Oh My Darling

1) We love to find and introduce outstanding Manitoba performers here at the Glesby Centre. When you performed here all I heard about afterward was "Wow...they were just wonderful! Why haven't we heard of them before? Where did they come from?" You certainly had an impact on our audience. So why don't don't you tell us "where did you come from?" What are your backgrounds and how did "Oh My Darling" come to be?

When Oh My Darling performed at the Glesby Centre, we felt so welcomed by the good people of Portage La Prairie. We left feeling overwhelmed by the generosity and genuine kindness the audience shared with us and again we feel this way when hearing more feedback from that show.

Oh My Darling is made up of four young musicians  from Winnipeg, Manitoba. We were all born and raised and are proud to call Winnipeg our home. Us gals come from  pretty wide-ranging backgrounds musically. Rosalyn Dennett has been fiddling since she was old enough to hold a violin and has continued with music in her studies at the University of Manitoba. Allison de Groot picked up the banjo about 4 years ago,studying with the amazing Dan Koulak and it was a perfect match, there isn't much that can tear Allie away from the pluck of her banjo strings. Marie-Josée is a self taught upright bassist. She has performed all over the World with so many amazing talents I couldn't possibly fit it all on this page and Vanessa Kuzina started singing and writing songs in the closet on a garage sale guitar about 15 years ago, she doesn't go a day without channeling some of the late great country legends of our time and long before.

We are excited to announce that Oh My Darling recently celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Valentine's Day just passed.  The making of Oh My Daring goes back about 4 years. Vanessa met Allison while serving at a local WInnipeg restaurant, she had served Allie's family many times and was introduced to Allison and they started sharing songs and tunes. While in pre-production of Vanessa's debut album Peony Vanessa stumbled upon a performance by Marie-Josée's  on bass and collaboration began in the studio recording the album. There was a great chemistry and so much fun and exciting ideas. A new sound was beginning to take shape.   The three of us gals had been playing together for a couple of years and were starting to develop a sound all of our own and we knew that there was one important piece missing. So we started on the search for a killer fiddler and we knew we wanted another woman to join the group. It didn't take long before Rosalyn came in to our lives. Allison's step-dad and Rosalyn's mother had played in a band together back when they were about our age, the connection sparked right away and here we are 2 years later!

2) In what seems like a short time you went from emerging artists to a major Manitoba musical influence with a large following. What do you think has helped to attract so many loyal fans in our province and now across Canada to you and your music?

We have had such a great time over these last two years meeting great people within and stretching out of Manitoba's borders. Our audience has been growing steadily which we are so thankful for and our fans are so loyal. We are lucky to say that we have some super fans that come to every one of our shows and we couldn't be doing this without our loyal fans or without building relationships with new ones too.  We have been really fortunate to have  the support of the CBC with us too, broadcasting us regularly on local radio and now twice on National radio as a feature on  the CBC Radio 2 program Canada Live. The musical community in WInnipeg is so strong and so supportive, this also has helped us so much in our growth musically and with our fanbase.

There also seems to be a real movement to the simpler, honest things in life. The music that we are inspired by has its roots deeply planted in the simple values in everyday life. People are downsizing, wanting to de-stress, change their focus and live a life that is more organic and natural. Maybe we are all wanting to be able to hear everything a little clearer these days, in our music and in our lives.

3) The Western Canadian Music Awards honoured your debut self-titled EP, by nominating it for Best Roots Album in 2009. That's quite an honor. Could you share a bit on how you choose your music and what CD's are currently available as well as any new projects you're working on?

The Western Canadian Music Awards were such a surprise! Here we were 4 gals who had been playing for just over a year and decided to put 6 of our favourite songs and tunes together. We are so honoured by the nomination and had such a fantastic time showcasing in Brandon and meeting so many great people in the industry from across Canada. The EP has 6 tracks on it, two of the tracks are traditional, and the rest are original compositions by us gals. This collection of tunes were some of our favourites that we had been and still do perform,  we wanted a recording that could represent us well and something for our fans to take home with them.

Over the winter this year we set out to record ten tracks in the studio with producer extraordinaire Lloyd Peterson ( Wailin' Jenny's, James Keelaghan). We are happy to announce that the new full length album In the Lonesome Hours is ready! This is a collection of our original compositions that was inspired by some heartache and longing. In the Lonesome Hours takes you on a journey from the western prairies with songs like Caught You Looking and Little Darling Suzy through the mountains of Appalachia with Stolen Key and Pixou Falls. There is a real down-home country vibe exposing the old souls that seem to be hiding in us four gals.

There are only a handful of copies left of the debut self-titled EP, which you can find online at CD Baby, and the new full length recording will be releasing April 1st, available on line, on itunes and in local Winnipeg music stores. We are about to set off on a cross Canada CD Release tour starting April 1st, we will be heading as far East as Montreal and as far West of this great country as Vancouver Island and all the stops in between. We are excited for our local stop on the tour with our hometown release slotted for April 16th at the West End Cultural Centre. There is more information on shows and the upcoming album release and tour up on our website www.ohmydarling.ca

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