Planes, trains, long drives and all-nite diners; the troubadour’s
home, it seems, is always a few more exits down the highway. Holly
Andruchuk, a Winnipeg-born, Alberta-raised and Toronto-based
singer-songwriter pens poignant, country-flecked narratives drawn from
her time in Canada’s big cities, small towns and the wide-open points
in between. “Songwriting is a truly cathartic experience,” Andruchuk
explains. “It’s all non-fiction.”
Produced by studio whiz and recording artist Eric Bridenbaker and
featuring backing from the Brothers Elliott and Dave Marshall, Prairie
Dawn & The Morning Dove, Andruchuk’s latest solo EP, is a showcase
for her intimate-yet-expansive country-rock. From the sunny melody,
sprightly picking and smooth-as-glass vocals of “Seven Years,” through
the last baleful bars of “Looking for Linko,” with its roaring,
feedback-drenched guitars and crashing percussion, each track sways,
shivers and shakes with vibrant characters and hard-won insight.
Small towns and big cities have their characters, but the highways
that join them together are the true connective tissue of a country,
and those in-between places are where Andruchuk’s music comes from.
“There’s a definite connection to highways and trains, and even when
there isn’t a concrete reference to those things, the music often takes
on their feel,” she says. “When I play guitar, I’m conscious of
capturing that prairie feeling.”
Like Joni Mitchell, Loretta Lynn, and her hero Tom Petty, Holly
Andruchuk writes songs that sound out of time, but never out of touch.
True-life tales spun out into five-minute mini-epics, her music
connects through both lyrical heft and melodic charm. You don’t hear
these songs, you listen to them. And when you’re up late, alone,
driving to some strange new place, you feel them, too.
Currently Holly is running a concert series in Toronto at the historic Imperial Pub called the 50 River Concert Series and working on two recording projects at St. Anne's Church and Dinsmore's Lincoln County Social Club Studio. Visit www.hollyandruchuk.com for a free download of Holly's 2009 EP, Prairie Dawn & The Morning Dove.