Chart Attack Live Review

Burk's Falls, Ont. is a strange place to find magical music on a Monday night.

Located about three hours north of Toronto off Highway 11, Burk's Falls is a sleepy village of about 1,000 people. But this past Monday night, it came alive and hosted an extraordinary experience, despite rain and cold.

Three artists from different parts of the country gathered at The Towne Theatre. Hailing from the northwest was the Yukon Territory's Kim Barlow; Nova Scotia's Old Man Luedecke represented the east; and from Winnipeg, the nation's cold, cold centre, was the illustrious Christine Fellows.

This grouping came together on a whim and had only been playing collectively for a couple of weeks. They were all folk but not quite folk, and all eclectic pop in their own weird ways. That said, with the tour barely begun, their collaboration was like that of old pals.

Barlow and Luedecke constantly swapped back and forth between guitars and a banjo, and playfully quarrelled over who got to use it the most, while Fellows sat back and played keys, ukulele and occasionally the glockenspiel.

These three stellar musicians were backed by violinist Alison Corbett, cellist Alex McMaster and percussionist Jordy Walker.

The ensemble played two sets of roughly 40 minutes apiece, and after the excited crowd gave them a standing ovation, they were welcomed back on stage at the end of the night for an encore.

While a few new songs had been written specifically for the ensemble by its members, most of what they played were their own works. They rotated and seemed to play an equal number of their own tunes, which seamlessly fit together as if they were one band.

Though the show only drew an audience of about 60 people, it was as odd as the lineup. It featured people from all over the area, including musicians Hawksley Workman and Sierra Noble.

The Towne Theatre is new to the music world, only having begun its life as a music hall this past August. It was traditionally used as a movie theatre, and the narrow stage sat at a lofty height of about five feet. Luedecke joked about the possibility of falling off several times.