Amelia Curran and Jill Zmud at St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage 02 March 2013 by Reg Coffey

The Stage

CFN – It was another great evening at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage. The night’s entertainment was provided by two terrific, highly acclaimed, Canadian singer/songwriters, Jill Zmud from Ottawa and Amelia Curran from St. John’s Newfoundland.

The first set saw Jill Zmud take the stage and performed a number of songs that gave us a glimpse into her life. She sang about her father, uncle and a former boyfriend as well as her former home in Saskatoon. What impressed me most about Jill was the emotion she conveyed with her voice. She seem to change her voice from soft, shy and vulnerable to strong bold and confident depending on the lyrics of the song.

After the break Juno Award winning Amelia Curran thrilled the audience with her performance. I personally had high expectations for Amelia’s set and I wasn’t disappointed. The program for this evening had quoted the National Post description of her music as “a bit like Leonard Cohen being channeled into a dusty saloon by Patsy Cline” so you can see why I was looking forward to it.

I don’t know about Patsy Cline but I definitely could see some Leonard Cohen influence in her performance. Her voice and guitar work were enchanting but it was her lyrics that mesmerized the audience. To quote a quote in the program once again, this time from Spinner Canada, “Like the best poets, Curran paks so much meaning into each line that the listener barely has time to register each clever lyric before the next zinger comes along.”

During Amelia’s set she invited Jill Zmud on stage to help her with a song and you would have thought they had been practicing this for years instead of days. The harmony was magical.

With a new range of sponsors it appears that the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage will continue to be presenting some of the best musical talents that Canada has to offer and a few extremely talented non-Canadians to boot. The next concert will be on April 6, 2013 with New Country Rehab taking the stage.

For more information and the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage and their upcoming shows you can go to their web site:

www.st-lawrencestage.com

Coffey's Coffee Bus Card

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