Jacey Bedford Tour Management

Touring the UK in November 2010 in support of her forthcoming CD with side man Scott Poley on guitar, mandolin, lap steel, pedal steel and dobro, plus vocals

Cara grins cheekily, her eyes glint and she says: "I'm really excited about the new album and about getting back over to the UK to promote the snot out of it! :)"

Cara Luft likes to laugh. She does it a lot. It's one of the first things you notice when meeting her, that and her engaging smile. It's endearing and infectious. Nothing pretentious about her, Cara's the real deal. What you see is what you get from the former founding member of Juno award winning folk music trio The Wailin' Jennys. And that sense of honesty, integrity, personality and spontaneity permeates and resonates throughout both her music and her live performances. After all, what other folk-based artist unabashedly cites Buddy Holly, prog-rockers Yes, and even Led Zeppelin among their inspirations and influences?

“Cara's voice, songwriting, guitar playing, energy, passion, fire, sense of humor, and zest for life make her a great addition to any festival lineup.” – Rick Fenton – Artistic Director, Winnipeg Folk Festival

Powerhouse guitar, emotive lyrics, raw energy and a folksinger's heart - Cara Luft is a joy to behold in live performance. "She is a deep and funky wonder... muscularly musical." - Frank Goodman - Puremusic

Singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire Cara Luft is that rare artist steeped in folk and traditional roots music almost from birth yet willing to alter that fabric, stretch the boundaries, not afraid to bend genres, styles and integrate what others might regard as a disparate set of influences. Her music has been described as "a rich roots travelogue whose traditional heart beats with a wholly contemporary pulse spanning the distance between the mists of English folk balladry and Middle East mysticism, through to the Mississippi Delta and the rustic wonders of the Appalachian Hills, with a certain fearless reverence and no small amount of soul." (Ottawa Xpress) Americana UK declares her "a consummate performer. Unlike so many singer-songwriters, Luft's music has an urgency that can't be denied." Critics have drawn comparisons to Julie Miller, June Tabor, Gillian Welch, Linda Thompson and even Brit folk-rockers Pentangle.

"Luft's main musical heartland lies in country-folk territory, to which she brought an assertively strong, clear, pliant voice, with an assured command of dynamic nuance and contrast. In its balance of dulcet sweetness and tangy twang, her singing also contained shades of Nanci Griffith and Mindy Smith, along with the steely, bluesy muscle flexed in a couple of rockier numbers." - The Scotsman, 2009

The Light Fantastic (Black Hen Music, 2007), Cara’s latest solo album, produced by 54-40 frontman Neil Osborne and engineered by Warne Livesey (Matthew Good, Midnight Oil), has garnered superlatives far and wide for her distinctiveness and daring mix of styles, everything from Elizabethan to rock. Her songwriting is always evocative and insightful, her guitar playing fully accomplished and intricate, her voice distinctive, compelling and heartfelt. Cara’s choice of cover songs, notably the traditional Olde English ballad “Lord Roslyn’s Daughter” and the timeless English folk classic “Black Mountain Side” reflect her innate understanding of the traditional folk form redefined within a contemporary context. The Toronto Star noted that the album “showcases her exceptional abilities as a guitarist and her compelling and distinctive voice..... The 12 original songs on her second solo album..... are a powerful combination of imagination, rhythmic power and social commentary.”

Born and raised in Calgary, Cara grew up in a folk music family, striking out on her own in her early twenties recording two EPs and the Prairie Music Award-nominated album Tempting the Storm (2000) which signalled the arrival of a major talent. Based in Winnipeg, Cara has become a widely-respected and well-traveled member of the Canadian folk/roots music community. She has graced the stage at Lilith Fair and been invited to perform at the prestigious International Guitar Festival in the UK. With The Wailin’ Jennys she created one of the most talked about folk groups of the last ten years and recorded the exquisite 40 Days, winner of the 2005 Juno award for Best Roots Recording (Group). Since leaving the trio she has wowed audiences and critics with her solo performances across North America and Europe. “The most important thing to me is to keep writing songs and sharing them with people,” Cara acknowledges. “People need to know that someone else can relate to them or capture in song what they might have been going through. That’s what continues to motivate me.”

"Yes, Calgary's Luft is a Wailin' Jennys founder but so much more too. Think Julie Miller meets Gillian Welch on a lot of this, with an occasional bit of Linda Thompson tossed in." - John P. McLaughlin on The Light Fantastic

"Cara Luft's been listening to the right stuff way out there in Canada, making a smart move in relocating to Winnipeg - a city I know of old. This third album shows an abiding love of good old Brit trad and a canny way of writing her own remarkable folk rock grooves. Obviously familiar with Hark! The Village Wait, (and why not?) she covers My Johnny Was A Shoemaker, and The Blacksmith, with enough cavalier spirit to treat them loosely though never rebelliously. Her own musings are genial, varying between sombre on Send an Oar, skirling on Run To Your Lover, and introspective on I Didn't Know. On the up escalator for sure." - Simon Jones, fRoots Magazine (UK)

Review

THERE'S clearly some great word of mouth about Leith Folk Club going around among grassroots North American singer-songwriters, such artists having formed an increasingly frequent and rewarding strand of its weekly Tuesday night programme.

Born in Calgary and based in Winnipeg, Cara Luft spent three years as co-founder of acclaimed close-harmony trio the Wailin' Jennys, before leaving in 2005 to resume her solo career. The troubadour life clearly suits her: appearing in Leith ahead of several similarly intimate gigs in the Highlands, she and multi-instrumentalist Hugh McMillan had already been touring in Europe since early June, yet there was nothing remotely jaded about their performance, just plenty of relaxed warmth and vivacity from Luft – including some hilariously extended anecdotes describing the origins of particular songs – and a wealth of arresting yet beautifully apt accompaniment from McMillan, on mandolin, lap steel and electric bass.

As represented primarily by tracks from her second solo album, The Light Fantastic, plus a few from its predecessors and the odd Wailin' Jennys cut, Luft's main musical heartland lies in country-folk territory, to which she brought an assertively strong, clear, pliant voice, with an assured command of dynamic nuance and contrast.

In its balance of dulcet sweetness and tangy twang, her singing also contained shades of Nanci Griffith and Mindy Smith, along with the steely, bluesy muscle flexed in a couple of rockier numbers, Give It Up ("about boys who need to grow up before they can fall in love with a real woman – like me!"), and You're No Friend of Mine, a wry retrospective riposte to schooldays humiliation. A compelling cover of Led Zeppelin's Black Mountainside, working in echoes of the Bert Jansch/Pentangle version, displayed the breadth and expertise of her musical references, while a winsome rendition of The Bonnie Lighthorseman offered further graceful acknowledgement of the folk-club setting.

Contact:
Jacey Bedford of
Jacey Bedford Tour Management
01484 606230
agency(at)jacey-bedford.com

Cara Luft (Canada)

CARA LUFT @ LEITH FOLK CLUB

Contact: Jacey Bedford of Jacey Bedford Tour Management 01484 606230 agency(at)jacey-bedford.com

Cara Luft (Canada)

CARA LUFT @ LEITH FOLK CLUB

Contact:
Jacey Bedford of
Jacey Bedford Tour Management
01484 606230
agency(at)jacey-bedford.com