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Riding the Rails

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

We're home from Halifax!

My Bruce Peninsula bandmate Matt Cully (aka EONS) and I went out to the East Coast this past week to play in Halifax. Our show at the King's College Library was a total trip - a beautiful old building full of amazing things - they were even giving away free books! - and amongst the stacks there was a concert going on! Myself and EONS played with one of our favourite Haligonian bands Nick Everett and Everybody. This was the first time we'd seen Nick with his new band, and they were jaw-drop amazing.

Matt and I took the train to Halifax, but it was a slightly unusual journey because we also performed while we were on it! We were lucky enough to get accepted by a VIA Rail program that provides musicians with free long-haul travel in exchange for performances in the lounge car of the train! We played four times during our two trips, and there was even a singalong to I Can't Help Falling In Love with You by Elvis. Movie-watching, book-reading, and window-gazing in our sleeper cabin, and breakfast in the dining car filled up the rest of our journey.

Some pictures of Matt and I at Halifax's harbourside Point Pleasant Park...

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Playing at the Library!

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Right now I'm in Halifax, and looking forward to playing in a LIBRARY tomorrow evening!


My beautiful friend Bryn McLeod is known in Halifax for putting on awesome shows in unconventional settings, so when I told her I was coming to visit Halifax with Matt Cully (my Bruce Peninsula bandmate) and his band EONS, she set up a show for us at the campus library of Kings College. We're thrilled to be joined at this show by another good friend and Haligonian Nick Everett, and his new band!

This show starts early tomorrow evening, and will include live readings of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and musicians in the library entrance!

Matt and I will be taking the train from Halifax back to Toronto early next week, and we will be performing in the lounge car on during our journey! Stay tuned for pictures and updates from that experience!

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Messages

Friday, March 16th, 2012

 I recently got to sing with my good friend Isla Craig on a new recording of her music. I feel pretty lucky to have gotten to do this with some of the best singers and most beautiful people I've known - Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station, Daniela Gesundheit of Snowblink, and Felicity Williams of Hobson's Choice and many more! 

Here's a video from our live recording session at 6 Nassau of the song Messages. Love to Isla and the ladies!

Also exciting news: I will be playing my annual early-Spring dinner show at the Rectory on my home-base Toronto Island. The show will be on Good Friday - April 6th. Call 416-203-2152 for dinner reservations.

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Andy Maize / Ivy Mairi next Friday

Friday, February 17th, 2012

I am so thrilled to be opening for my good friend and great supporter Andy Maize at Hugh's Room next Friday February 24th. Andy will be playing a rare solo show, though he'll still be joined by his Skydiggers bandmate Michael Johnston, as well as Derrick Brady, Glenn Milchem, and Devin Cuddy - who will also be playing a solo set! I'll be backed by a full band that night (I'm just about to run off to rehearsal right now), so it's sure to be a wicked show!! To reserve tickets, click here.

The following night I'll be playing in Waterloo for the first time! Matt Bailey and I will play an intimate set at the Branches, and we'll be joined by a bunch of other artists. For details, see my tour page.

At Hugh's Room, Andy will be performing songs from his beautiful solo album, The History of Forgetting. Isn't the cover amazing?! .......................................

See you this weekend!

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Two videos of my beautiful family singing!

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

On January 3rd (the only cold day we've had this winter so far!) the incomparable Mitch Fillion of SouthernSouls.ca came and filmed kith&kin singing two unrecorded songs: Cool of the Day, by the Appalachian folk singer Jean Ritchie, and Thousands or More, a folk song we learned from a version recorded by the Copper Family. Enjoy, and happy new year!

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Christmas Playlists for YOU

Sunday, December 25th, 2011

Happy Season everyone!

I'm out on Toronto Island with my family for the week. One of our family's Christmas traditions is making hand-dipped beeswax candles that we give to our friends and neighbours as gifts. My mom has been organizing this for as long as I can remember. We cover the dining room table with newspaper and heat up 4 different colours of beeswax on the stove. We make long, tapered candles. They are dipped in pairs, and then hung to dry and harden underneath the stairs (see above!!). We listen to some of our favourite folk records like Nowell Sing We Clear by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, and Frost and Fire by the Watersons. There's this really rich smell in the air - a mixture of beeswax, the Christmas tree, and the curry and mole sauces my dad makes. It's the best place to be this time of year!

This year both myself and kith&kin, the vocal group I have with my mom and sister, were included on holiday compilations put together by some great blogs. You can listen to Sound Vat's playlist "If Jesus had been born in Canada, he would have needed more than swaddling clothes" here, and British blog The Line of Best Fit's third annual Ho Ho Ho Canada comp here.

Some beautiful music to propel you into 2012!

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Wassail!

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

This is my family.....

Well it's three of us anyway. kith&kin is the vocal trio I sing in with my sister Martha, and our mom Kathleen. My dad Alec is our biggest fan, and when we're lucky he lends a penny-whistle solo to our songs! Music has always been a big part of the holidays for my family, but for the last 3 years kith&kin has put on a big holiday show. So, for me, performing with them has become integral to this time of year. I look forward to this show all year - all the beautiful music that is made, and all of the great people it brings together. This year, our Holiday Wassail is on December 15th at Toronto's Music Gallery, and it's sure to be amazing! (Details right here.) Tickets are now available at Soundscapes (572 College) and Rotate This (801 Queen West), or from kith&kin members. You can also listen to our album Yet Will I be Merry: Carols and Songs of the Season in the music section of this site.

kith&kin have just finished a weekend of performing. These two performances - in Prince Edward County and Ottawa - were our first-ever out of town shows! We had so much fun traveling as a family and bringing our songs to new audiences. One highlight was singing at dusk in the big old barn owned by our friends at By Chadsey's Cairns Winery. The show in Ottawa - which was a split bill featuring both kith&kin and myself (as myself, Ivy Mairi) - was so wonderful! It was an intimate concert in a house next to the Rideau River. My bandmates swear they heard geese honking outside during our set! We made a bunch of new friends in Ottawa and this is all due to the endless generosity of our friend Phil Nicholson, who organized the whole thing start to finish. Thank you Phil!

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DECEMBER

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Last night I stayed up stuffing CDs. It's an activity many independent musicians know all about - assembling your own packaging saves dollars, and, if you're in good company, can actually be pretty fun. Last night we were stuffing the remaining copies of Yet Will I be Merry: Carols and Songs of the Season, the holiday album of lesser-known carols I made with kith&kin back in 2008. kith&kin is myself, my sister Martha, and our mother Kathleen. We sing traditional music, often a cappella. You can hear our songs on the 'music' section of this website!

All that CD stuffing is in anticipation of kith&kin's fourth annual Holiday Wassail on December 15th at the Music Gallery in Toronto. Our Wassail is a HUGE affair, complete with an 8-singer choir, a kids' Mummers Play, and of course kith&kin's beautiful 3-part harmonies. It all happens at the beautiful Music Gallery, which is housed inside St. George-the-Martyr Church. The Wassail is a wonderful musical and community event that has come to be one of my favourite days of the year! You can find all the details you need about the event here.

I'm also pleased to announce a special house concert next Sunday Dec 4th in Ottawa, which will be a split Ivy Mairi / kith&kin bill! My great friend Phil Nicolson is helping us put it on. Phil is the host of all hosts, so it should be a spectacular evening. It will be the first time Matt, Lucas, and I have all played together since I've been on tour with Bruce Peninsula, so I'm very excited. Space at this concert is very limited, so please email ivymairimusic@gmail.com for more info.

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NO TALKER / BROKEN SPEAKER

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

My friend at the illustrious Broken Speaker posted a wonderful review of NO TALKER last week. Check it out here!

I'm home from tour, but I've got some sweet shows coming up next week.

First I'm in Guelph on November 14th doing a house show put on by the awesome folks at Community Music, with Your Neck of the Woods and the Geese who are on tour all the way from Vancouver. Check out both bands, they're awesome! Facebook event for more details - click here.

On Nov 16th I'm back in Toronto performing in a special show with Bruce Peninsula at the Dakota Tavern. BP is a large band, with as many as 10 members at some shows, but each of us makes our own music, too. On our October tour, we played a number of more intimate shows where we performed revue-style - alternating between acoustic versions of Bruce songs and the songs from our various solo projects. Now that the format has been sufficiently honed on the road, we're bringing it to our hometown! Don't miss the Bruce Trail Revue at the Dakota on Nov 16th! Details here

Here's a video of one of our revue-style songs, The Leaves. We made in St. John's NFLD with our friends from Heavy Weather.

Bruce Peninsula - The Leaves from HEAVYWEATHER on Vimeo.

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Feel Me Closer

Monday, October 24th, 2011

I'm five days from the end of my 3-week tour with Bruce Peninsula and Toronto is in sight! Be sure to greet us at our homecoming and CD release party at Lee's Palace.

We had an amazing time at the Halifax Pop Explosion this weekend. I played my first solo set in many months, and it felt so good! I must say that HPX fans are something else - the Bust Stop theatre was positively buzzing by the time I went up at the fashionable hour of 8:30PM!! It's not too often that you meet such a punctual audience, and one that actually listens no less! Halifax is the best place! I'm reminded a little more each time I go.

Toronto is now in my sights, and the first thing I've got to look forward to is a very special show at Hugh's Room on October 29th. The show features Latent Recordings' finest Cowboy Junkies, Finlayson/Maize (of Skydiggers fame), Cootes Leland, and myself. I'll play the show as a duo with Matt Bailey on electric guitar and mandolin. I'm so excited to share the stage with musicians who have been such an inspiration and source of guidance to me in this crazy creative business! A few months ago, I covered the Skydiggers song "Feel You Closer" for Mitch Fillion's website Southernsouls.ca. A tribute to my Latent family!

BRUCE PENINSULA - IVY MAIRI 'Feel You Closer' by The Skydiggers from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.


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