CELEBRATED ‘SPIRIT SISTER-SINGER-SONGWRITERS’ ROSE COUSINS, JILL BARBER, AND JENN GRANT JOIN TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE BLUE RODEO’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ICONIC ALBUM FIVE DAYS IN JULY WITH THEIR VERSION OF “DARK ANGEL”
LISTEN / SHARE “DARK ANGEL” (BLUE RODEO COVER) HERE
BUY / STREAM “DARK ANGEL” (BLUE RODEO COVER) HERE
“Dark Angel” Cover Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Rose Cousins, Jill Barber, and Jenn Grant are coming together as a ‘trio’ to share their cover of Blue Rodeo’s “Dark Angel”, from their record Five Days In July, an LP that “is woven into our Canadian landscape,” claims Cousins. “That record, especially ‘Dark Angel’, was a top song in the soundtrack of my teen emotional world.”
Last Spring, Barber and Grant were backstage at the Blue Rodeo concert in Vancouver, when “Jim Cuddy turned to us and suggested that, along with Rose Cousins, we should form a trio... like a Canadian version of the Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris ‘Trio’,” explains Barber. “The next thing we knew we were sending Rose a video message saying: ‘we're doing this, because Jim said so’.”
Having all grown up with Blue Rodeo, spinning Five Days In July as the soundtrack to their adolescence, Barber, Cousins, and Grant also all experienced their coming of age together in the Halifax music scene as young spirit sister-singer-songwriters. “I have been friends with Rose and Jill since I began in this industry and in that way it has very much felt like we have grown up together, and understand each other on a level that is rare and special,” says Grant.
“I treasure these women and it’s deeply pleasing to have recorded something together,” adds Cousins. “Especially this meaningful song on the 30th anniversary of an album we all love so much by a band we love and have now all shared the stage with, which my teen self hardly believes.” Barber adds that “the idea to record a haunting cover of ‘Dark Angel’, that weaves our three voices together in harmony for the first time (on record), felt as if it was always meant to be.”
“There’s so much love in these voices,” says Grant. “It’s an honour to be a part of it, to celebrate the anniversary of a band we truly love, and friendships that will last a lifetime.”
LISTEN / SHARE “DARK ANGEL” (BLUE RODEO COVER) HERE
BUY / STREAM “DARK ANGEL” (BLUE RODEO COVER) HERE
MORE ABOUT JENN GRANT
Jenn has been nominated for three JUNO Awards to date, several East Coast Music and Music Nova Scotia nominations and wins over the years, and has been long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize. In recent years Jenn’s music has been used across several international ad campaigns, trailers, TV shows and her song “Dreamer” is the long running theme music for the CBCs ‘Heartland’ now going into its 17th Season.
Born on Prince Edward Island, a small maritime province on the east coast of Canada, famous for its lush sand dunes and ocean tails rising up to meet a vast, open sky. There is an undeniably ethereal quality to Grant's voice and her music, described by Australia's The Age is that of “dreamy, harp-and woodwinds folk, the work of a painter born in paradise” Consequence of Sound cite “majestic vocals” whilst Pop Matters refer to her voice as a “Aural Equivalent of a Warm Embrace”.
Jenn's 2023 release Champagne Problems gathered 13 musicians from coast to territory to coast in a series of collaborative Canadian magic tricks spun into classic country, lost disco hits, and ruminative folk fables - artists include Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas), Amy Millan (Stars), Aquakultre, Basia Bulat, Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas, Joel Plaskett, Josh Qaumariaq, Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Kim Harris, Ria Mae, Slow Leaves and Tim Baker.
Champagne Problems is a unique musical experience that could have only come out of extenuating circumstances, willing partners, and profound vulnerability. It could have only come out of Jenn Grant.
MORE ABOUT ROSE COUSINS
Multi JUNO Award winner, Rose Cousins, writes from the depths of human emotion. Her live performance invites listeners on a journey of embracing sadness, pain and longing, counterbalanced by her dry, sharp-witted and insightful observations.
Cousins’ work has garnered her two JUNOs and several East Coast Music Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards and a Grammy Award Nomination. Her music underscores many emotional scenes on notable television shows including Greys Anatomy.
Fueled by collaboration, Cousins is proud to be a part of the rich East Coast Canadian music community while fostering musical connections nationally and internationally.
MORE ABOUT JILL BARBER
Jill Barber is a three-time JUNO Award nominated singer-songwriter with an unforgettable voice once heard, never forgotten. Her critically acclaimed repertoire spans a transformative spectrum from folk, to vocal jazz, to pop, and includes songs in both French and English.
Her 2018 album Metaphora featured the #1 hit song “Girl’s Gotta Do” and her breakthrough jazz album, Chances, was certified Gold for 40,000 copies sold in Canada. Jill’s work has earned her awards, such as the Sirius XM Jazz Artist of the Year and the East Coast Music Award for Album of the Year, and scores of fans, including Blue Rodeo, Ron Sexsmith, and Kris Kristofferson, who called Jill “a real songwriter, and a damn good songwriter.”
Jill’s latest record Homemaker came out earlier this year and recently garnered two nominations at the Canadian Folk Music Awards including Producer of the Year, a first for Jill.
Her evocative and timeless songs have been featured in film and TV, scoring shows such as Orange Is The New Black, The L Word, Working Moms, and Heartland, and powering a global advertising campaign for Chrysler with the track “Never Quit Loving You”.
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