JUNO AWARD WINNING DUO PHARIS AND JASON ROMERO RETURN WITH A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD FAVOURITE IN “LOST LULA REDUX”
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Pharis & Jason Romero’s music is a songwriter’s deep exhale, replete with stories, love, and nostalgia. With Pharis’ love of storytelling as a base for the duo’s artistic connection, their songs are lush and saturated with their lives: incidental touring, raising two kids, making banjos, and playing this music because they must.
The songs are created as much from ideas - from being on the tops of mountains and phone calls with aging loved ones to insomnia, meditation and family feuds - as they are from the joy of playing and recording with a stellar band: fiddle, bass, piano, and percussion.
Today, they return with “Lost Lula Redux”, a song that is more than just a banjo tune; it’s a melody that has traveled far beyond its origins. This is a new approach to their track “Lost Lula” which was first released in 2013 on their sophomore album Long Gone Out West Blues. The tune has since found its way into the repertoires of banjo players around the world.
LISTEN / SHARE “LOST LULA REDUX” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LOST LULA REDUX” HERE
Written by Jason Romero for a beloved yellow lab, “Lost Lula” carries an unlikely story. Lula was Jason’s companion before he and Pharis met. At one point she was quietly taken, flown to Vermont, and - through a series of fortunate moments and the kindness of strangers - miraculously found her way back to the newly married couple. Soon after, they moved to British Columbia, where Lula thrived in a forested landscape full of sticks to chase. When she later disappeared, weeks of searching yielded no answers. In the wake of that loss, Jason wrote “Lost Lula” as both an ode and a way to process his grief.
The tune began as a steel-strung clawhammer banjo piece and has evolved over more than a decade of performance. Pharis & Jason have played it on different banjos, in different tunings, and alongside many collaborators, while players across the banjo community have embraced the tune and made it their own.
Over the years, “Lost Lula” has quietly become part of our musical fabric - played in coffee shops, taught by teachers, and heard at weddings, funerals, graduations, and long journeys across the globe.
Now Pharis & Jason revisit the tune with “Lost Lula Redux”, recorded as they play it today. The melody remains the same, but the approach has shifted; Jason performs the piece fingerstyle on a deluxe nylon-strung banjo from the J. Romero Banjo's workshop, offering a fresh take on a modern banjo classic.
Photo Credit : Rick Magnell // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES|
Apr 24 - Kelowna, BC - Kelowna Folk Roots
Apr 25 - Port Moody, BC - Inlet Music Series
Jun 22 - Port Townsend, WA - Voice Works 2026