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Prairie sweetheart quartet warms hearts

Oh My Darling will captivate and delight Harrison with their country charms
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Oh My Darling will play at the Harrison Memorial Hall on Feb. 15.

With a sweet name and even sweeter sound, Oh My Darling will be conjuring up the right mix of emotion and elation with their unique brand of country Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. in the historic Harrison Memorial Hall.

Their prairie roots, mixed with bluegrass, Appalachian old time, southern twang and Franco-folk, makes their style a melting pot of musical languages. Infused with dynamic vocals, brilliant claw-hammer banjo, inspired fiddling and grooving bass, their music is sure to get your hips swinging, toes tapping and put your heart right into their hands.

“It’s a tight band with strong instrumental skills and a delightful stage presence. They are genuinely nice warm people, a feeling that pervades their performance,” says Harrison Festival Artistic Director, Andy Hillhouse.

This Winnipeg-based roots quartet has been topping the campus radio charts for some time and can be heard regularly on CBC Radio and Radio Canada. They have received rave reviews for their recordings and performances including four Western Canadian Music Award nominations. Oh My Darling has headlined Canadian tours from coast-to-coast, as well as European Tours and are crowd favourites at Country and Folk Festivals across the globe.

Each time these gals take the stage, they prove time and again why they’re captivating audiences and attracting an abundance of fans. Vanessa Kuzina (guitar, fiddlesticks, vocals), Hannah Read (fiddle, vocals), Allison de Groot (claw-hammer banjo, vocals) and Marie-Josée Dandeneau (upright bass, vocals) are all musical prodigies in their own right but it's the combination of their strong individual personalities that make Oh My Darling one-of-a-kind. With four creative minds behind the writing, arranging and performing, the original music of Oh My Darling is strikingly unique, diversely informed and highly entertaining.

“Their onstage personalities complement each other brilliantly - for instance you have bass player Marie-Josée Dandeneau, with a high energy, playful vibe, while banjo player Allison de Groot is cool and steady," states Hillhouse.

Watching this foursome play, you feel like you’re walking into a room of best friends, interacting naturally and effortlessly. The wordless communication that happens between them is mesmerizing. They are sincere and earnest on stage, with a measure of good-natured humour thrown in. You can tell they love to entertain. Their passion for performing is a force of nature, winning the hearts of all who come to experience their energetic live show!

Tickets for Oh My Darling are $22 and can be purchased online at www.harrisonfestival.com, by phone at 604-796-3664 or in person at the Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison and Agassiz Shoppers Drug Mart on Pioneer Ave.