A few years ago we took a chance on seeing a musical group we hadn’t heard of before and went to a Good Lovelies concert at Orcas Center. We were very impressed!!
Years go by and the memory can dull. The Good Lovelies were back in town and we waffled over getting tickets again but finally chose to go for it.
Wow, were they fantastic! And the overwhelming impression from the get-go – AGAIN – is how lovely and lovable they are.
In the first few minutes, they draw you in and you are smitten. A perfect combo of practical, adorable, and ever so slightly sassy, they are also professionals at honing their sound, entertaining a crowd, making us laugh and feel, and capturing our hearts.
I very rarely buy CDs during an intermission, and I bought two the other night and haven’t stopped playing their new one (called We Will Never Be the Same) long enough to try the one before it.
I am impressed by the way the Good Lovelies – Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough, and Susan Passmore – understand the power of using subtle, understated sounds, and how that can be more moving than big, obvious instrumentals. I’m not great at explaining it. I guess another way of saying it is that, to me, they have mastered songwriting and playing. And I appreciate that the songs on the CD are just as good as they are in person. Sometimes CD songs sound completely overdone or differently mixed compared to the live performances, which often causes me to put a CD aside. Not so with The Good Lovelies!
This is my new favorite song lately; I’ve listened to it over and over. I think it’s beautiful…
I’ve got the Alexa in our kitchen playing their new album on a continuous loop to the point that my 14-year-old is passing through as I’m washing dishes, leaving me little whispers that I need to find other songs to mix into the constant Lovelies replays.
If you are looking for new music that is a refreshing combination of real, uplifting, beautiful, fun, and has elements of love and loss that we can all relate to in relationships with the people in our lives, check out their website, their YouTube channel, and their ever-playful Instagram posts.
The concert the other night ended on a very Orcas note, where the performers become part of the locals and vice versa. Jake Perrine and Dimitri Stankevich of Orcas Center hopped up on stage and sang along with the band for their final song called “Young at Heart” before the standing ovation.
Here is “Young at Heart” if you’d like to hear it…
The evening ended with CD signing by the three lovely ladies…
This is the fifth time these natives of Ontario have played on Orcas in the 18 years they have been together, and I’d say they’re pretty smitten with our world here. (Who isn’t when they come to our island?!) They stayed with locals, ate with locals, and felt what it’s like to really be here. We are pretty darn smitten with them too.
More from their site…
Sue and Kerri first met in a grade 2/3 split class many moons ago. It wasn’t until Sue’s final year of high school where they really started to spend a lot of time together. They were in the same choir (La Jeunesse) for many years, and discovered a mutual love for songwriting and performing. Kerri accompanied Sue on some gigs in her hometown, and a big crowning performance moment for them was when they performed Alanis Morissette’s song “Uninvited” during an assembly honouring retiring teachers.
Sue and Caroline met in 2002, through a mutual friend Yvonne Howard (it occurred to us that this band wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Yvonne introducing these two women years ago.) Caroline and Sue celebrated New Year’s Eve 2001/02 together, and travelled to Virginia Beach a few months later, sealing their bond as friends for life. Years later, Sue would open for Caroline and her sister’s band, The Brooks Sisters’, CD release show.
Kerri and Caroline met through Sue a couple of years before the Good Lovelies began. A little known fact about our band: In Febraury 2004, we did our first show together – not as Good Lovelies, but as three separate acts. Kerri, new to Toronto, opened the show and played a solo set. Caroline and Katherine (The Brooks Sisters) played next, performing songs from their debut album Carport Sessions, and Sue Passmore and her band closed the show with songs from her album 87 Miles. Eventually, December 2006 rolled around and the three of us happily set up another show as soloists, where we would back each other up on our solo material. That fateful night was the night the Good Lovelies were born. December 15, 2006 – our birthday.
Caroline has been playing the guitar since she was six years old. When our band began she taught herself how to play mandolin, banjo and is now delving deeper into the world of the electric guitar and pedal boards.
Kerri has been playing the piano since she was six years old. When our band began she taught herself to play the guitar, banjo and electric bass. She is now also bringing an omnichord on stage with her.
Sue started on piano, taking lessons through high school, and picked up the guitar and percussion during her university years. When our band started she taught herself how to play bass and expanded on her percussion kit over time.
At Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto
This final photo is from the Orcas Center concert by our very own Steve Alboucq, who takes beautiful photographs. (I hope you are okay with this, Steve!)
Goodbye for now, Good Lovelies…
