Roots powerhouse duo The Small Glories are Cara Luft & JD Edwards, a musical tour-de- force partnership planted on the Canadian Prairies. 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.

Few are more conscious in their journey through Appalachian histories and the Canadian musical landscape than Kaia. Born in Montreal, Kaia has lived Winnipeg, Wakefield and, most recently, West Virginia, she now resides in Toronto. Her old-time banjo-picking skills, deft arrangements, and songwriting abilities have landed her in the spotlight in North America and the UK, garnering critical acclaim from outlets such as Rolling Stone, CBC Music and The Roots Music Report.  Often praised for her capacity to sound new and old at once, Kaia anchors her music the space where tradition and innovation intersect.

ABOUT NINE PIN
The new album from young African-Canadian roots phenom Kaia Kater couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, American roots music is needed more than ever to remind us of the troubled pathways of our own history. Born of African-Caribbean descent in Québec, Kaia Kater grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to Canadian folk music in her Toronto home; the other the years she spent learning and studying Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her acclaimed debut album Sorrow Bound (May 2015) touched on this divide, but her new album, Nine Pin (May 2016), delves even further, and casts an unflinching eye at the realities faced by people of colour in North America every day. Her songs on the new album are fueled by her rich low tenor vocals, jazz-influenced instrumentation, and beautifully understated banjo, and they’ve got as much in common with Kendrick Lamar right now as they do with Pete Seeger.
 
Recorded in just one day in Toronto, Nine Pin was produced by both Kater and acclaimed Canadian artist Chris Bartos (The Barr Brothers, Jonathan Byrd), who also produced her last album, Sorrow Bound Few artists could pull off such a polished, cohesive album in one day, but Kater felt that this actually lent focus to the project. As a concept album, Nine Pin weaves between hard-hitting songs that touch on modern issues like the Black Lives Matter movement (“Rising Down,” “Paradise Fell”) and more personal narratives speaking to life and love in the digital age (“Saint Elizabeth”). And while these larger stories are deftly crafted, this is really an album of moments. Kater’s a cappella voice speaking to the loneliness of a city in “Harlem’s Little Blackbird” while solo dance steps echo in the background, the muted hesitancy of Caleb Hamilton’s trumpet breaking the trance of “Little Pink,” the smoke of electric guitar that cuts through “Saint Elizabeth,” the wave-like ebb and flow of piano behind the plaintive love poem “Viper’s Nest…” All of these moments point to an artist wise beyond her years. 

"...plaintive, mesmerizing...writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran..." -Rolling Stone

"You want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaia Kater." -No Depression

"A star in the making..."
-Folk Alley

“...One of the most remarkable Canadian folk records in some time...Kater's music is somehow ancient and brand new at the same time.”
-Tom Power, CBC Radio 2 
 
"Sorrow Bound is a remarkably assured debut album which both honours tradition and declares Kater’s credentials as a distinctive, original artist."  Steve Hunt - fRoots Magazine (UK) - October 2015


Andy Cutting, Rob Harbron & Sam Sweeney - English Instrumental Music

"Music of a rich, sinewy immersion, guided by a mutual sense of exploration, space and a very English kind of swing." The Guardian

In the wordless communication that passes between violinist Catriona Price and harpist Esther 
Swift as they perform, the strength of their decade-long musical partnership, friendship and shared 
humour is evident. It’s this depth of connection, and tangible desire to have fun, that gives Twelfth 
Day its extra edge.
Though Twelfth Day wear their rich and varied experience with pride – their folk roots, their 
classical training – this duo are more than a simple product, an exponent, of their practice. It is their 
inherent curiosity, their need to understand through experimentation, that compels them to create 
their unique, genre-bending music.
Their songs confront societal conventions by exploring a wealth of urgent current issues, such as 
gender roles, power balance and the challenges of working in the arts as a young woman; the threat 
of climate change and society’s reluctance to act; and the struggles of mental health.
In their new album Face to Face (out November 2019, and their first featuring their full band [with 
whom they play tonight]) their multi-layered influences come together to create something entirely 
individual. There’s the radio-friendly catchiness and self-proclaimed respect for Beyoncé; there’s 
the swagger and surprise of jazz and funk; there’s the precision and technique of classical. The only 
label to truly hit the high note is ‘contemporary’: Face to Face could only be made now, and only by 
Twelfth Day.

"genre-blending style that is both edgy and inventive. . . A bold, intriguing set." ★★★★The Guardian

“Unconventional yet completely open” - Clash

“Right up my street” - Tom Robinson, 6 Music

“instantly addictive” Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3

Luke is a Singer-Songwriter from Canterbury, Kent, who way back in 2013 was nominated in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for both the Horizon Award for Best Emerging Talent and The Young Folk Category. He was also winner of Fatea’s “Male Artist of the Year 2014” and 2016, his live album ‘Solo:Duo:Trio’ was voted 2018 Album of the Year by Laurel Canyon and in 2020 his last studio release ‘Journals’ was voted 2019 Album of the Year by Fatea Magazine.

Over the past few years he has steadily developed a reputation for himself in the Folk, Roots, Americana & Acoustic circuits, through his solo, duo or trio shows, many festival appearances or when opening for such luminaries as Fairport Convention, Show of Hands, Steve Knightley, Martyn Joseph, Seth Lakeman, Karine Polwart, Oysterband, Paul Brady, Glen Tilbrook, Sarah Jarosz  and John Paul White, formerly of the legendary Civil Wars.

In addition to the UK, Luke regularly tours across Europe playing in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. In 2016 and 2017 he visited the USA to play at the International Folk Alliance conference in Kansas and again in early 2019 when the conference was held in Ontario, Canada. Luke has completed several joint headline tours with Grammy Award winning songwriter Amy Wadge, with Folk Award winning duo Greg Russel and Ciaran Algar and American singer-songwriter Rebecca Loebe.

His debut album ‘More Than Boys’, produced by the acclaimed Welsh Singer-Songwriter Martyn Joseph, was released in 2012 to great reviews, as was the follow up ‘Fumes and Faith’ in early 2014. In 2015 he released a 7 track EP with his trio, ‘This Family Tree’, which was described in a 5 star Maverick review as ”Two words. Bloody brilliant” and it further reflected his development as both a writer and performer

November 2016 saw the release of Luke’s 3rd full studio album, “Tall Tales and Rumours” to universal critical acclaim, which Maverick, in a 5 star review, described as “a brilliant, thoughtful album – Jackson shows talent beyond his years”. Whilst Acoustic Magazine noted “Jackson has been compared to a young Richard Thompson and for once these are not empty words”
In February 2018 Luke put out his first live album ‘Solo:Duo:Trio’ which again was enthusiastically received, with Mike Harding noting “That’s got to be one of the most faultless live recordings ever in my opinion- he’s a great songwriter with a great voice and boy can he sing the blues”

In 2019 Luke was back to the Folk Alliance Conference held in Canada, performed a select run of dates with Amy Wadge, had solo, duo and trio shows and a co write song ‘Lake Louise’ was released on Rebecca Loebe’s 2019 album ‘Give Up Your Ghosts’.  In the summer he played the ‘Costa Del Folk’ Festival in Portugal, October marked his first full solo tour in the USA and his latest studio album ‘Journals’ was released in November to great reviews, made ‘Album of the Year’ by Fatea Magazine with R2 Magazine saying ‘Journals’ is an excellent album from a very special singer with a great repertoire, fully confirming his star potential beyond the folk scene’.

Luke remains an ever present in the live music scene, gigging relentlessly all over the United Kingdom, Europe and now the USA with plans for two tours back there in 2020.

Described as “One of the UK’s finest contemporary roots musicians” in Guitarist Magazine, Martin Harley releases his highly anticipated album Morning Sun this year. Harley has been captivating audiences around the globe for three decades; recording albums in Texas, Nashville, and the Wild West of Wales.

His songwriting encompasses an expressive, lyrical slide guitar style that The Guardian referred to as “spellbinding”. Roots Magazine agrees that he is “A slide guitar master” . Never has Harley been more comfortable in his shoes, “A musician at the top of his game” Maverick Magazine.

His solo shows are intimate and engaging. No two are ever the same.

Trac Cymru is Wales' Folk Development organisation; its rôle to promote and develop the music and dance traditions of Wales - both within Wales and beyond.

Mudiad datblygu traddodiadau gwerin Cymru yw trac; maen bodoli i hyrwyddo a datblygu traddodiadau cerdd a dawns Cymru yng Nghymru a thu hwnt.

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