artist Oh My Darling

It all started with a jam session on a Winnipeg winter afternoon, just a few girls sitting around, pulling tunes from the air, trading leads, and thinking about their future. Four years later, the Winnipeg-based roots quartet Oh My Darling has released two critically acclaimed albums, and is touring ceaselessly. Headlining sold out shows across Europe, Canada, and the USA, they have earned opening spots for Blue Rodeo and Tegan & Sara, performed at Trafalgar Square's Canada Day celebration in London England, The Winnipeg Folk Festival Main Stage and a full house at New York City's The Livingroom. 2011 had Oh My Darling topping campus radio charts, regular spinning on the CBC with rave reviews in Canada and abroad. The gals are crowd favourites at Country and Folk Festivals, and are winning the hearts of all who come to experience their energetic live show!

Inspired by Classic Country, Appalachian Old Time, Bluegrass and Francophone Traditional music, the songs of Oh My Darling are strikingly original, while evoking the lexicon of these diverse musical influences. Dazzling solos, soaring vocals, and unique grooves enhance thoughtful songwriting, and arranging, where instrumental melodies and poetic lyricism are nestled together. The title of Oh My Darling's latest release, Sweet Nostalgia (2011), was inspired by the way the ladies were reconciling their love for playing traditional repertoire and their love for writing original material. The result is a stellar follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut (In the Lonesome Hours, 2010) where the four have found a common ground between the past and the present, resulting in their best effort yet.

It's their love for performing, and the excitement of live music that Oh My Darling strove to capture while recording Sweet Nostalgia. In just seven days, in a straw bale house in Roseisle, Manitoba, all 10 tracks were recorded live, with the Juno Award winning producer Steve Dawson. The result is a raw and honest sound that has the exuberance of the stage show, and shines the spotlight on each of these girls' extraordinary talents as musicians and songwriters. Vanessa Kuzina (vocals, guitar, fiddlesticks), Rosalyn Dennett (vocals, fiddle), Allison de Groot (claw-hammer banjo), and Marie-Josée Dandeneau (acoustic bass), make up the members of Oh My Darling.

Allison (banjo/vocals) is one of Canada’s best claw hammer banjo players. she is also a great singer, and a great songwriter in her own rite. Allison brings a calm and steadiness to the band with her personality, as well as her rock solid banjo lines. She graduated with a Fine Arts degree from the University of Manitoba, which gives her the authority to oversee a lot of the visual artwork done with the band. Allison started studying banjo when she was just out of high school. Once she discovered the claw-hammer style, she began taking lessons with Daniel Koulack, Winnipeg resident and internationally acclaimed banjoist. Just before starting the band, Allison began traveling down to West Virginia, and other areas of the United States, to learn more about Appalachian music and culture, a habit she still keeps up regularly.

MJ (bass/vocals)- self-taught musician-  was already a veteran of the music scene, before forming the band Oh My Darling. Her tours with Nine Mile, Xavier Rudd, the Wyrd Sisters, Corinne West, Tribe of One, Pete Murray, Eliana Cuevos Band  and Doug Cox (to name a few!) have taken her, and her unique style of bass playing, all over the globe.  This experience was vital to Oh My Darling's momentum, as MJ assumed the role of booking agent for the band, and after many successful tours across Canada, has now partnered up with Paquin Talent & Booking Agency, keeping Oh My Darling busy the year through.  Her custom-made upright bass is a commanding presence, despite it's smaller size, due to the energy and vitality that MJ expresses in her live performances.  Audiences and industry professionals alike, frequently pay compliment to her talent as a musician as well as her engaging show of personality on-stage.

Rosalyn (fiddle/vocals) is a life long scholar of music. She spent a year in Galway, honing her skills as an Irish fiddler, has made multiple trips to northern Manitoba to teach and experience fiddle in Métis culture, earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Manitoba, and has recently been making pilgrimages to the United States to immerse herself in Old Time Appalachian singing and fiddling. Rosalyn's passion for learning is but a reflection of her passion for her craft. She puts a fierce enthusiasm into her instrumental and song writing, arranging, and performance, with an informed edge. She infuses Oh My Darling with subtle humour and witticisms, through her role as the band's copywriter, and always has a joke to share on and off stage.

Vanessa (vocals/guitar) began to discover her voice learning the songs of Canadian greats like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Inspired with a fierce passion to write and sing she began writing in her teens and created her solo album of all original songs, Peony (2007).  She has been labeled the "cowboy poet" of the group, with her lyrics that tell stories about life on the prairies, and probe at emotions that run deep through the human experience. Her sensitivity and empathy are invaluable to the band, as she is most often the spokesperson for the group, and is lauded for her ability to handle even the stickiest of situations with grace and poise. With her passion for singing and live performance Vanessa draws the audience in with her ability to tell the story with her soaring voice. She is diversifying her talents as a songwriter through leading songwriting workshops and camps, and collaborating with major country artists such as Tom Wilson (Junk house, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings), Murray Pulver (Doc Walker), and Sam Baker (singer-songwriter).