alongside industry heavy hitters.For her, the chance to be featured in this year’s lineup is another step closer to her dream of headlining a major festival.”I think what I really want to do is to keep writing music. I want to keep playing festivals and I want to keep meeting new people,” said Dawson.She said that her passion for songwriting began when she enrolled in a program called Girls+ Rock Camp for girls, trans and gender non-conforming youth from age 11 to 18.”You join a little band, you start writing songs together and there’s a little showcase at the end,” said Dawson. “That definitely propelled me into wanting to start my own music career and write more songs.”A ground crew works tirelessly to build Harvest’s main stage for performers arriving in a few days. (Ian Curran/CBC)Dawson’s band is called The Pigeons and will be performing with other bands from the camp at Harvest earlier in the day.Including young performers such as Dawson and the Girls+ Rock Camp into the Harvest lineup is an important part of the festival, according to music programmer Brent Staeben.”One of the best parts of putting on this festival is to see the impact you can make in the community,” said Staeben.He has been working with Harvest for over 33 years. As the music programmer, it’s his job to create the lineup of musicians who will be performing on the stage and streets of Harvest.”We’ll start someone like Emma who is in Grade 9 off on a busker stage,” said Staeben. “She gets an opportunity in a really informal environment to hone her craft, to show what she’s got and to connect with audiences.”Staeben said that over his time at the festival he has watched artists like David Myles, Matt Anderson and Stephen Lewis grow from buskers to headlining the main stage.Brent Staeben stands in front of Harvest Music Festival’s main stage. It is one of the many stages in the festival he has created the lineup for. (Chad Ingraham/CBC)”It’s really vital that young performers understand the industry, understand what it means to be a professional,” said Staeben. “So when we treat them like professionals, what we’re hoping is that we inspire them and help them understand that it’s part of how they need to act as they put themselves forward.”According to Staeben, that push of professionalism makes all the difference.”I’ve had the opportunity to watch young performers over the course of the last 35 years who started and have gone on to huge things,” said Staeben. And for Dawson, this is once step closer to a realized dream.”I don’t think there’s a single thing that I’m not looking forward to,” said Dawson. “When I get to be treated as ‘that professional musician,’ it is the best feeling in the world.”ABOUT THE AUTHORIan Curran is working with the Fredericton bureau at CBC News. You can contact him with story ideas at ian.curran@cbc.ca.
She’s only 14, but she’s already landed a spot in Harvest Music Festival’s lineup
