Band Details

From the Promoter

With humour, grace, and warmth, Annie Lou takes the stage with banjo and guitar, and invites you in to a colourful world of original music rooted in melodic traditions and delivered with an inspired energy and spark. Old folk, oldtime, country and bluegrass is the palette upon which she paints vibrant landscapes, where you can laugh, cry, dance, reflect and connect with ballads, tunes, and songs inspired by lives and times and ups and downs.

Annie Lou is releasing her fourth album, End Zone, a gorgeous collection of new songs that draw deep from the well, filling the bucket with rich melody and wry wisdom. The album features a guest cast of Canadian acoustic innovators, including Andrew Collins on mandolin and guitar, Max Heineman on upright bass and vocals, Sarah Hamilton on fiddle and vocals, John Showman and Trent Freeman on fiddle, Frank Evans on banjo, Burke Carroll on pedal steel, and Ivan Rosenberg on dobro. Real, raw, and deeply honest, End Zone is a magical addition to the Annie Lou catalogue.

Collins, Hamilton, and Heineman will be joining Annie Lou for a Western Canada CD Release tour. Together they are a tight vocal and instrumental unit that offers superb musicianship and an infectious delight in their craft. In live performance the band gallops along with joyful danceable precision, enticing audiences with twin fiddles, banjo, three and four part harmonies, call and response, and compelling instrumental solos.

“There is magic here: superior picking, excellent rhythm work, impressive and whimsical lyrics. Genest’s lead vocal style echoes the McGarrigles and Sylvia Tyson, but she is irrefutably herself.” - Donald Teplyske, Country Standard Time

“Genest’s remarkable songwriting about the tales of rural Canadiana…move across a range of emotions and each evokes the right texture. “ - Michael Rampa, High Octane Music

"Annie Lou’s music is loose and playful, intense and breezy; performed by a smart woman and her highly polished sizzling band.” - John Apice, No Depression Magazine