Tia McGraff
Tia McGraff, the Simcoe, Ontario-based Canadian folk singer-songwriter, children's author, and Norfolk Music Hall of Fame inductee, releases her delightful new children's single "Caterpillar Song" today on Bandana Records, a warm and wonderfully singable kids' pop anthem that celebrates perseverance, the joy of finding your way home, and the quiet magic of taking life one step at a time. Produced by McGraff's husband and longtime musical partner Tommy Parham, with keyboards and mixing by Kevin Fisher in California, the song arrives as the perfect companion to McGraff's new middle-grade children's book 'In Your Dreams, Jake,' the second instalment in her beloved Jake the Road Dawg series, which launches this fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=1X673MSJAoHgm5io&v=xg8_8zB4h0U&feature=youtu.be
McGraff has described the song as the purest, most joyful songwriting gift of her career, one that arrived in the most organic way imaginable: driving home from an author event at Indigo with Tommy when the melody and lyrics simply came pouring out. "Caterpillars walk with tiny legs / Caterpillars can't go very fast / Inching along they don't give up / Sooner or later home at last." She sang it into her phone and kept it on file for over two years until the timing aligned perfectly with the introduction of a caterpillar character into the new book, a character whose arc of growth and transformation mirrors the song's own message with the kind of gentle, meaningful precision that has always defined McGraff's best writing. The song's bridge lands its universal lesson with grace and warmth: "Follow your heart, follow your nose / Follow your dream wherever it goes / Just remember when it's time for bed / To follow your footprints back home again."
McGraff is one of Canada's most decorated and beloved roots artists, a singer-songwriter whose star first rose when she won the Canadian Open Country Singing Contest at the age of nineteen and who has since made television appearances with Johnny Cash and June Carter, written and recorded with Randy Bachman of BTO, and placed songs with Anne Murray's publishing company. With over eleven international album releases, film and television placements, and a long list of accolades including Social Justice and Peace Songs of the Year at the 2021 and 2022 EmPower Songwriting Awards, a Hamilton Music Award, and a semi-finalist placement in the 2026 International Songwriting Competition, she and Tommy Parham have built one of the most respected and genuinely beloved careers in Canadian Americana folk music. No Depression has praised them as one of the best creative duos working today, and Bill Wence Promotions in Nashville has called McGraff one of the finest singer-songwriter-artists they have worked with in the past decade. In 2026, her hometown honoured her with induction into the Norfolk Music Hall of Fame alongside Rory Dodd and Canadian folk artist Ian Bell.
The Jake the Road Dawg series, inspired by the couple's adopted Nashville shelter dog who travels with them on tour, has become a genuine community touchstone, raising funds and awareness for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, the Niagara Falls Humane Society, and numerous animal rescue organisations. The books have inspired the duo's beloved live children's show Songs'n'Tails, which brings music, storytelling, and the Jake the Road Dawg characters into libraries, bookstores, and community spaces across Ontario. Shari Cann, editor, education specialist, and trustee for the Grand Erie District School Board, has called 'In Your Dreams, Jake' a delightful read and an invaluable addition to the education system for children from grade three to eight.
"Caterpillar Song" is available now on Spotify and all major streaming platforms.
Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0srwGnOvTJQx7IBdHjRHDE?si=-1ndKiRuTnmyPEz3jSeXoQ&nd=1&dlsi=fb5bc3c845244f9f
Tia McGraff and Tommy Parham have an extensive schedule of Songs'n'Tails appearances, book signings, and live performances running through the end of 2026 and into 2027, with dates at Indigo locations across Ontario, public libraries, community festivals, and concert venues. Find Tia at tiamcgraff.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok at @tiamcgraff.
TOUR DATES:
Jun 14, 12:00 PM — London, ON — Indigo North London (Jake the Road Dawg author signing)
Jun 17, 2:00 PM — Simcoe, ON — Norview Lodge
Jun 20 — Tillsonburg, ON — Tillsonburg Turtle Fest, Imagination Station area (Songs'n'Tails)
Jun 21, 11:30 AM — Niagara Falls, ON — Niagara Falls Public Library (Songs'n'Tails)
Jun 23, 2:00 PM — Reading With Your Kids Podcast
Jun 27, 2:15 PM — Simcoe, ON — Kingfisher Cafe, Simcoe BIA Art Crawl (Songs'n'Tails)
Jun 28, 12:00 PM — Cambridge, ON — Indigo Cambridge (Songs'n'Tails)
Jul 4, 11:00 AM — Port Rowan, ON — Books On Bay (Songs'n'Tails)
Jul 11, 11:00 AM — Ingersoll, ON — Commonplace Books (Songs'n'Tails)
Jul 12, 9:00 AM — Amherstburg, ON — River Bookshop, Junior Art Crawl
Jul 24, 12:00 PM — Brantford, ON — Tunes in the Park
Jul 28, 7:00 PM — Hamilton, ON — Westdale Theatre (Ensemble live taping)
Aug 12, 7:15 PM — Brantford, ON — Seasons Retirement
Aug 23, 11:00 AM — Waterloo, ON — Indigo Conestoga Mall (Songs'n'Tails)
Sep 6, 11:00 AM — Stoney Creek, ON — Indigo Stoney Creek (In Your Dreams Jake book launch)
Sep 12, 11:00 AM — Brampton, ON — Chinguacousy Park, MADD Annual Candlelight Vigil
Sep 19, 11:00 AM — Stratford, ON — Coles Book Store (Adopt a School Event)
Sep 27, 2:00 PM — Parkhill, ON — Parkhill Artisan Collective
Oct 3, 1:15 PM — Burlington, ON — Royal Botanical Gardens, Hendrie Park (Telling Tales Festival)
Oct 24, 2:00 PM — Hamilton, ON — West Flamboro Presbyterian Church
Nov 5, 7:00 PM — Simcoe, ON — Holy Trinity Catholic High School (Norfolk Music Hall of Fame)
Nov 9, 2:30 PM — Brantford, ON — Seasons Retirement
Nov 15, 2:00 PM — Brucefield, ON — Brucefield Community United Church
Nov 22, 2:00 PM — Delhi, ON — Delhi United Church
Dec 12, 2:00 PM — Simcoe, ON — Woodhouse United Church (Annual Christmas Concert)
Dec 20, 11:30 AM — Niagara Falls, ON — Niagara Falls Public Library
Apr 10, 2027, 2:00 PM — Simcoe, ON — St. Paul's Presbyterian Church
May 1, 2027, 7:30 PM — Delta Hotel (MADD Canada Annual Conference)