Recording: The Holy Oak Family Singers

Artist: The Holy Oak Family Singers

Songs: That's What Makes You Strong [Jesse Winchester cover; Thom Gill vox] + Dear Darling [Mary Margaret O'Hara cover; Ivy Mairi vox] + I Don't Know [Kate and Anna McGarrigle cover; Alex Samaras vox] + Thirty [The Weather Station cover; Thom Gill vox] + Runs in the Family [The Roches cover; Robin Dann, Felicity Williams, Alex Samaras vox]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), February 20, 2020.

The Holy Oak Family Singers - That's What Makes You Strong

The Holy Oak Family Singers - Dear Darling

The Holy Oak Family Singers - I Don't Know

The Holy Oak Family Singers - Thirty

The Holy Oak Family Singers - Runs in the Family

A really wonderful night, once more bringing together this loose aggregation of immensely-talented musicians that once congregated at the much-missed Holy Oak. The special occasion this time was a milestone birthday for Luke Kuplowsky, who got to pick the setlist, populating it with some of his mournful/joyful favourites. As always, the crew ranged through the songbooks of the artists they'd paid tribute to in the past (Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Arthur Russell in addition to the ones posted above) and a few special one-offs, like the especially-relevant Weather Station tune. And as always, there were a series of friends rotating in and out of the backing band and vocalists' chairs. Truly a really special time, and worth remembering these days as to why we used to gather together (and hope to someday again).

Recording: Unclassic Classics

Artist: Unclassic Classics

Songs: Lonely Son [Vernon Wray cover] + unknown^* + In the Shape of a Heart [Jackson Browne cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Sound For Silence II), February 14, 2019.

Unclassic Classics - Lonely Son

Unclassic Classics - unknown

Unclassic Classics - In the Shape of a Heart

This Valentine's Day special served to celebrate a very special love — one felt by a whole series of communities for the Tranzac. With all three of its performance spaces often busy all at once, the sounds from one room can often bleed into the next — theoretically charming in its way, but also disruptive when it happens at an intense or quiet moment of a performance. Fundraising efforts to enhance the rooms' sonic isolation have been underway for awhile now, with this night featuring a silent auction as well as a slate of musical talent drawn from several of the divergent scenes that call the Tranzac home.

The biggest highlight of the night was this sorta-inside-out version of The Weather Station, brought together by Tamara Lindeman to celebrate songs that sound like stone classics, but have been relegated to unjust obscurity. "Most people start cover bands so they can play songs that everybody knows, and play at weddings at stuff. I started a cover band to play songs that nobody knows, hopefully, which is funny 'cause it defeats the purpose of a cover band," she commented early on. The supple and sympathetic backing band got out of the way of the songs, bending their style to fit each piece and moving from the country-soul behind a tune from Link Wray's brother's cult private press album to something simultaneously more "1986" and more soulful than Browne's original recording. (The middle cut here, featuring Lindeman on piano backed only by Ben Whiteley's bass — plus some ungoogleable lyrics — hews the closest to something you might find on a Weather Station album with its spare, intimate beauty.)

A band like this, with Lindeman and Whiteley joined by Sam Gleason (guitar), Geordie Gordon (piano/synth) and Evan Cartwright (drums) played with the effortless excellence of session pros, but also the casual joy that can emerge when there are places like The Holy Oak or The Tranzac to incubate their talent and telepathy.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: The Holy Oak Family Singers

Artist: The Holy Oak Family Singers

Songs: Stay Loose [vox by Ben Gunning] + Only Love Would Know [vox by Felicity Williams + Thom Gill] + If You Could Read My Mind [vox by Tamara Lindeman] + I'll Tag Along [vox by Luke Kuplowsky] [all songs composed by Gordon Lightfoot]

Recorded at The Burdock Music Hall, August 13, 2018.

The Holy Oak Family Singers - Stay Loose

The Holy Oak Family Singers - Only Love Would Know

The Holy Oak Family Singers - If You Could Read My Mind

The Holy Oak Family Singers - I'll Tag Along

You never know what you have 'til it's gone. When the beloved Holy Oak was in full swing, "family" events like this were a regular occurrence, with some of the locals who used it as their hub banding together to cover musicians ranging from Prince to Mary Margaret O'Hara. The bonds of comradeship have transcended the loss of the venue, but events like this are a bit rarer on the ground these days. It has to be said that this was entirely too good a show for a Monday night, but it just might be impossible to gather these busy pros together on any other night of the week.

The instrumental core — Evan Cartwright (drums), Ben Whiteley (bass), Christine Bougie (lap steel), Ben Gunning (electric guitar), Luke Kuplowsky (acoustic guitar) and Thom Gill (keyb) — served as session aces for an all-star team of vocalists, including the latter three instrumentalists plus Tamara Lindeman, Felicity Williams, Robin Dann and Alex Lukashevsky. There were plenty of hits essayed, from "Every Highway" to "Rainy Day People", but the group here dug deeper as well, showing a special affection for the less-popular 80's Gord, including his '86 East of Midnight album, and demonstrating that the craft and wisdom in those compositions is on par with the better-known stuff.