Holy Moly

The Holy Oak café, venue of numerous local shows, shuttered back in 2017 due to gentrification. Some of the musicians who was the backing band for these revue concerts stayed together as the Holy Oak Family Singers. They played at various locations pre-pandemic but on Saturday, I finally saw them (as HOFS) at The Tranzac.

It was clear that a good half of the audience at the smaller Southern Cross was left over from the 8 pm show. But they were pretty good about shushing up when Robin Dann (Saint Bernice) welcomed everyone to a "quiet evening of music". It was 2 sets of about 6 songs each from The Roches, The McGarrigles, Emmylou Harris, Phoebe Snow, Leonard Cohen, and Donna Lewis. The mostly female singers were joined in the second set by guests including Alex Samaras on a beautiful rendition of I Don't Know (The McGarrigles).

There were several highlights for me. The vocal harmonies of Dann, Dorothea Paas, and Ivy Mairi was heavenly especially on Hammond Song (The Roches). The latter group was also a new discovery for me and their songcraft on Hammond and Down The Dream was superb. Much better than Cohen (IMO) even if Luke Kaplowsky closed the evening with Alexandra Leaving. That was only palatable thanks to harmonies from Paas and Mairi. Finally, the range and power of Dann's vocals surprised me. As Bernice, she and Felicity Williams often used light airy vocals in odd melodies. It was a pleasant shock to hear her rich voice as both lead and background in more traditional folk/pop songs.