ROUND HILL, N.S. — Paste Magazine describes them as one of the “10 Folk Artists You Need to Know in 2019.”
Chris Williams of StrongWill Productions won’t argue with that. The Small Glories have been a force in the folk scene for a couple of years now and he’s been following the Seeger-like duo with interest, just waiting to get them to the Round Hill Hall in Annapolis County.
His patience has paid off and the stage is set, so to speak, for a July 30 concert at the little community hall on Highway 201 near Annapolis Royal.
Cara Luft is one half of The Small Glories and packs a banjo. Her clawhammer is the talk of any town she’s in. JD Edwards is the other half and plays six string. Together they’re more than twice as good. And their songs are something ordinary folk can relate to. From slapstick to deadly serious, they’re all the things good folk music is meant to be.
While Luft is known from her Wailin’ Jennys days, Williams knew her from a Rocky Mountain lodge where he hosted a concert series and eventually recorded a CD of top performers there, including Luft.
He knew she was good then and listening to The Small Glories now that opinion is amplified.
The ‘Assiniboine & the Red,’ their second CD just came out on June 28 and Williams says there’s already talk of a Juno nomination.
“It’s phenomenal,” said Williams said of the Winnipeg duet’s new album. “Their music is unbelievable.”
The Small Glories travel extensively, Williams said.
“They’re two of the biggest road warriors in the folk music scene,” he said. “They just, in the last week and a half, did a whole tour through England, were in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were in Middlebury, Vermont, then flew west to go to a concert in Portland, Oregon, two concerts down in California, flew home to get a couple days rest. Now they fly to the East Coast to do the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso – and the only other place they’re playing in Nova Scotia is the Round Hill Hall.”
Luft and Edwards are described as a roots powerhouse duo – “a musical tour-de-force partnership planted on the Canadian Prairies,” The Small Glories website boasts. “Thrown together purely by accident for an anniversary show at Winnipeg’s venerable West End Cultural Centre, The Small Glories could almost make you believe in fate.”
Luft’s parents were folksingers influenced by the great activist Pete Seeger, and she knows that sometimes a song is all you need to bring people together. But often, it is more.
“(Seeger) was the king of uniting people through singing,” Luft said in a bio. “There’s so much animosity and divisiveness in our world these days… as artists, part of our job is to somehow create unity.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing them at Round Hill,” Williams said. “It’s going to be great.”
As of July 22 there were only a handful of tickets left. Contact Williams at 902-526-2426 to get yours. Find him on Facebook under StrongWill Productions.
GoOnline: https://thesmallglories.com/home
