The island’s popular folk concert series begins for the season on Thanksgiving Day, Monday, Oct. 12.

Performers Corinne West and Doug Cox promise plenty to be thankful for, with an evening of roots music, including early Americana, bluegrass and bottleneck slide blues.

West has been noted for her clear and penetrating voice that reaches into the deepest emotional honesty.

According to her website, West “knows giving listeners an unfettered glimpse into the raw and wild places of the soul is part of her job requirement. So she sings the story of life unfolding — sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful, but always honest.”

West’s early exposure to roots music saw her accompanying her grandfather to honkytonk dances at age 11, where she learned to dance the two-step. She wrote her own songs and joined a band early as a young woman, but soon found performing on her own offered more creative control. This allowed West to hone her craft and develop her own signature sound, “a heady mix with the intensity of rock, the sincerity of country, the storytelling of bluegrass, and the wide-openness of Americana.”

According to her bio, West has won rave reviews from Maverick, Relix and SingOut!, among others. She was named a finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition. The other side of the Atlantic fell in love with her music when BBC legend Bob Harris began featuring her on his radio show, leading to a tour of England and Ireland in 2007.

West appears on Salt Spring with Doug Cox, who co-produced her third album, The Promise. Cox fell in love with the bottleneck slide blues as a young man in Alberta. Now a resident of Courtenay, B.C., in 20 years Cox has become a master of the style of music he calls “maybe the most soulful and haunting music to ever come out of black life in the Deep South.”

According to his web site, Cox can sometimes be found sitting cross-legged with Indian slide guitarist Salil Bhatt and a tabla player, creating an intricate musical dialogue that weaves centuries of tradition into something contemporary and beautiful.

Or, teaching someone something new on the dobro at a music camp in Alaska, or adding a couple of tracks to someone else’s record, or out on the road with friends like Steve Dawson, Jim Byrnes or Amos Garrett.

Cox’s music has been featured in many soundtracks and movies from documentaries to feature films such as Terry Gilliam’s Tideland. He’s played every major roots music festival in Canada as well as many of the fascinating ones a little further off the beaten track. In 2009, he was chosen by Canada’s National Art Centre in Ottawa to create the programming for their celebration of music in British Columbia.

Bruce Miller appears as opener for West and Cox. Having recently returned to Vancouver after many years living in California, Miller has written songs that have appeared on CDs by the Dixie Chicks, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire, to name a few. In the 1970s he was an A&M recording artist with hits Anna Marie, Summer of Our Love and Rude Awakening. His songs have been featured in movies and television worldwide.

The concert starts at 7 p.m. — note the earlier start time from previous years — at Fulford Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. for season pass holders and 6:15 for others.

Advance tickets are $15 at Acoustic Planet, Salt Spring Books and Stuff & Nonsense; $18 at the door.

A delicious dinner can also be purchased at the hall. Season’s passes for the folk club year are still available and may be purchased at the door.