Winners of the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards (both Ensemble of the Year and English Songwriter), The LYNNeS – Lynn Miles and Lynne Hanson – come to Rochester for their first Golden Link concert on Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 pm. (Note that this date is rescheduled from January when we had to cancel the concert due to a snowstorm.)
These two Canadian musicians fuse tight vocal harmonies with hauntingly gritty lyrics. Also known for their humor, the two witty songwriters play off each other live, often leaving the audience howling with laughter with their between-song banter. The two songwriters are not new to working together, having toured and written songs off and on over the past 10 years, and with Miles having produced two of Hanson’s albums.
If you wonder about their duo name – they are indeed both named Lynn, but one with an “E” and one without. (Lynn Miles has a slight edge in the humor department. Not surprising given Hanson’s burden of a lifetime of carrying the weight of a superfluous E.)
“A bunch of powerful songs, two exceptional and complementary voices, some interesting twists on the arrangements … and a great rapport with the audience between songs. Stack all of that up and you have a pretty memorable night.” – MusicRiot (UK).
Their debut album, Heartbreak Song for the Radio, “has the kind of spacious, rolling thunder restlessness Bob Dylan attained with Daniel Lanois all those years ago. It’s that good.” – 5-star review from Winnipeg Free Press.
In addition to their beautiful harmonies, the two are skilled multi-instrumental musicians (acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, mandolin, percussion).
Lynn Miles is one of Canada’s most accomplished singer/songwriters and also the winner of four Canadian Folk Music awards and a 2003 Juno award for Roots and Traditional Solo Album of the Year. “Lynn Miles makes being forlorn feel like a state of grace,” says John Pareles of The New York Times.
Lynne Hanson has been playing her brand of “porch music with a little red dirt” for the past 10 years. She has been favorably compared with Nancy Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Gauthier, and Lucinda Williams.
For a sample of their music, watch this video of them performing “Recipe for Disaster”:
Tickets are on sale at the Golden Link website, and also available in person at the Bop Shop.
Keep on singing!
– Janice Hanson
Janice Hanson is Concert Chair of the Golden Link Folk Singing Society, which was founded in 1971 to present, promote, and preserve folk music in the Rochester area.