Great Lake Swimmers

Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian band built around the melodic folk rock songs of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Originally from Wainfleet, Ontario the band is currently based in Toronto.

The current touring line-up includes Tony Dekker on lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica, Erik Arnesen on banjo, electric guitar and harmonium, Greg Millson on drums, Bret Higgins on upright bass and Julie Fader on keyboards and vocals. Darcy Yates and Miranda Mulholland also substitute for Higgins and Fader in some shows.

The band's style has been compared to Red House Painters, Nick Drake, Iron & Wine and Neil Young as well as Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) and Sufjan Stevens. Dekker has said his influences include Gram Parsons and Hank Williams.

The band released its third full-length album, Ongiara, on March 27, 2007 in Canada and in May for the rest of the world. Although signing to Nettwerk early in 2007, Great Lake Swimmers continue to be managed by (weewerk). In September 2007, (weewerk) released a limited edition vinyl version of Ongiara. It was available in Australia through native indie label Speak N Spell.

Their fourth album, Lost Channels, was released on March 31, 2009. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.

In 2009 Great Lake Swimmers took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had Tony Dekker talk about his daily underground commute along Toronto’s subway system.

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