Music News - Acclaimed duo Flora Knight & Sean Donald (CAN/NZ) announce a nationwide NZ release tour
09 August 2017 - 0 Comments
Acclaimed duo Flora Knight & Sean Donald (CAN/NZ) celebrate the release of their self titled debut album with a nationwide NZ release tour this September:
This record was made at the infamous venue, now recording studio, Chicks Hotel, Port Chalmers. It was recorded live in a one day session, with only a few takes per track, using one microphone, with the help of engineer Tom Bell. It will be available for sale at the forthcoming shows only.
The record is comprised of songs and tunes that Flora Knight & Sean Donald have gleaned on their travels around the U.S, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. True to the style of early American folk music of which the duo draw the bulk of their influence, these songs and tunes were learned from mentors, older generation musicians, at square dances, honky tonks, from 78 rpm records and peers.
The pair met in Toronto when Flora was on her way down to West Virginia to apprentice with a local musician there. A number of months later the pair met up and embarked on a pilgrimage of sorts through the Appalachian mountains and South down to Cajun country. At this point Flora had convinced Sean to come to New Zealand to assist her in putting on a tour of old-time square dances in rural town halls all over the country, and Sean has been residing in NZ ever since.
The collection of music recorded here is a nod towards the traditions in which this music was pioneered and developed over many decades. Flora & Sean’s interpretations of the music is a modest attempt to keep the music thriving in modern times .
Press Quotes:
“A superb support set from Sean Donald and Flora Knight. Fiddle and guitar, both singing. Close your eyes and it’s music from a crackling old American country and western radio show. “Does anyone here know Lefty Frizzell?” asks Knight. Frizzell would be three-and-a half-times Knight’s age if he were still alive.” - Roi Colbert, North & South Magazine
BAND BIOGRAPHY:
Winners of the 2017 Gold Guitars ‘Overall Runner Up Award’, ‘Traditional Country’ section and The ‘Freeze Ya Bits off Busking Competition’ Flora Knight and Sean Donald are a duo who despite their disparate upbringings, coalesce to produce harmonious electricity. As the electrons collide, one can discern soft yet exciting songs and tunes, anything from the sad to the humorous.
Fiddle player and singer Flora Knight (The Eastern, The Lonesome Pine Specials) was raised in New Zealand, where singer and guitar picker Sean Donald (The All Day Breakfast Stringband, Pigeon hawk SB) was raised in Canada, and now just a stone’s throw away from Knight, resides in Dunedin NZ. The pair met in Toronto right as Knight was heading down to West Virginia to embark on an old time fiddle pilgrimage of sorts, and Donald had just finished up a number of years of working on various farms in rural Ontario.
The music that Sean and Flora play is reminiscent of a bygone era that resist the wear of time. Whether it's a rip roaring ragtime fiddle tune, a mournful country classic, or a sweet and silly waltz they will have you on the edge of your seat. Their two voices blend beautifully to capture the tight country duet harmonies of the great turn of the century brother duets such as the Louvin Brothers or The Delmore Brothers. The fiddle tunes you will hear are largely steeped in the traditions of American folk music, and the silvery melodies will have you wish for reincarnation as Flora's fiddle itself.
Photo by Rosa Cameron
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