MUSIC PREVIEW: Is Erin Costelo’s new album named after a candy bar?
Nova Scotia soul-Americana Erin Costelo shows a soaring energy and a steadfast resolve in her work, as she pushes back against the world, and sometimes even the industry that seems to want to fight against her.
She plays Thursday, April 4 at The Almanac on the back of her second full-length, Sweet Marie, recorded in a oceanfront home over 10 days in Nova Scotia. Her current band features some stellar musicians in their own right, from drummer Glenn Milchem (Blue Rodeo) to keyboardist Leigh Fleming-Smith (Matt Mays), to guitarist Clive MacNutt (Costelo’s life partner and longtime collaborator).
Costelo’s previous album – Down Below, the Status Quo – was nominated for 12 awards in the Eastern provinces, and with the two albums, she is now poised to go to the forefront of the nation’s soul scene. Many think she’s already there, earning comparisons to Nina Simone, Mavis Staples, Peggy Lee, and the like. From sensual to playful, from bouncy to bluesy, it would seem her career’s on a spiral staircase heading up, up, and up.
Don Brownrigg opens the show as part of his own album release tour; the Halifax singer-songwriter spins tales that are at once honest, poignant, and vibrant. 7 pm, $15, BUY
Thursday 4
Ben Caplan – This folk artist, born in Hamilton and now residing in Halifax, prides himself on his multi-instrumentalism, and is touring to support his 2018 release, Old Stock, based upon a stage musical of the same name that Caplan co-wrote. It tells the story of Jewish Romanian refugee ancestors, who fled the violence of their nation for Halifax in the early 1900s. The sound is very folk, but also very Eastern European; an erudite blend to be sure. Station On Jasper, 8 pm, $20. BUY
Friday 5
Clay Walker – This Texan found himself with a pair of No. 1 albums on the Canadian country charts in the mid-1990s, with his debut eponymous release, and the follow-up If I Could Make a Living. That duo of albums included four singles that received significant airplay, including What’s It To You, Live Until I Die, Dreaming With My Eyes Open, and If I Could Make a Living. He’s continued to release albums since then, and his 11th album Long Live the Cowboy came out in January of this year. River Cree, 9 pm, $58 and up. BUY
Electric Six – This Detroit sextet has combined elements of rock, garage, disco, punk, and others, into a healthy career that’s spanned an incredible 18 studio albums since their first – Fire – in 2003. Last fall, they released their most recent, titled Bride Of the Devil. Starlite Room, 8 pm, $18. BUY
Saturday 6
Johnny McCuaig Band – This Saskatchewan band most definitely finds itself in the hard rock genre – with bagpipes! Grooving, frenzied guitars intertwine with the Johnny’s pipes to create an intriguing feeling that you’re at once in a mosh pit, and on the spring meadows of Scotland. As their catch phrase goes, “it’s not Celtic … it’s not pop … it’s not alternative … it’s everything”. Station On Jasper, 7 pm, $14. BUY
Monday 8
Morgan James – This multi-talented Idaho-born singer-songwriter has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including The Addams Family, Wonderland, Godspell, and Motown: The Musical. She’s now embarked on a music career, and her journey finds her in our fair city on the back of two studio albums – 2014’s Hunter and 2017’s Reckless Abandon. Her sound is mostly in the soul and R&B realms, though her very first release was a collection of Nina Simone cover songs in 2012. Starlite Room, 8 pm, $18 and up. BUY
