Charlotte Cornfield is one of those songwriters who can make a small moment feel like a revelation. And speaking of revelations, while I’ve been a fan of Charlotte’s for almost a decade now, going all the way back to her 2106 debut Future Snowbird, in our chat, I learned that Charlotte knew of me years before that even.

You can imagine my surprise.

I guess, I used to be somebody, you know?

Nah.

Turns out, Charlotte and I have more than a couple handfuls of mutual friends form our shared time in Montreal, but this was our first real conversation.

And it went in many directions.

In today’s episode we talk about a magical week in September that Charlotte spent at a songwriter retreat in Cork, as well as the friendships and collaborations that have come out of it; her love of the Toronto music scene and, well, for the city itself; we talk a lot about family and what it means to keep creating while raising one. Charlotte’s daughter, Odette, is now two and a half, and that shift from all-hours songwriting to daycare-scheduled creativity has changed how Charlotte works.

In fact, her new album, due in spring of 2026, was written in the 3 months between Odette starting daycare and Charlotte going into the studio (with an as yet unannounced “dream band”) to record live off the floor, with no headphones and no overdubs.

We bookend our chat with some live dates she’s playing.

Off the top, the Nowadays Festival in Dartmouth NS October 9, and on the tail end, a show she’s playing November 12th at Massey Hall in Toronto as part of an incredible lineup celebrating Neil Young’s 80th.

charlottecornfield.com

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When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid