The Small Glories made their US debut with ASSINIBOINE & THE RED, an album that celebrates the Canadian Prairies back in late June when they released the record on Red House Records. The album title references the junction of two rivers, the Assiniboine (pronounced ‘uh-sin-uh-boin’) and the Red, in the duo’s hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and celebrates the happenstance meeting of members Cara Luft, an original member of the Wailin’ Jennys, and multi-instrumentalist JD Edwards.
The duo just released their brand new video for “Oh My Love.”
“It’s our happiest sounding broken-hearted love song!” Luft says of the single. “It’s a theme we are all familiar with, when we give our heart over to another and the feeling is either not reciprocal, or the timing is off, or we misread the signs.”
Luft and Edwards’ onstage chemistry and humor complements their energetic live performances and buoyant, Americana-inflected folk songs; their exuberant harmonies bring to mind such duos as the Civil Wars and Shovels & Rope, but with a Northern spin. NPR wrote, “Luft is a Wailin’ Jennys alum whose work on the clawhammer banjo is to die for, while Edwards’ guitar and vocal harmonies deepen and enrich the duo’s sound.”
Recorded in Winnipeg, Manitoba during a bracingly cold Canadian spring, ASSINIBOINE & THE RED reuinted the duo with producer Neil Osborne, frontman and songwriter for the iconic Canadian rock band 54-40. “Although he’s not a ‘folk artist,’ he has the heart of a folk singer and firmly believes in the power of song and in serving the song,” says Luft of Osborne. “He also believed in the importance of keeping us rooted in our folk/roots tradition; he didn’t want us to stray too far outside the box.”
“We’re folk singers, we try to write stuff that people can relate to,” says Edwards, whose looming stage presence and penetrating eyes find him the yin to Luft’s petite, snort-laughing yang.
“I remember being very excited about this collection of songs and getting to record them at home in Winnipeg,” Edwards says. “I was so glad to hear that Gilles Fournier (bass) and Mark Mariash (percussion/drums) agreed to come back and record another album with us. Getting the band back together along with Neil Osborne at the helm had my mind thinking of how we were going to be taking these songs to places we had never dreamed of going.”
The Small Glories Canadian Tour Dates
Friday, September 27 @ 7:30PM
New Moon Folk Club, Edmonton, AB
Saturday, September 28 @ 8:00PM
Bow Valley Music Club, Calgary, AB
Thursday, October 3 @ 7:30PM
Center Stage Series, Fort Macleod, AB
Saturday, October 5 @ 7:30PM
Key City Theatre, Cranbrook, BC
Wednesday, October 9 @ 7:00PM
TBA, Victoria, BC
Thursday, October 10 @ 7:30PM
Vancouver Island MusicFest, Cumberland, BC
