- Posted by Sue
Like many people during the early days of the pandemic, we went into a little bit of a shock. Suddenly we found ourselves stuck at home, uncertain about what the future held. No work, no social activities, our only link to the outside world was the Internet. While scrolling my News Feed on Facebook I noticed a Friend musing about starting an online poetry group that would meet on…
Read more- Posted by Dwight
We love the TTC, the Toronto Transit Commission! One of our favourite new experiences when we came to Toronto in the 1990s was riding the Red Rocket, the series of 500 numbered streetcars that began serving Toronto’s downtown streets in 1938. While the models of the Red Rockets have changed over the years, they have become symbolic of the entire Toronto Public Transit System and are…
Read more- Posted by Sue Peters
Dwight is a big country blues fan, Mississippi John Hurt, Brownie McGhee, Gus Cannon, to name a few. About 10 years ago, he noticed that sweet potato fries, a southern delight, were showing up on more plates at our gigs and on more menus, the next big thing in pub grub. He gave them a try and became a bit obsessed with them dietarily and creatively. He felt a…
Read more- Posted by Dwight
What do you do when you have a Title but no song? That’s the journey of After All of This Time.
I came up with the title for the song while jotting down songs ideas at the library, the proverbial blue skying in a nice quiet place. I wanted it to be a love song but I had no idea what the story should be. One thought was that it would be a requiem to a long relationship. After some serious noodling on the piano, the first two melody lines of the chorus with the Title emerged. But there was…
Read more- Posted by Dwight
In 2013, we started a music show called 'Where Have All the Folk Songs Gone'. We’ve always loved the music from the 1960s Folk Revival period and it appeared that many others did as well. We decided, in the spirit of Pete Seeger, to make it a singalong show. We learned quickly that audiences did not require much prodding to join in.
The show was also a real music education for us. I had a basic familiarity of the era’s artists from Winnipeg’s Top 40 radio format of the time. The show…
Read more- Posted by Sue
I am so thrilled to tell the story behind this song...the actual story of Alastair Duguid and the story of how I came to write the lyrics.
Throughout 2020 we have been presenting our music online. One of the beautiful things about that platform is that there are no borders, and so we are reaching audiences around the world. In January 2021, I received an email from Charles, a regular viewer from Scotland. He told me the story of his Uncle Alastair who was lost at sea when his ship was…
- Posted by Sue
Like many people, this pandemic has been an emotional rollercoaster for me…I’ve heard it referred to as ‘The Coronacoaster’. One day I’m feeling optimistic and the next, not so much. Not only about the pandemic itself, but while isolating at home, I’ve had a lot more time to observe the goings on around the world.
While writing this song, so many scary things were filling my…
Read more- Posted by Sue
Over the past decade we became good friends with a gentleman who regularly attended our music shows. When we met, he was in his mid-80’s going on 39, incredibly fit thanks to daily work-outs, and his positive outlook on life was infectious.
He rarely spent evenings at home, preferring to be out watching live music while enjoying a pint or two. This routine continued until his 96th year when a slow growing cancer caught up to him and he became housebound. Nonetheless, his optimism continued…
Read more- Posted by Dwight
The inspirations for songs can come from almost anywhere. And equally diverse is the length of time that it can take to complete a song. Some seem to write themselves in minutes while others can take years.
Sweet Ida is a mix of both.
I first got the idea for the song, the title anyway, probably 20 years ago. We were at the St Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning in the late summer as the season’s apple crop was just starting to come off the trees. I remember reviewing all the little…
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