Madison Violet Charms At The Crossing Pub In Sharbot Lake

Apr 11, 2013

On April 6, the duo Madison Violet, who have made Toronto their home base for the last decade and a half, proved that their good looks are not what has earned them their due as musicians. The multi-talented winners of the 2009 Folk Music Award took to the stage at the Crossing Pub in Sharbot Lake along with stand up bass player Adrian Lawryshyn of Toronto and captured the hearts of the sold out crowd, proving that they are musical forces to be reckoned with.

The duo is comprised of Brenley MacEachern (lead vocals, acoustic, tenor and steel guitar) and Lisa MacIsaac (back up vocals, fiddle guitar and mandolin). They are one solid package who cover diverse musical ground in their original offerings. Brenley has a classic country voice, a mix of Bonnie Rait, Cheryl Crow and the great Dolly, with a voice that can be tender at times, at others, gritty and powerful as all get out, yet is always expressive. Her beefy emotional range brings truth to the duo’s myriad of musical yarns. The two shared many new original tunes like their opener for their second set, “Tennessee”, a crooning, soft lament about looking back in hindsight at certain times in life and knowing how you could have done better.

Brenley, who seems an old soul and who was raised in Kincardine, Ont. is the fourth child of a romance that began when her mother was hitch-hiking in Montreal. She also joked about the pedestrian bridge in her home town, which she mistook as a youngster as the “Presbyterian” bridge and how she was terrified to cross it because she once told a cop she was raised a Catholic. The duo's second offering was a sweet ditty titled “The Small of My Heart”, a gentle sing-along that the crowd was invited to sing along to, which ended with an a Capella harmony beautifully set off by the crowd’s oooing chorus. Some of their best originals were the upbeat bouncy tunes like “Lorraine”, a tune with more blue grass leanings on which MacIsaac played a great fiddle part and chimed in with her pitch perfect back ups, which matched Brenley's expressiveness word for word.

It’s obvious these two have been playing for years together- their harmonies are seamless, their unisons perfectly balanced and their finishes always perfectly timed. Bass player Adrian played solidly on stand up bass and masterfully blended in to the easy groove of the evening, which was no doubt his designated role for the night. Kudos to the Whites, owners of the Country Inn, for continuing to bring new talent to the area, and judging by the capacity crowd, listeners are also grateful. For more information visit www.sharbotlakeinn.com