The Small Glories, a near-perfect harmonic folk duo will be stopping in Fernie on Thursday, April 27 at The Arts Station.
Since Cara Luft and JD Edwards joined forces to release their first album together in 2016, they’ve been an unstoppable sound in the music industry, making it to the top of many critic’s top ten lists in Europe and America.
Luft, a Juno Award winner, possesses the bright personality of a country girl in a summer dress with a banjo, and a powerful, engaging stage presence. She has been described as “a perfect blend of lightness and gutsy rock chick”. Her laugh is also uncontrollably contagious. Edwards is close to the opposite in appearance, but very similar in talent. Some would peg him as a “cross between a biker and a long haul-trucker in scruffy beard, ball cap, t-shirt and jean jacket, slightly intimidating at first”.
Both have been acclaimed as world-class guitarists and vocalists, and this was earned through years of performing before meeting each other at The West End Cultural Centre’s 25th Anniversary event in Winnipeg, October 2012. It was a night where artists who didn’t know each other were paired up to do a song neither had performed before. It was then that Luft and Edwards discovered the magical combination of their voices. Looking back, Edwards recalled it taking them two seconds to realize, and both were overjoyed.
“It’s something that, when you hear it, it just clicks,” he said. “We’re constantly working on our music, our show, and our song, so there’s a constant evolution of how we sing together, but we knew right away that it sounded good.”
Luft believes the two have been playing together long enough that they have developed their own unique sound.
“I think we have a style of singing that is a little different than most duo’s,” said Edwards, affirming what Luft said. “We do quite a bit of harmony singing and that’s kind of what we base our everything on, as far as Small Glories is concerned.”
Contrary to a typical harmonic duo, the two like to switch back and forth in styles, with each taking the lead and alternating who harmonizes.
Within the past year, the two have been receiving a comment of which they are very proud; that their singing no longer sounds like two separate singers, but one unit.
In their 2016 album, Wondrous Traveler, there are multiple themes.
“A lot of the songs talk about this idea of home, and what that means to us on different levels,” said Edwards. “Of having a home, not having a home, the idea of being away from home or coming home.”
Even before The Small Glories, an underlying theme in their music has been unity, love, and trying to stay positive in what can be an overwhelming world. The Small Glories love any chance they get to give people a release from whatever stresses might be weighing them down.
Outside of what they hope to give the audience, both play music because of how it makes them feel.
“I feel immense joy,” said Luft. “I also feel that when I’m singing and playing... I’m really tapping into what I was created to do.
“I think it would be a disservice to myself, if I wasn’t singing and playing,” she added.
The Small Glories are excited to return to Fernie for the third time on April 27. They will be taking the stage at The Arts Station at 8 p.m.