The Small Glories

The powerhouse duo, aka Cara Luft and JD Edwards, are touring for their critically acclaimed Red House Records debut, ASSINIBOINE [uh-sin-uh-boin] & THE RED.  Featuring stirring harmonies, clawhammer banjo and songs that capture a sense of mood and place, the duo’s high-energy live shows and song craft have drawn comparisons to Shovels and Rope, the Civil Wars, Mandolin Orange and others. The Juno-nominated album saw the band win International Folk Alliance’s “Artist of the Year” award in 2020 as well as multiple Canadian Folk Music Awards: Contemporary Album of the Year, Ensemble of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year.

The album title refers to the two rivers that intersect in their home base of Winnipeg, Manitoba and the entire album has a sprawling feel of openness and wide-open spaces that evokes the vast Canadian Prairies. Stand-out tracks include “Alberta” (a love song to Cara Luft’s home province), “Johnson Slide” (sung from the point of view of a person who died in the Johnson mudslide in Alberta, Canada) and the single, “Oh My Love,” an upbeat song that’s actually about opening your heart to someone and realizing the feeling isn’t reciprocated (a full-on heartbreaker).