It’s a mutual-admiration duo and a special treat for Roots and Blues fans.
Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle will play this year’s festival, which runs Aug. 19 to 21.
Colvin and Earle remember well the night they met. It was nearly 30 years ago, and Colvin had been invited to open a solo acoustic performance by Earle at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA.
Though their interactions that night were limited to some cursory dressing room pleasantries, each left more of an impression on the other than they may have realized at the time.
“I was knocked out with her,” says Earle. “She was a real live folk singer.”
“I was a big fan—still am—and I was thrilled I got to meet him,” reflects Colvin. “Steve’s just brilliant. He’s a very simple writer in an extremely profound way. I love his singing and his songwriting, he’s just got the whole package.”
Anyone in the audience that night could have sensed the critical acclaim, Grammy awards, and immense impact on popular music that awaited both artists, each already well on their way to becoming widely considered among America’s greatest living songwriters.
The longtime friends and admirers have now reunited to record their self-titled debut as Colvin & Earle, a true standout for each in a catalogue chock full of highlights and masterpieces.
The duo’s collaboration began two years ago with a phone call from Colvin, who had just wrapped up a joint tour with Mary Chapin Carpenter and found the experience offered a different set of artistic rewards from her typical solo touring.
“I found I really enjoy sharing the stage with someone for the whole evening,” says Colvin. “I love being a backup musician, I love singing harmony and being a rhythm guitar player and getting to be entertained by another artist I admire.
“Touring alone is something I do very well and it’s the right thing for me, but it was a nice change to have this camaraderie and repartee with someone onstage, and when I thought about who else I’d like to share that with, I immediately thought of Steve.”
The first show began with little more than a sound check for preparation, but they discovered an immediate spark, building from initially trading songs and stories back-and-forth to slowly, organically contributing guitar and harmonies to each other’s tunes throughout the night.
Earle, who’s toured with his full band in recent years, discovered a special chemistry that was unlocked when his voice met Colvin’s over acoustic guitars and mandolin every night on the road.
He was particularly moved when she joined him on his song Someday, a track Colvin had recorded for her 1994 Grammy-nominated Cover Girl album.
“The first time you’d really hear us sing together in harmony during the live show was on Someday, reflects Earle. “That’ll always have to be in the set, because Shawn recorded it when I was completely off everybody’s radar, including my own.”
The shows were so special to Earle that he proposed they record an entire album together in the spirit of the tour, co-writing brand new material to sing in harmony alongside inspired covers like the Rolling Stones’ Ruby Tuesday and Emmylou Harris’ Raise The Dead.
Arrangements were made to hole up in mutual friend Buddy Miller’s Nashville home with an all-star band including guitarist Richard Bennett, drummer Fred Eltringham, Kacey Musgraves and bassist Chris Wood.
With Miller at the helm as producer and baritone guitarist, the band worked through 14 songs in a week-and-a-half, capturing the spontaneity and magic of Colvin & Earle’s live acoustic shows, while at the same time fleshing out the arrangements with alternating moments of subtle grace and raucous grit.
It’s a remarkable revelation, considering the conviction and authority with which they inhabit their characters on the album. In a rare change of pace for both artists, the co-writes were true, even-split co-writes, with Colvin contributing a verse here or a melody there and Earle often bringing in a chorus or a chord progression.
Few things can touch the magic of artists so in tune that they seem to be able to read each other’s minds.
It would have been impossible to predict backstage at the Iron Horse all those years ago, but Colvin & Earle have gone from sharing a stage to sharing a band to sharing one of the finest records in either of their storied careers.
This year’s amazing list of Roots and blues performers also includes Matt Andersen, Great Lake Swimmers, Amy Helm and the Handsome Strangers, Eric Bibb, Jarekus Singleton, The Bros. Landreth, Crystal Shawanda, Jerry Lawson, The Sojourners and Martin Harley.
Earlybird tickets are available until May 31 and provide a $40 savings on a three-day pass.
Tickets may be purchased online at www.rootsandblues.ca, by calling 250-833-4096 or by dropping in at the Roots and Blues office at 490 Fifth Ave. SW.
