Manitoba Live Music Event

About

COLLEEN BROWN
Colleen Brown tears at our hearts as she does her own. With versatile songs and a voice akin to Joni Mitchell, she is relentlessly unafraid. Having won over audiences opening for Randy Newman, Jim Cuddy, Whitehorse, Frank Black, Buck 65 and Hawksley Workman, her 4th album ‘Direction’ – co-produced by Joel Plaskett – saw Brown topping college radio charts, achieving rotation on CBC, and touring Germany and the UK. Kerry Doole of exclaim.ca says ‘she is the rare vocalist that impresses equally on vibrant soul and quiet folk…travelling in Brown’s Direction is one very pleasing trek.’

Changing trajectory once again, 2016 sees Colleen joining forces with a multi-instrumental mainstay, Ontario’s Elijah Abrams (The Abrams Brothers, Rocket Surgery, Oh Susanna). In a few short months they have performed as a duo across Canada in house concerts and theatres alike – notably opening for Rufus Wainwright at Edmonton’s Myer Horowitz Theatre, and joining Oh Susanna at Toronto’s Great Hall as special guests alongside Sarah Harmer, Andy Maize (Skydiggers), Ben Kunder, Justin Rutledge and Jane Siberry. The duo are preparing to record a full length acoustic-folk leaning album for 2017.

RUEBEN DEGROOT
In recent years, performer / songwriter Rueben deGroot’s audacious musical eclecticism has won over audiences throughout Canada. Born and raised in Vancouver, Rueben learned to play guitar after falling in love with the music of Janis Joplin, Steely Dan, and Little Feat. After high school, he spent six years in Edmonton, where he played in bands and started songwriting. Rueben’s chance encounter in 2001 with songwriter Cameron Latimer led to their formation of The Seams, a Vancouver-based roots rock band that also included Steve Dawson and Adam Dobres (later of Outlaw Social). Following his departure from the band in 2005, Rueben continued to refine his craft over the next few years, writing dozens of songs.

In 2007, he settled in Kingston, Ontario, and gradually assembled his current backing band, consisting of guitarist Dan Curtis, bassist Elijah Abrams, drummers Rob Radford, Daniel Chalmers and Mark Fraser, and keyboardist Josh Lyon. The band is sometimes joined by a killer horn section featuring Bunny Stewart and Benjamin Perosin. Vocalist Christina Foster sings backups, as well as by other guests including friends Sarah Harmer and Spencer Evans.

Rueben’s high-energy, marathon concerts at the Living Room and at other Kingston venues soon established him as a local favourite. His well-received 2008 EP, The Winter of Our Discotheque, brought him even more popularity. Since then, Rueben and his band have averaged one hundred performances per year, and they’ve shared stages with Sarah Harmer, The Jack Grace Band, Michael Kaeshammer, Hey Romeo, Chris Brown (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Chris & Kate), and Daniel Lanois and The Derek Trucks Band. Rueben has also produced albums for Kingston performers The Gertrudes and Christina Foster.

SLOW LEAVES
Slow Leaves is the project of Winnipeg’s Grant Davidson. His music calls to mind an old country-folk record newly discovered in your parent's attic. Winner of the JUNO Master Class 2015, Slow Leaves is often seen performing with members of Broken Social Scene, Bahamas, and The Weakerthans. Known for his easy delivery of sincere, poetic lyrics and lilting melodies, Slow Leaves’ songs linger in the timeless spaces where heart and Canadian humility endure.

*SHOW WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE WECC'S INTIMATE ACU HALL*