Winnipeg roots/ bluegrass/old tyme country music “darlings” Oh My Darling are enjoying the summer folk music festival season.
“Summer gigs are keeping us pretty busy,” said Oh My Darling singer/ songwriter and guitarist Vanessa Kuzina, calling from the Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music festival where she is “enjoying a week of bluegrass music ” just outside of Big River, Saskatchewan, and hosting workshops as well.
They return to Lethbridge, for a show at the Slice, Aug. 28
Their summer touring has gone well and the music from their excellent full length CD, “In The Lonesome Hour,” which was released in April, has been well received.
“We’ve been super pleased with it,” said Kuzina, who wrote most of the lyrics to the CD, but is already looking forward to getting back into the studio to record the next one.
“We’re hoping to be back in the studio over the winter,” she said.
“I wrote most of the lyrics to this one, but the next one will be more collaborative. The current CD includes a couple tracks from their previous self-titled EP — the beautiful fiddle powered instrumental “Pixou Falls” and the upbeat gospel tinged “Won’t Need My Shoes (on Heaven’s Floor).
“This band is so much stronger now,” she said.
“The sound carries through all of us and Allison (DeGroot who plays clawhammer banjo, percussion and some guitar) and Rosalyn Bennett (on fiddle and vocals) are great instrumentalists,” she said adding Kuzina and stand up bassist Marie Josee Dandeneau have been playing together for several years. Allison DeGroot learned how to play clawhammer banjo from another popular Winnipeg roots act, the Duhks’ Leonard Podolak.
“So the next one will be more collaborative between all four of us,” she said adding they tried to make the new CD sound as close to a live show as possible.
“All four of the individual band members agreed we didn’t want to take it too far from what the music sounds like live, so if you want to take the CD home with you, you’ll be getting the memories of that performance,” she said.
They have some pretty impressive guests on the CD as well in dobro player Doug Cox and singer/songwriter James Keelaghan adding back up vocals to “All Hail Money,” one of the CD’s highlights.
“James has been a great friend and mentor for my songwriting And “All Hail Money” is a a little tongue and cheek song, that I wrote with our producer, Lloyd Peterson. I had the chorus and the verses, but couldn’t find the right way to connect them and he came up with “All Hail Money,”” she continued adding they are looking forward to being back at the Slice. Their CD release tour came there back in May.
“We’ll be playing the music from the CD and featuring some of our members. It will be an upbeat, fun performance. Overall we’re hoping to see some familiar faces and hoping to meet some new ones,” she said.