Band Details

From the Promoter

Andy Hillhouse

Guitarist and singer Andy Hillhouse had his entrance to the world of professional folk music began with the creation of his own group Mad Pudding, who released four CDs in the late 1990s and performed widely across 2 continents. Now as a song interpreter and specialist on Celtic rhythm guitar, he has played with several of Canada’s most respected, unique and exciting acoustic musicians including Pierre Schryer, Zav RT, and The McDades, with whom he won a Juno award in 2006. Andy is a former member of the Juno nominated vocal ensemble, Musica Intima. Andy has PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto, with specialization focused on the music of the late Canadian fiddler/composer Oliver Schroer.

He is at long last releasing his first solo CD. Joining him is fiddler Cam Wilson (Mad Pudding, Joe Trio, Van Django), multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah McDade (The McDades, Maria Dunn), and boundary-spanning bassist and composer Adam Hill, as well as some other special guests!

Andy conceived of doing a solo album after moving out to rural Harrison Hot Springs 3 years ago. Feeling a little isolated from his broader Canadian musical community out in Harrison, Andy realized it might be fruitful to start working on his writing, arranging, and guitar picking in solitude, and to use the wonders of digital technology to reach and collaborate with musicians he admires and loves.

The Eisenhauers

It has been said that all Canadian writing inevitably reflects the almost impenetrable vastness of the land and the great distances that separate us. If The Road We Once Knew by the husband and wife duo The Eisenhauers is any indication, you’d be hard pressed not to come to the same conclusion about Canadian music. Simple, spare and heartbreaking in its directness, the concepts of distance, time and the wavering arcs of separation and reunion have rarely been as compellingly explored as they are in this powerful debut album.

The Road We Once Knew is, at heart, a meditation on change that explores the dynamics of escaping from the city and moving to the country. In the Eisenhauers’ case, the move involved swapping life in metropolitan Vancouver for the relative seclusion of Kaslo, an old lumber town tucked deep in Eastern British Columbia’s Purcell Wilderness Conservatory.

Realizing the significance of their decision to work together, Jeremy and Sheree wanted to ensure that their new songs got the treatment they deserved, so they bit the bullet, fundraised a handful of cash, and flew to Nashville to meet Steve Dawson and record at his legendary Henhouse Studio. They made the best of their time there and recorded 15 songs in 5 days, with 14 of them making it onto the album.

With its songs of loss, faith and the gratitude of renewal, The Road We Once Knew is the perfect soundtrack for real people trying to live authentic lives. Beautifully played, sung and executed, it is a testament to the healing power of music and the value of wisdom gained from experience. It's true soul music. Every word and note on it rings true.