Grassmarket

Nova Scotia Music Awards

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:21:54 +0000

Grassmarket is up for Country/Bluegrass Recording of the Year! There’s a complete list of nominees here.

Here’s a photo from our hottest show ever… literally. Even hotter than last year’s Riverfest was this year’s Growing Green show in Bridgewater. That’s not David on the left, that’s Andrew Sneddon, and it was awesome to play with a Dobro player, but his band the Moonshine Ramblers are pretty terrible and definitely do not deserve to win the Nova Scotia Music Award we’re both nominated for.*

*unfortunately untrue. Congratulations, Ramblers!

Spring

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:16:33 +0000

Some songs from recent shows:

This is the Life

Where Did Your Heart Go?

january.

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:44:53 +0000

Oh, my. We closed our eyes, took a deep breath, and by the end of the exhale it was 2010. Doesn’t that sound like we’re living in the future? Bleep, bloop, it is 2010. Our resolution is to wear only silver lamé clothes, this being the future and all.

We had a busy fall, lots of shows, so much music, an immersion for what is by necessity a once-in-a-while band. And then we used all our onces for that while, and Dan and I have been holed up in our little house, writing. It’s the winter. Winter is not for skidding across the frozen yard carrying a giant bass and a very delicate banjo. Winter is for coaxing life out of—into—these woodstove-dried instruments and finding new ways of saying old things, like but baby it’s cold outside, and is that all there is? and solid stone is just sand and water. So that’s what we’ve been doing. We are thinking of different ways of bringing the songs into the world, like maybe it’s true that CDs are obsolete and we should think outside the jewel case, etc. As soon as our recording software works again (I will admit to you, and only you, that I well and truly buggered it), we will have a couple of new songs to put up here.

Because that’s how we make it through winter, through grief, through these dark and cold and trying times, right? Pick up the guitar and hope someone will know what you mean.

Happy new year. May all your leggings be lamé.

penelope

zuppa circus fundraiser

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:19:59 +0000

A quick update: we’re playing the Zuppa Circus fundraiser again this year. Last year was so amazing—The Music Room is an astoundingly beautiful venue, sonically and aesthetically. This year promises to be even more fun, partly because Gypsophila are playing, and who among us, Haligonians, does not feel fortunate every day to have this achingly good music in our midst? David couldn’t join us last year but will be there this year, and we are carefully selecting our songs to fit the theme: Songs for the End of the World. Tickets are cheap for what you’re getting and there’s a hot silent auction and creepy masks and Ruth Minnikin and the Heavy Blinkers and Ryan McGrath and more, and also, also, of course, Zuppa Circus themselves will be singing songs from their Poor Boy show, and releasing the CD of music from that show. ALL IN ONE NIGHT, IN ONE ROOM. I know. Astounding.

Penelope

p.s. The HPX show was electric. Not literally, mostly, but on the ears and skin.

POP!

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:00:57 +0000

So tomorrow night we’re playing at the Halifax Pop Explosion. Dan grew up in Sydney, so the Pop Explosion has always been the epitome of cool for him. The day we found out we were accepted, he was like a fifteen-year-old with the car keys. So happy.

We’re playing with a couple of amazing bands. One is the Magnificent Sevens, and the other is the weather station. For anyone still with space in their dance cards for Thursday, October 22, come to the Company House at 8:30. It is going to be a fantastic night.

Speaking of fantastic nights, here’s some photographic evidence of our swell, swell release party. First two photos by Richard Lann, last photo by our friend Anita:

release party

release show

Shaker!

magic

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:37:20 +0000

It’s how we all felt about Saturday night—it was one of our favourite shows ever. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came to the incomparable Company House. The room was jam packed with Haligonians and Philadelphians and New Zealanders and we felt absolutely privileged to play to such an attentive and enthusiastic audience. It is thrilling to have Port City being played in your cars and your iPods and on the radio. Thank you!

Photos to follow soon…

Six days!

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:50:57 +0000

We’re six days away from the official release of Port City and we’re mostly excited with a bit of nervous. I’d like to talk about the cover art, which takes my breath away. The incredibly talented landscape artist Paul Hannon gave us permission to use his painting “Bridge in Wet Fog,” which is my favourite of his and one of my favourite paintings of all time. It evokes Halifax, this cozy and damp and lovely and lonely city, so completely.

As I wrote the song “Port City” I kept coming back to this quintessentially Haligonian image—the car lights shimmering on North Street, the Macdonald bridge looming above a foggy harbour, winking streetlights, and the trees, of course, in this city of trees. I certainly didn’t anticipate being able to use it, though; I only asked because I didn’t want to regret having not tried. But Paul graciously said yes (which I still can’t believe), and now every time I look at our stacks of beautiful CDs I pinch myself. I thank Paul so much for his generosity and his unreal talent, and for painting Halifax with such love. You can see Paul’s other cityscapes here and his available paintings—mostly stunning landscapes and coastal scenes—here. Some of Paul’s paintings will be featured in an upcoming book called From Land and Sea: Nova Scotia’s Contemporary Landscape Artists, by Dee Appleby, and “Bridge in Wet Fog” is going on the back cover.

Aaron Harpell did an amazing job of designing Port City—he let the painting be the most important element, using soft and textured details to create backgrounds on the interior and on the disc itself. He’s also been designing and illustrating some amazing posters for us. I feel lucky and humbled to be working with such gifted artists.

We’ve played some tremendously fun shows in the last couple of months, including Tunes at Noon, a show at the Union Street Café in Berwick, and a little acoustic set at the most beautiful studio I’ve seen, Heartstring Productions. Thanks so much to everyone coming out to hear the music; it is such an enormous privilege to be listened to.

(photo by Dawn Sloan)

If you can, come out to the release on Saturday, October 3rd, at 8:30 p.m. at The Company House. Dance Movie is opening, and if you have not seen them play then you are missing out so hugely. Tara Thorne is a woman of many talents, and all of a sudden she was like “Oh hey guys, I also write ridiculously good songs, I have a killer voice, and my banter is unparalleled.” So we were like “Oh hey Tara, please play at our CD release.” And SHE SAID YES!

I don’t think I could feel luckier.

penelope

Port City

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:16:13 +0000

Thanks to everyone who has come out to our shows over the past few months. We had a great time at the Full Circle Festival and some shows at The Foggy Goggle and The Seahorse. It has been great to play new material and get ready to release the new CD.

We just finished mixing and mastering (Ryan Roberts did a stellar job) and the CDs should be in hand in the next few weeks. You can get your copy on October 3rd at the Company House where we will be playing the release with Dance Movie. New tracks will be posted soon.
We are super excited!

Have a great July and we will see you in August.

New site, new album, new season.

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:18:01 +0000

Thanks to Mat Dunlap and Mike Wright for this lovely new website.

It’s been a long winter of recording, and we finally have an album release date for Port City : October 3rd at The Company House. David Bradshaw started playing with us last fall, as we began work on this album, so the songs are full of sweet three-part harmony and killer harmonica, mandolin, and fiddle. It’s such an amazing process, to build a song from one person with a guitar/banjo to multiple instruments and voices, and we’re thrilled with how these ten songs are turning out. They held some surprises, that’s for sure. The past month has been especially fruitful—spending a day crocus-hunting with a toddler is in fact a perfect warmup.

We’ll be posting some sneak previews here in the coming weeks.