It was during our previous visit to The Painted Lady in Toronto, for a matinee performance with Melanie Brulee, that we received word from The Marrieds that they would be playing at this venue later this summer. Naturally, the date clashed with another event that we had already purchased tickets to down in the Niagara region, leaving us to believe that we would sadly miss out. However, upon learning that The Marrieds were also performing a matinee show, we knew that we could at least catch their first set, before having to race down to Niagara with fingers crossed that there would be no traffic delays on the QEW.
Needless to say, everything worked out without incident on this particular Saturday evening, meaning that we were rewarded with a wonderful opportunity to catch The Marrieds live with their full band in tow. Okay, scratch that! With their full band in tow, less their poor bassist who was stranded in Hamilton with car troubles and did not make it to the show. Yet this husband and wife duo of Jane Carmichael (vocals/guitar/ukelele/harmonica) and Kevin Kennedy (guitar/vocals) were undeterred with such complications, and maintained their strong bravado and ‘show must go on’ attitude. Accompanied on stage by Brent Jones (keyboards), Jesse Nestor (guitar/mandolin/lap steel) and Matt Weston (percussion), this ensemble of musicians combined their talents to make up for the loss of the low end bass sound.
With three full-length studio albums to their name, The Marrieds would pull material from across their back catalog, much to the delight of their friends and family that made the trip to downtown Toronto for the show. Opening the festivities with “Come To Bed” from their 2013 sophomore “Saving Hope” album, the band would also add “Ophelia” and “The Rest Of My Days” from this release. Digging into some of the earlier work from the 2011 self-titled debut album, Jane would share a tale surrounding the origins of the track “Back To You.” “This is a song we wrote out on the East Coast in Prince Edward Island…and we were just so taken by the beauty and how quiet it was,” explained Jane. “There was this buoy on the water that just hummed, and Kevin figured out it was E Flat…the music nerd…and so he decided to create an accompaniment for this buoy…and we ended up writing this song…our love song/tribute to the East Coast.”
Regular readers of this blog may already be familiar with how we discovered The Marrieds, thanks to the random purchase of their most recent “Fire In The Flame” album. So naturally we were excited to hear several selections from this release, especially both “Rita” and “Bungalow,” which are the polar opposites of each other (the up-tempo bluesy feel of “Rita,” versus the slow, melodic, vocals in Bungalow”), yet blend together like night and day. And thanks to Kevin, we learned that “Rita” was actually the name of a friend’s motorcycle that provided the inspiration for this number. Whilst happy that we caught the first set from this talented band, we must confess to being a little envious of those who did not have other commitments, and could appreciate both sets. Still, this proved a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Toronto, and if you have not yet had the pleasure of hearing music from The Marrieds, the three albums mentioned above are a great place to start.
The Marrieds Set List:
- Come To Bed
- Find Your Way
- Back To You
- Apres Vous
- Bungalow
- A Girl Said Yes
- Ophelia
- The Rest Of My Days
- Rita
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
