Manitoba Live Music Event

About

Meeting in 2012 via a chance YouTube sighting and fueled by a once-in-a-lifetime musical chemistry and friendship, Canadian-American Roots-Folk duo Dan Frechette and Laurel Thomsen are “prodigious players with songwriting that sets them apart.” Now touring in support of their recently released fourth album, Driving By Candlelight, they combine soaring violin, diverse guitar styles, compelling storytelling, a dash of harmonica and humor, and unique vocal rapport for a dynamic, engaging, polished performance.

Now married and based in Northern California, Dan and Laurel’s third album, Between the Rain, was top ten on Canada’s campus radio Roots charts for 2016. Touted for being both "lyrically refreshing and musically diverse,” they have toured North America extensively, playing everything from Home Routes house concert tours of the Canadian Prairies, to headlining spots at the Listening Room Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida, BBC Radio in Liverpool, UK, Canada’s definitive Winnipeg Folk Festival, and opening up for The Wailin’ Jennys at a sold out theater in Grass Valley, California. In 2017 they made their European debut, including concerts in Ireland, the UK, Denmark, France, and Germany.

In late 2018 they released their fourth album as a duo. Spanning the range of Roots based genres, Driving By Candlelight is the consummate showcase of their unique fusion of backgrounds, perspectives, and influences with 13 new original songs “pondering contemporary subject matter with vintage sensibility.”

Beyond the synchronicity of their meeting, Dan and Laurel’s backgrounds, musical palates, and even their personalities, make both an unexpected and extraordinary match. Fans note the sense that one is witnessing an outpouring of color, creativity, and artistry far more textured than the sum of its parts. Though each artist had a drastically different style of musical training and were influenced by contrasting musical backgrounds, their commensurate dedication, experience, and the ways in which they inspire each other to grow and evolve musically, make Dan and Laurel a dynamic and unstoppable team. It also helps them craft concerts which offer a bit of something for everyone and it’s not unusual for the duo to hear that they turned someone who doesn’t typically like “folk music,” or “songs with vocals,” or “original music,” or “instrumentals,” or “violin music” or “acoustic music,” etc. into a fan who plans to go out and support live music more frequently. That’s an incredible feeling!

Dan and Laurel are quickly finding their niche on the North American and European folk circuits. However, hard work and dedication are only a facet of their relationship; as those who meet and hear them soon discover, “there is something incredibly romantic about these two and the way that their love story is told through their music.” Whether refueling back home, or creating their home on the road at various tour stops around the globe, it’s clear to people who witness these two that their harmony extends well beyond the notes.