2 more Rogue Folk Club show you don’t want to miss: Crys Matthews and Madison Violet
The Rogue Folk Club concert calendar has been overflowing with goodness this month. So much so that we couldn’t fit all the shows into one preview.
The first half of the month alone featured huge shows by favorites like Irish Mythen and Roy Forbes. There’s also a fundraiser for the Stephen Lewis Foundation featuring August and Ndid Cascade. AND there are these two shows you won’t want to miss.
The Rogue continues to offer shows in person and online, for those unable to be there in person. Visit Roguefolk.bc.ca for more information or call 604.736.3022.
Crys Matthews – Nov. 18 at Mel Lehan Hall at St. James
Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,” Crys makes music that has been described by Bluegrass Situation as “a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.”
She is made for these times and, with the release of her latest, hope-fueled, love-filled social justice album, Changemakers, she hopes to take her place alongside some of her heroes in the world of social-justice music like Sweet Honey in the Rock and Holly Near.
Crys began performing in 2010 but cemented her acclaim at Lincoln Center as the 2017 New Song Music and Performance Competition grand prize winner. That year she also released two new projects: her album of thoughtful songs on love and life called The Imagineers and her EP called Battle Hymn for an Army of Lovers, which tackles social justice themes. She also won the People’s Music Network’s Social Justice Songs contest at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance. Loyal fans quickly followed as Crys racked up performances at large music festivals and prestigious venues across the country, including the Sundance Film Festival and Kerrville Folk Festival. In her TedTalk about difficult conversations called “Sing, Don’t Shout—An Alternative Approach,” Crys spoke about being born and raised in a small town in southeastern North Carolina by an American Methodist Episcopal preacher and how she witnessed the power of music from an early age. A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Crys is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to be “a drum major for justice.”
Madison Violet – Nov. 24 at Mel Lehan Hall at St. James
Madison Violet is a Canadian Juno-nominated female musical duo consisting of Lisa MacIsaac and Brenley MacEachern.
The pair, who grew up on rural Cape Breton Island, came together musically in the late 1990s, over many evenings in Brenley’s grandmother’s kitchen, which was always bursting with food, family, friends, and instruments. Influenced by their maritime heritage, the East Coast musicians began creating music together that had roots firmly planted in their past, but with contemporary and modern elements generously overlaid. Categorizing Madison Violet’s music is an impossible task, in that one can hear elements of folk, singer-songwriter, pop, indie, bluegrass, and country flawlessly interwoven throughout.
Lisa ad Brenley are exceptional story tellers, skilled multi-instrumentalists, and together, perfect harmonists. Their voices soar, perfectly complimenting each other, as they sing lyrics that will both mend and break your heart.
The two have released more than 10 albums together. Their latest record, eleven, was self-recorded and produced, ranking Lisa and Brenley among the less than 2.1 per cent of female-identifying music producers in the industry. Eleven is considered their most candid album to date, filled with deeply personal stories of love and loss.
The musicians have received dozens of notable accolades for their work, including a Juno nomination for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year. They have brought home a Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, reached the top five on the Canadian iTunes download charts, amassed over one million streams on Spotify, and placed on CBC’s Top 20 multiple times throughout their career.
