Tia McGraff, the Simcoe, Ontario-based Canadian folk singer-songwriter, children’s author, and Norfolk Music Hall of Fame inductee, has released her delightful new children’s single “Caterpillar Song” on Bandana Records.
It’s 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 Tia’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 Tia’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.
Tia 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.
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 Tia’s best writing.
Tia is a singer-songwriter whose star first rose when she won the Canadian Open Country Singing Contest at the age of 19 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.
No Depression has praised her and Tommy as one of the best creative duos working today.
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. 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.
See Tia live:
- June 14 – Indigo North London (Jake the Road Dawg author signing)
- June 17, 2:00 p.m. — Norview Lodge, Simcoe, ON
- June 20 — Tillsonburg Turtle Fest, Imagination Station area (Songs’n’Tails)
- June 21, 11:30 a.m. — Niagara Falls Public Library (Songs’n’Tails)
- June 23, 2:00 p.m. — Reading With Your Kids Podcast
- June 27, 2:15 p.m. — Kingfisher Cafe, Simcoe BIA Art Crawl (Songs’n’Tails)
- June 28, noon — Indigo Cambridge (Songs’n’Tails)
- July 4, 11:00 a.m. — Books On Bay, Port Rowan, ON (Songs’n’Tails)
- July 11, 11:00 a.m. — Commonplace Books, Ingersoll, ON (Songs’n’Tails)
- July 12, 9:00 a.m. — River Bookshop, Junior Art Crawl, Amherstburg, ON
- July 24, noon — Tunes in the Park, Brantford, ON
- July 28, 7:00 p.m. — Westdale Theatre, Hamilton, ON (Ensemble live taping)
- Aug .12, 7:15 p.m. — Seasons Retirement, Brantford, ON
- Aug. 23, 11:00 a.m. — Indigo Conestoga Mall, Waterloo, ON (Songs’n’Tails)
- Sep. 6, 11:00 a.m. — Indigo Stoney Creek (In Your Dreams Jake book launch)
- Sep. 12, 11:00 a.m. — Chinguacousy Park, MADD Annual Candlelight Vigil, Brampton, ON
- Sep. 19, 11:00 a.m. — Coles Book Store, Stratford, ON (Adopt a School Event)
- Sep. 27, 2:00 p.m. — Parkhill Artisan Collective, Parkhill, ON
- Oct. 3, 1:15 p.m. — Royal Botanical Gardens, Hendrie Park, Burlington, ON (Telling Tales Festival)
- Oct. 24, 2:00 p.m. — West Flamboro Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, ON
- Nov. 5, 7:00 p.m. — Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Simcoe, ON (Norfolk Music Hall of Fame)
- Nov. 9, 2:30 p.m. — Seasons Retirement, Brantford, ON
- Nov. 15, 2:00 p.m. — Brucefield Community United Church, Brucefield, ON
- Nov. 22, 2:00 p.m. — Delhi United Church, Dehli, ON
- Dec. 12, 2:00 p.m. — Woodhouse United Church, Simcoe, ON (Annual Christmas Concert)
- Dec. 20, 11:30 a.m. — Niagara Falls Public Library
- April 10, 2027, 2:00 p.m. — St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Simcoe, ON
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rootsmusic.ca ’
