Projects

- Joey Wright (Sarah Harmer, Doug Paisley, Ron Hynes) 

Audibly Le Volume are hot on the heels of The Doobie Brothers, Mandala, The Incredible String Band and Daniel Lanois, and abreast along the backstretch with Crowded House, Max Webster and Alison Krauss. You can consider it to be a Canadian twist on the Boys of Summer with an American Girl: eh? Le Volume writes in both English and French, performing mostly originals, but also interpreting and translating songs by such luminaries as Jesse Winchester and Carolyn Mark. The band also has the honour of including an original song by Canadian literary giant Ann-Marie MacDonald in their repertoire, written just for them! 

Their songs explore topics from first summer love to sub-division dreams, beach-town rendezvous to small town Ontario’s own ubiquitous Metal Dad (not doing’ too bad!). The music created by Jenny, Joey and Julian as Le Volume has the uncanny effect of buoying your spirit at one turn and touching your soul the next as they weave beauty, melancholy and hilarity deftly into a gorgeous Le Volume blanket that can be used to warm you by the fire or be thrown on the sand for a sunny waterside picnic. Le Volume’s music features the rich strumming of acoustic guitars, the bright tinkling of mandolins and ethereal vocals with loads of harmonies sewn throughout as each member takes a turn on lead vocals. The result is a rich yet light, folk-not-folk, bubbly yet heavy concoction that is sure to intoxicate its listeners. 

This new clutch of tunes written in English are summer-themed, just in time for an early album release in 2025! Le Volume will produce what is sure to be called "a modern masterpiece", or at least "your new favourite Canadian dock-rock light, right next to “Patio Lanterns” and “Summer of '''69!”

Born and raised in Wikwemikong First Nation, on Manitoulin Island, in Northern Ontario, Crystal was introduced to the blues by her eldest brother and to old-time country by her parents. “I was also into other styles of music that led me to the blues,” she says, citing everything from Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” written by Big Mama Thornton, to R&B-pop star Monica’s “Misty Blue,” by Dorothy Moore. “I was one of those kids who read the liner notes,” Crystal says. “I wanted to know everything, who are the songwriters, the musicians, the producers, the engineers. I'm always wanting to know who are the originators, who are the mothers of invention, who inspired all of us? I’m a purist at heart, so I was always diving back to learn from the masters, like Etta James, as far as vocalists; Muddy Waters, as far as feeling; and Buddy Guy, as far as stylists who have a lot of swagger.”

And yet Crystal’s first foray as a professional singer was in country music, not blues. She was in her early 20s and had immediate success after signing a U.S. record deal with RCA Nashville. 2008’s Dawn of a New Day, featuring the single “You Can Let Go,” reached No. 1 on the Canadian Country Album chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums, the highest charting album by a full-blooded Canadian Indigenous country artist.

The following year she left the label and created her own, New Sun Records. Her first release was the holiday album I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Her next country album was 2010’s Just Like You, which won a 2013 Juno Award for Best Aboriginal Album, before she made the change to the blues with 2014’s The Whole World’s Got The Blues. Two years later, in quick succession, came 2016’s Fish Out of Water and 2017’s Voodoo Woman, then recognition as a bonafide blues talent with 2020’s Church House Blues, which won the 2021 Juno Award for Best Blues album. Last year's Midnight Blues won the inaugural Best Indigenous Blues Album from the Maple Blues Awards.

After a quarter century of being known as a darling of, London, Ontario, and equally as the hardest working roots/rocker in Canada, Smith made some dramatic, but ultimately soul-restoring changes to her life involving a change in locale, and a shift in the way she approaches life. The songs that are emerging since the move out West in 2020 are the outcome of several open-ended collaborative sessions with similarly inspired musicians, yet are still infused with the essential components that are hallmarks of a Sarah Smith composition – truth, passion, connection, and conviction.

She has chronicled the loves and losses of her life throughout her recording career on a series of evocative solo albums, including the acclaimed Stronger Now (2012), The Journey (2014), 11 (2016), A Christmas Wish and Live in Concert (both released in 2018) through (2019’s) Unveiling and Sarah Smith & The Lovers of London (2021). She also released thirty co-written songs, all remote collaborations during the pandemic, on Songs From When The World Went Still (2021).An in-demand performer, Sarah has played on stages both massive and intimate, sharing the bill with the likes of Melissa Etheridge, Nancy Wilson, KT Tunstall, Emm Gryner, Joel Plaskett, Sass Jordan, Bif Naked, David Wilcox, 54-40, Carole Pope and many more notable artists.

Each new song, each new album is a glimpse into Sarah’s personal journey as a human, as an artist, as she navigates through the peaks and valleys of her life. Her compelling and often brutally honest selfexamination is mirrored through her powerful live performances, with both the output of her creativity and her engaging live experiences offering a real and profound connection with her audiences.