Album Notes

These Canadian blues/roots recording artists hail from the mountains of southern British Columbia – the Kootenays, to be exact – and you’ll be hard pressed to find another daughter/father duo with as much going for them as these two. Not only do they compliment each other with their playing and singing (Jon’s blues drenched guitar with Holly’s stellar vocal chops) but they write great songs together; and those vocal harmonies are the kind that can only be achieved by members of the same gene pool.

The story of how Jon discovered Holly’s inherent vocal abilities is one he loves to tell. “We were living in a one room cabin on a mountain side on the east shore of Kootenay Lake when Holly was about 4 or 5 years old. It was around Christmas time and I was sitting at the kitchen table strumming my guitar when Holly started to hum a melody along with the chords I was playing. It sounded real good and she was right on key. I changed keys a few times to see if she would follow me. She did. It was the best Christmas present I could receive – finding out that my daughter had been bestowed with the gift of music. I knew it was something we should work to develop”.

And develop it they certainly did. Just listen to the blues feel and jazz phrasing that Holly uses on ‘Train Wreck blues’ from their album ‘Big Wind on the way’, or her blues mama approach to ‘I’m a woman’ from the same album. You don’t learn to sing this way. You’re born with it.

When it came time to for Holly and Jon to record an album (their first full length all original work) they decided they wanted to showcase their songwriting as well as explore some of the genre’s that inspired them. The result is an original sonic journey through jazz influenced funk, acoustic alt/country, contemporary folk/rock and electric blues.

Holly and Jon have gone from singing ‘Take me out to the ball game’ for family and friends to playing their own songs on shows with guitar slingers such as Colin James and Jeff Healey, legends such as Leon Russell, jazz greats like Fathead Newman and The Brubreck Brothers, blues men like Harry Manx and Paul Reddick and great vocalists such as Ruthie Foster (whose performance inspired Holly to write ‘Human Kindness’).

You’re going to hear a lot more from Holly and Jon. Of that you can be sure. This is only the beginning.