A Conversation with Sarah Harmer (continued)

PM: I always think that artists are uniquely revealed when they're speaking about their cohorts. So maybe we could touch briefly upon the members of your current touring band.

SH: Absolutely. I have such a great band. Spencer Evans and Julie Fader and Jay Euringer, and myself, the four of us, we've known each other for over fifteen years, probably. Spencer and Jay are Kingston musicians. When I moved to Kingston to go to the university I would see them playing every Monday night in their jam like wacky band called--well, Free Association Blues Band, and then, Joy, which was another band. And Julie I've known since then, too, because we have some mutual friends. And so it's really great. It just feels right to be out playing with them. And Joey Wright is also a newer friend, but I've known Joey for a number of years.

PM: He's no relation to Luther, I take it?

SH: No, he's not. They say that they're half cousin brothers or something, but no, they're not actually related. But Joey and I are actually kind of related, because his wife, Jenny Whiteley who is a Juno Award winning roots songwriter and performer, she is first cousins with my sister Mary's husband.

PM: Wow.

SH: Canada is a small place.

PM: [laughs]

SH: So Joey and I, we say that we're related by marriage. And I've been a fan, he's just such a great player, and a great guy. And Chris Bartos, who mostly plays fiddle and some other instruments, piano and harmonica occasionally, we met a number of years ago at a wedding, but we really just started to play together since this album came out in the fall, in Canada. It's a wonderful band, and a great crew. I have an awesome touring scenario. It's really refined, but it has a really nice refined kind of underbelly to it. Everybody is so keen to be on the road and happy, and there's no one saying, "Oh, I've been to this town 25 times."

PM: [laughs]

SH: I just hate that. I love it when everybody is genuinely psyched. And so, yeah, we have a great time.

PM: When you consider the professions possible in the world, it's such a special thing to be doing, when people remember that.

SH: It is. I think we all feel pretty lucky. We all feel lucky. And no one has really toured in a bus before, either, so it's that kind of camping party quality that's good.

PM: Oh, yeah, they're so expensive, but they're so much fun, buses.

SH: Exactly.

[laughter]

PM: Yeah, but oh, the expense. I can't imagine what the gas is costing now.

SH: Well, what just happened, Frank, we get across the border into Detroit, and we're playing--we're doing a radio thing, a college radio or community radio thing here. And I'm in the back, so I don't see this happen, but I hear it happen, the bus driver turns into a parking lot and hits the front end of a car, just like ten minutes ago.

PM: Yikes.

SH: Yeah. And he's a great driver. I can't believe it. It was stationary. I can't believe he just--everybody is shocked, because he's just driven us for the first three weeks--

PM: Whoa.

SH: --effortlessly through New York City and all this--like Manhattan. And boom, he hits--so I'm glad it's not going to--

PM: Oh, the poor guy must be mortified.

SH: I know. I'm sure he is. It's an Acura, too, that he hit.

PM: Never fails.

SH: Ouch. So I haven't gone to the front of the bus to commiserate. I'm just going to happily kind of stand in the back here, yeah.

PM: Oh, sorry about him.

SH: Yeah.

PM: And so since he's a former band member and an old friend with a song on this CD, we should say something about Luther Wright.

SH: Yeah. Well, Luther Wright and I were--we were a couple for about almost seven years.

PM: I thought I picked that up from a photo.

SH: We were an item. And now we're just great, great friends. And yeah, Luther and I have been--we've been there when each other were--I mean, he wrote that song before I met him, so it's probably the oldest of the batch.

PM: Right.

SH: But he is a driven man. He just tours and writes, and loves to put on events and organize. He's a real make-it-happen guy. That song seems like a real timeless song to me. And I've sung it live with Luther Wright and the Wrongs, and on my own for years. So it just seemed to be part of the family as well.

PM: We're going to have to drop him a line and get him into Puremusic, for sure.

SH: Yeah, absolutely.

PM: We just love covering Canadian music. I'm forever astounded by the great music we've found up there.

SH: Cool, thanks.

PM: I never expected it when we started to do this ezine, some five years ago. And act by act, you just crawl into this scene, and find a lot of gold up there.

SH: There is. I could be completely happy by just really listening and exposed to Canadian music. And I know I've missed a whole lot, too. And the thing with Canadian music is it's--I mean, it's diverse, but a lot of people have been influenced by a lot of the same people that American songwriters have been. American music has really shown the way, or really been very influential and inspiring to people, of course. I mean, it's such a--just think of like Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt and all these great songwriters--

PM: Sure.

SH: --that play Toronto, and that have their records in stores up there that people know about, find out about. So the influence, I'm sure, is crossing over a lot. But now it seems in the last fifteen years there's so much bulk up, like there's so much now of our own, there's so much music being created, so much really good Canadian music being made.

PM: Yeah, I think it's fantastic. We're huge fans of people like Stephen Fearing, Ron Sexsmith, Fred Eaglesmith, and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, to name just a few. And The Sadies, for sure.

SH: The Sadies? They're awesome! I just saw them play about a month ago.

PM: Oh, I'm crazy about them.

SH: And they're so fun, they're so good, yeah.

PM: I just saw some picture of you at a Regina Festival with Dallas Good. [One of the two brothers in The Sadies--see our interview with them.] 

SH: That's right, yeah, we did a workshop together. Well, Julie Fader, who plays keyboards with me, she's also--she plays guitar, that's her main instrument.

PM: Oh, really?

SH: Yeah. And she writes songs. And so Bartos, who plays fiddle, he plays bass with her and I play drums, we're her band.

PM: Oh, yeah, I forgot you got up on the drums in Nashville and kicked the shit out of the drum kit!

SH: Oh, yeah.

PM: I was so shocked!

[laughter]

SH: That's the funnest part. Then I just want to stay on stage and like, "Oh, okay, now let's do another set." But yeah, we opened for the Sadies, Julie's band. It's Julie Fader and--we don't actually have a name. Our joke name is the Rhythm Method.

PM: [laughs]

SH: Anyway, so we opened for The Sadies in Kingston, just before we went on this tour.

PM: Oh, that's cool. So you play drums the whole set?

SH: I played Mike Belitsky's drums, yeah. He let me use his drums.

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