At her best Cara Luft can be a lively performer but the injection
of an extra refreshing bout of exuberance made her return to the Kitchen Garden
Café a truly memorable occasion. Her link up with fellow Winnipeg artist JD
Edwards appeared to be the source for this rejuvenation, although Cara continues
to cultivate her passion in cross Atlantic collaboration with the renewal of
association with English folk singer Bella Hardy. The pair will be hitting a
select few UK venues later in the year but for now it’s her work with JD taking
centre stage.
With a combination of old, new and a trio of JD Edwards songs
to be aired, the format for the Café this evening reverted to a no support-twin
set show and the well- attended venue, containing many familiar faces to Cara, was
treated to an entertaining night of stories, songs, fine musicianship and a
little impromptu humour. Right from the start, Cara couldn’t contain the
delight of the link up and the pair is well down the route of recording a new
album which should hit the UK market in 2015.
On an evening which was based on heralding the new, Cara
eased into the show with a series of her popular old songs and got everybody
singing three numbers in with the lively ‘My
Darling One’. The DARLINGFORD stories were toned down tonight although it’s
impossible to introduce ‘Idaho’ without
Cara mentioning the picture of GW Bush while favourites like ‘No Friend of Mine’ and ‘Only Love Can Save Me’ need little introduction.
Other popular songs to feature were the traditional duo of ‘He Moved through the Fair’ and ‘Black Water Side’.
At this point it’s worth mentioning the string expertise of
Cara on both guitar and banjo with JD excelling on guitar, harmonica and
backing vocals in primarily a support role on these older numbers. However it wasn’t too long until he took the
spotlight with the rendition of three originals either side of the interval.
While ‘Had I Paid’ and ‘Old Garage’ came across well, it was the
background and delivery of the haunted tale ‘The Stranger’ which had had the most profound effect. Being
informed that he fronts the JD Edwards Band back home in Winnipeg with a folk
rock tinge to them was of little surprise after listening to the slightly worn vocals
which coated each song with smothering of urban grit. The adaptive nature of
his vocals was impressive as sufficient restraint was needed to work in the Café’s
intimate surroundings.
In what was rapidly developing into a duo show, the
influence of JD breathed new life into the Wailin Jennys song ‘Something to Hold onto’ and he worked in
a Woody Guthrie number late into the second set with a version of ‘Way Over Yonder’, one of the Guthrie
tracks resurrected by Billy Bragg and Jeff Tweedy. Cara herself introduced an historical
element into the show by explaining her passion for Sacred Harp (or Shape Note
Singing), explaining it to an inquisitive audience and demonstrating it through
merging a couple of songs – ‘Wondrous
Love’ and ‘The Traveller’.
Three of the new songs introduced during the evening were ‘Fast Turning World’, the Bella Hardy
co-write ‘Time Wanders On’ and the striking
encore number ‘Home Song’. Cara was
quite poignant in introducing this final song as it reflected her current
habitual status of not quite having a base but blessed by the warm acquaintance
that she has in many towns across the seas. With it now being a couple of years
since Cara first toured with her latest record DARLINGFORD, it is an exciting
prospect to know that she is likely to return next year with a shiny new
release.
Since her days with the Wailin Jennys, which is quite a
while ago now, Cara Luft has had a lengthy love affair with UK audiences. This
seems set to continue and is certainly reinvigorated with the tie up with JD
Edwards. The Kitchen Garden Café heralded an old friend and made a new one in
the same evening.
www.caraluft.com
www.thejdedwardsband.com
