“It was the songs sung from the heart of their lives that held the most power to move...they helped the duo establish an intimacy with the audience that had many clapping and tapping along.”
Belle Hatfield, Yarmouth Vanguard
“It was the songs sung from the heart of their lives that held the most power to move...they helped the duo establish an intimacy with the audience that had many clapping and tapping along.”
Belle Hatfield, Yarmouth Vanguard
Ardyth & Jennifer are looking forward to a busy summer- we'll have all the stories here...
Winter Fire is Ardyth & Jennifer's popular Christmas CD- They are already booking up for this year's concerts- if you'd like to have them play over Christmas, please contact Marcel soon!
May 13th-
Wow things have been so incredibly busy over the last little while that I haven't had a chance to update the website. We had an absolutely wonderful time at our concerts in New Brunswick and then at the Saltscapes Expo. Then last weekend we played for a lovely Mother's Day brunch and here it is almost time for our concert in Birchtown (near Shelburne) and then we're headed into July.
July is going to be really exciting time for us with the wonderful event in the Halifax commons showing support to our troops in Afghanistan and then our trip to Quebec and Ontario. All the details are starting to fall into place for that trip, but we only have a few things confirmed, so we'll try and keep you posted about where we'll be playing. we're just so honoured that St. Brigid's has chosen to have us open their brand new summer concert series and we're glad that we are able to be in Montreal for the Celtic Festival as well.
We have been practicing a lot and writing and arranging new songs over the last month or so and we have lots of new material to take on the road with us, which is great. It _does_ mean that we'll have to start thinking about another CD, though, which is exciting and daunting, inspiring and terrifying all at the same time. One of the major difficulties we're facing though (as are many Maritime musicians) is the need for physical CD distribution. Sadly "Landwash Distribution" has had to eliminate their distribution of CDs, and we (and many others) have been left with no distribution once again. We have had wonderful dealings with all the folks at Landwash and we wish them all the best in this very difficult time. And here's to finding a new way to get our CDs out into the stores...
I really should go, I need to update our myspace and facebook pages too... the more networking opportunities we get, the less time I seem to have to write music. If the website is looking outdated and the myspace pages have been the same for weeks, just remember that means I'm probably off writing music and playing my harp (which is, after all, what I love to do best!). Before I leave you, I hope you are all enjoying the onset of Summer in its many wild and wonderful forms and I hope to see you somewhere along our road...
April 4th-
We played for the David Foster Charity Gala last Saturday night, and what a honour it was to have been chosen for such a prestigious event! There were over 1400 guests for dinner, and the lineup of talent was unprecedented. We had no idea what we were getting into (thank gooodness!) until we were on stage playing to a huge crowd that included the fabulous musicians who were to present the concert after supper. We were one of three Nova Scotian musicians to be featured that night, the other two being Lennie Gallant and Gordie Sampson. Also performing were Lionel Ritchie, Natalie Cole, Sinbad (the comedian), Leah Daniels, Jamia Nash (an 11-year-old power house voice that had to be heard to be believed), Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds, Eleanor McCain, Craig Sharpe (the Canadian Idol contestant from Newfoundland), William Joseph and of course David Foster himself. The back up musicians included Symphony Nova Scotia, the Halifax Boy's Honour Choir and Cantatrice along with an incredible house band that David Foster has built up over the years.
In true Ardyth & Jennifer style we move from red carpet to lugging sound without a blink of an eye (and thank goodness for that too!) so even though we could get used to the treatment we received on Saturday (they wouldn't even let us carry our harps off stage... and we had a star on our door just as big as Lionel's!) we are very happy to be back in the real world and can't wait for our upcoming concerts in New Brunswick. Each one of the concerts will be special in its own way- We are very excited to be able to colaborate with Alan MacConnell in Rothesay, and eager to see our friends from the L'arche community. We are also really looking forward to our collaboration with the Elizabeth Smith Dancers in Fredericton, and to a nice intimate evening at the Broadway Cafe in Sussex.
Isn't life wonderful? Ardyth & I are so lucky to be able to enjoy all of these events. We have to thank all of you for your continued support in coming out to share them with us. We hope to connect with old friends again in April and all along the road...
March 17th- Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
We are just putting the finishing touches on a tour that we've been working on in conjunction with Rhapsody Tours- this is a unique concept whereby you get to join us on a tour of some of our favourite places in the Maritimes. We'll be joining the tour in Halifax, then travelling down the coast to visit some of the most beautiful scenery in Nova Scotia... This is the scenery that inspired songs like "Sorrow's End" and "Perfect Day". and we'll have a chance to check out Lunenburg, celebrating our fishing and sailing traditions. The next day we'll head over to the valley where Ardyth grew up and experience all the rich heritage that exists in that part of Nova Scotia, and then we'll have an evening performance/kitchen party- bring your singing voices!
This is going to be a great chance for us to show off this incredible area, and we think it is a wonderful idea that we get to join you along the road. We are always so happy to meet people, but it never seems like we get enough time to spend- this way we'll have two whole days to get to know each other. And the best part is that we've had a hand in choosing the places we'll visit, so we know it's going to be an excellent tour! (we can't wait!)
If you are interested in booking a spot, you'll want to contact Rhapsody Tours early, since there are limited seats available... oh, and if you mention that you heard about the tour from us, you'll receive any two CDs of your choice as a thank you- we're really looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to re-visit "God's country" with some of you...
March 11th- What a great beginning to 2008...
We had a wonderful time at the ECMAs- Thank you to Fredericton for putting on such a wonderful conference and jam session! and a big thank you to my daughter (at whose apartment me and my "freaky band friends" crashed over the weekend. Talk about role reversal!)
I have been working on our websites (as I said I would) and have created a new facebook site for Ardyth & Jennifer, along with updating our myspace page- it's amazing how many people are on these networks, and we have found some wonderful music there. It _does_ mean that I have to update them all more regularly, but I'll try and keep doing that.
We are slowly building a wonderful touring schedule for 2008 which is going to include a couple of great concerts in Rothesay and Fredericton in April- it's amazing how fast the time goes. We're looking forward to collaborating with Alan MacConnell in Rothesay and the Elizabeth Smith premier dancers in Fredericton. The details will be added to all our web pages as we find them out (God willing!), but if you want to know more and can't find it on our site, please send us an e-mail and we can let you know more.
Last, but not least, we just have to say how incredible it was to play at St. Patrick's and how wonderful to see so many of you out on a busy Sunday afternoon. Thank you for supporting this worthy cause (and for "supporting our habit" by buying so many CDs! We were overwhelmed with the response we've been getting and we hope to return one day... hm... maybe a "WinterFire" concert this year??? We'll work on that.
And in the meantime we hope you're all dreaming of Spring and we hope to see you on our road...
January 14th- The snow is falling steadily and... wait a minute- not much has changed in the last month or so!
Oh, but it _has_. We've had a wonderful time with our friends and families and are ready to attack 2008 with vigour. It is a new year- new beginnings, new projects... We're looking forward to a wonderful new start. We have just found out that we have a couple of showcases at this year's ECMAs in Fredericton (My home town- yay!) and we are hoping to get the chance to work on some of the projects we've left behind over Christmas...
Speaking of projects- I have about five different websites and internet bios to update (and they have _all_ been sadly neglected!) so I'm going to try and work on that over the next little while.
So we are looking forward to seeing all our friends (and family!) in Fredericton next month and we hope to see you along the road...
December 14th- The snow is falling steadily and we are enjoying the best December in a long while... It seems like we only just began our Christmas season, and here it is almost over! We are playing for a number of private parties yet, but we only have one concert left that is not sold out. We feel like the luckiest people alive at Christnmas, and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming out to our shows even when things are so busy- We would be nothing without someone to sing for, so thank you!
We have had a wonderful time performing with the Aeolian Singers- what a great, dedicated group of Women. We are really hoping that this is only the beginning of our association with this group, and we're looking forward to writing for and singing with them in the future again. It seemed like a shame that we only did two concerts with them, we would have loved to present that music to more people at Christmas... perhaps next time?
We also had a great time with all of our other concerts this year- the folks at the deCoste Centre were wonderful as usual, and we had a very full house (almost sold out), which was great to see- the deCoste is a wonderful place, and it's good to see people out supporting them. We enjoyed being a part of the St. Mark's Food Bank Benefit once again this year. We had missed playing with you all! This has been a tradition of ours for the last 12 years, and we are really looking forward to next year, which will be the 20th annual concert. It was really nice to have the Blue Engine String Quartet join us this year, and we're hoping that one day down the road we may play a cocert with them as well... we think that woudl be a really neat combination.
And now we are getting ready for one of our favourite concerts of the year, "The Longest Night". This has become a tradition of ours, and we look forward to it all year. We will be performing selections from our "WinterFire" and "Spark" CDs along with some brand new songs we have just added this year. Pam Mason will be joining us on bass and Lynn Uzans will once again tell a Christmas story to round out the evening. This concert has become quite popular, and we may have a fairly full house, so please arrive early if you want to get good seats!
We'll try and check in again before Christmas, but in case we don't- we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, and most of all, music!
November 27th- We had a wonderful tour to Ontario... I am hoping to be able to get some pictures up on our photos page soon, but we have jumped "out of the frying pan, into the fire" as they say. (WinterFire, that is). We are just about to start our Christmas season, and we have some great concerts lined up. Between the great intimate venues at Mahone Bay and in the Music Room, the chance to join the annual deCoste Centre Christmas Ceilidh and the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with the Aeolian Singers, we feel like we are going to have the best Christmas ever...
November 3rd- I remember when I was a kid, and I would get a brand new diary... for about two weeks I would faithfully open it up every night before bed and pour my heart into it, promising it that I would always be true and write my innermost thoughts down.
I would find these books two years later, having stopped completely and try and catch up by writing things like, "Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote...".
And now, with all good intentions, I've done the same with this tour diary, so I hope you'll all forgive me! It's perhaps even harder to stick to a diary now that I'm older. But luckily, with age comes a little perspective, so I'm not even going to try and catch up, I'll just jump in the middle...
So we're on our way to Ontario soon (Yay!) and we will be playing an incredible concert thanks in a large part to my Sister, Kate, who managed to mobilize the creative writing community of Ottawa, and thanks to them, who in turn seem to have mobilized the folk society and even the harp community in support of the new St. Brigid's Community Arts Centre. We're really looking forward to playing with Gareth Pearson, a young guitarist from Wales who will be joining us, and even more, we're looking forward to cristening this new performance space with it's first ever concert. This is going to be a lot of fun and we can't wait.
We're also playing a wonderful event for Saint FX University in Toronto, and we're hoping to crash a few open mikes/ folk nights on our way through. Then we're going to celebrate on our way back through with Rachael's dance group, the Elizabeth Smith Dancers and Matt Carter in the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. We can't wait to play in this lovely space and bring "Learn To Fly" to my home town. And last, but not least, we're going to enjoy Randi's cooking at the Braodway Cafe and play an intimate concert there before heading back home.
What more could you want in life?
I'll try and write in while we're on the road, but no promises... and I hope we can see everyone we want to see on our way through, but this will not be our last trip to Ontario. It seems like we actually know a _lot_ of people there, so don't worry... if we don't see you this time, we'll be back!
September 28th- Well fall is here (can you believe it?)... we "frittered away" our summer having a great time playing at Keltic Lodge again, the Hector Festival, the Sounds of Summer concert series, many lovely weddings and events... heck we even recorded part of a new album of instrumentals thanks to the incredible Pam Mason.
We had a great time. However, all of this busy work meant that I've neglected the website terribly (sorry website!). I'm hoping to get a chance to catch up over the next little while, but the truth is we are heading into a very busy time for us... The long and the short of it is that we are going to be travelling to Ontario in November. This coupled with the usual wonderful WinterFire tour schedule means that we're very busy. Probably too busy to put the finishing touches on that instrumental album until perhaps the "dark months" (January, February). So we'll keep that "under our hat" as they say. In the meantime we are looking for help with our Ontario tour- so far we have Toronto and Ottawa figured out, and Fredericton is almost set for on the way down, but we're looking for any help we can get to find a place to play in Quebec... So anyone out there with some thoughts about that please e-mail us! I won't make any promises about when I'll get back to this tour diary, but I WILL promise to try! Hope to see you along the road...June 21st- Wow- time has really been flying by! we had a great time at the MacLean's benefit, and we raised a lot of money. I have put up some of Pam's great photos here and they tell the story pretty well. I'm still hoping to get some more pictures to add to that- I know there were a lot of cameras there...
Meanwhile we are getting ready for a trip to Cape Breton next week- we are really looking forward to visiting St. Peter's again and seeing all the folks at the Bras D'or Lakes Inn. From there we head to Keltic Lodge, and that will be a great way to start the summer. I'll try and take lots of pictures and get them up as we go- we're hoping to take some creative time while were there and get ready for another CD (someday!).June 5th- Plans are not just "coming along nicely" but you might say "exploding" for the MacLeans benefit! We have finalized the performers for the evening, and if you're in the area you do NOT want to miss this concert! The valley holds an incredible wealth of talent, and they are all coming out to help the MacLeans. Not to mention the businesses that have kicked in their support. It's going to be a great evening.
Here's the list so far: Donna Rhodenizer and Andy Duinker, Mike Aube, The Hupmans, the "Croaking Toads", Jon Hemmingway, some of Christy Hodder's "fiddlestickers" (along with some highland dancers), The incredible Pam Mason, Maggie Keppie and Kimberley Smith, Bob Conan, Elizabeth Harwood, Lynn Uzans and of course us.
Our only problem is that each of these talented musicians will only be able to do one or two songs, which hardly does them justice... We hope that the folks who are watching will be introduced to some of these acts for the first time and will make sure to check them out another time when they can really shine.
June 1st- What a great evening at MacAskill's! The food was awesome, the audience was fun and we had a perfect view of the Blue moon. Ardyth managed to run into Dave Gunning, Troy MacGillivray and Matt Anderson afterwards- they were all out playing too and I guess they talked 'til the wee hours. Thanks for the CDs and for sharing your chocolates, Matt!
Meanwhile, we have been overwhelmed at the response we've had for the MacLeans Benefit concert we're organizing (check out the poster for some details: "Help! Fire!") I guess you all love them as much as we do! We are hoping to have a great crowd out- We already have an impressive line up of talent, and I wish we had a quarter for every musician who would love to be there but is playig somewhere else already... Matt and Dave and Troy all send their love, Don Osburn from the Union Street Cafe not only sends his love, but is promising to pass the hat for them at his regular folk night in Berwick that very night. Jamie Robinson already gave them a speaker to tide them over, and James Logan is lending them a mixer. It is so encouraging to know that musicians will support each other when the "chips are down"...
And we have even had support from Musicstop, who are providing sound for the evening, Scotiabank who are going to be setting up an account for people to donate in trust towards this cause and of course from St. James Church, who are not only providing a venue for the concert, but who will be offering a reception afterwards. Thanks to all of you for your help!
May 31st- We had a nice time in the valley- it was a smoking hot weekend, but there were still quite a few people who came in to check out the Women's Expo. We enjoyed meeting all our fellow booth holders, and we loved playing in the Middleton church- what a great sound! We would love to come back at some point for a WinterFire concert perhaps...
Tonight we are playing at MacAskill's in Dartmouth- and looking forward to a nice intimate setting with a gorgeous view and awesome food... maybe we'll see you there!
May 23rd- So this is my first entry... we have had a lot of fun over the years, and this page is going to be a chance to hear about what goes on behind the scenes and about our after concert get-togethers. I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to the L'arche community of Saint John where we played two weekends ago, and in particular to Marc Villwood, who suggested that we should have a blog on our website for these stories. Thank you for the midnight snack of home made bread and for sharing all the great stories of our childhood antics! Thank you Gray for making us laugh so hard it hurt (I'll never go cow tipping again!!!), thank you Marilyn for coming up with the idea of having us in the first place, and thank you to all the residents and member of the L'arche community for making us feel so welcome!
From the moment we arrived at the Chinese Commerce Building and met Allan MacConnell at the door and then Dan Kirkegaard, the main organizer for this event, we were treated like royalty. Thank you for the lovely dinner and all the help with our sound system! We had a wonderful crowd despite the fact that Matt Anderson was playing at the Imperial Theatre that night too (sorry we didn't get to see you, Matt- too bad we can't be in two places at once!), and our songs seemed to fit with Allan's words perfectly... Allan MacConnell is a very talented poet who donates all the proceeds from his books to charity. We enjoyed thinking on the spot and trying to find the perfect song to go with his poems, and I think he enjoyed that as well. It's made me think that we should consider doing a "words and song" concert series- Allan is not the first poet we've worked with, and it would be neat to explore how words and songs can meet... but that, as they say, is for another day. In the meantime, we hope that we can come and visit with you all in Saint John again. Thank you and take good care!
I will try and write in here as often as I can while we're on the road and add any comments you send my way, so stay tuned for more!
