Dust Poets fangirl

It's hard to describe the music of the Dust Poets, and that's one of the things I liked most about this Canadian band; they don't try to sound like anyone else or fit into a particular genre. One minute they're playing bluegrass, the next a heartrending ballad, then sultry blues, foot-stomping folk-rock, then ragtime. Their harmonies are incredible tight, arrangements and instrumentals impressive.

A quote from the press:

"The Dust Poets continue a recent tradition of hip, intelligent and humorous Canadian bands, along with fellow countrymen Barenaked Ladies and the sadly defunct Moxy Fruvous." - Frederick News-Post

You can see the cover of the most recent Dust Poets CD, Lovesick Town, below:



You can hear the entire album (!) on their site. Dave Clement gave this CD to me last week (thanks, Dave!) and I also bought their Four Legs Good CD.



Dave Clement, Sean McManus and me.

The members of the band are:

Murray Evans (guitar, harmonica): Front man Murray has been active in the Manitoba folk scene for many years and has toured much of Canada and the US as a solo artist. I love the slight Prairie twang in his voice. Ok, I just love his VOICE. :-)

Corey Ticknor (mandolin, trumpet and trombone): I was surprised to find out that Corey has a music degree as a trombonist; his mandolin playing in the concert was so amazing. Wonderful stage energy! Corey and Karla both performed on Sam Baardman's CDs.

Sean McManus (drums, clarinet, sax): Another Dust Poet with impressive music credentials, Sean has a masters degree in Ethnomusicology at York University. Man, can this guy play clarinet! He admits he plays it like a sax, which is another of his instruments. I loved his drum set-up, which was a small suitcase on a drum stand with a cymbal thingy (what's the proper drum term for that?) and the top of Sam Baardman's double boiler pan. :-D

Karla Ferguson (accordion, piano): A classically trained mezzo soprano and pianist, Karla grew up on a ranch in Saskatchewan. She has served as the executive director of the national Canadian Chamber Choir, and performed with the renowned Elmer Iseler Singers. Lovely voice (I -love- "Lonesome") and gorgeous harmonies.

Gord Mowat (upright bass): Gord was in the Jazz Studies program at Humber College, and has performed and recorded with the likes of Steve Bell, Howard Levy, Swing Soniq, Kiva, and The Love Orchestra. He's the only member of the group to be currently living in Toronto. Watching him on fretless bass was amazing - he plays like he's part of the instrument.



I attended the Dust Poets concert in Orangeville with my friends Sue, Dave and Tom. Dave and Tom are Dandelion Wine, by the way, scheduled to perform in Germany at Filkcontinental this autumn. And I recently discovered that Heather Dale is the Special Guest at the convention! As you may recall, I Blathered about Heather Dale's concert in Toronto recently. I SO wish I had the money to go to Germany this fall.

Dave and Tom are friends with the Dust Poets and decided to surprise them by showing up at their concert. The concert was hosted by a B&B called The Stream, which is a 40-minute drive out of Toronto and (I discovered) a 2-minute drive away from where Jeff and I used to live (!). The B&B even had some Al Pace pottery for sale; Al is a friend of ours; he and his wife Lynn were some of the guides on our Nahanni River canoe trip.



If you ever have a chance to hear the Dust Poets perform, I urge you not to pass up the chance! You can find their performance schedule online. They're going to be performing at Summerfolk in Owen Sound on the weekend of Aug 17-19th, for instance.

Thanks to Dave, Tom and Sue for inviting me to the concert! I'm definitely a Dust Poets fan now. :-)

For more info about the Dust Poets, go their Web site and be sure to listen to their music.







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