Madison Violet

Til now we’ve all been charmed by the club’s homey, folksy door policy… just give your name and, if it appears on ye olde paper list… you’re in. But what’s this... Peter has introduced technology where he waves his telephone at my telephone and some mystic presence, somewhere in the aether, certainly beyond my ken, decides if I’m getting in tonight. What bewitchment is this?

But once in and settled, thoughts turn toward tonight’s very special guests, Madison Violet. Firstly, why are they called that, what’s the crack? Well… the name originated from an odd experience they had with a woman named Violet in New Mexico. The woman had an unusual demeanour and a collection of tailless cats, so, being struck by this they decided to call themselves "Mad Violet". Later, perhaps thinking it a little un-pc, they changed the name to "Madison Violet.

Instruments… Lisa MacIsaac plays guitar and fiddle, Brenley MacEachern plays guitar, tenor guitar and moothie, Jake Zapotoczny supports on bass, electric guitar and keyboards.

Fabulous, sweet harmonies ring from the git-go, guitars interlock, Jake hits a pedal steel type lonesome tone with a swell pedal on his electric. Country Americana would be a convenient label, but they’re from Canada, are we talking Country Canadiana? Aye, probably.

‘Christy Ellen Francis’ paints a charming portrait of Brenley’s hundred-year-old grandmother, a mother of 16 weans who, in her early days, was a lighthouse keeper! MacEachern attended her grandmother’s hospital bed, along with another 82 family members round the bed where she poignantly sang this song to her. And, with perfect comic timing we’re told that she got to sing the song again the next day when gran was up and about having a cup of tea and a biscuit.

‘These Ships’ was inspired by the time when, sick of paying rent they decided to buy a houseboat, an 11^th hour observation that Lisa can’t swim stymied the deal.

The old adage that writers should only write about what they know about is so fitting for Madison Violet. We all live a life but how many of us can translate that into an art that is worth hearing, reading or looking at? Madison Violet shows you how to do it. They tell you of the life events that inspires the work; work that sits in that beautiful sweet spot where art meets craft, the raw material of their existence transmuted, filtered, hammered until the gold shines through.

And those shared stories resonate with us, lift our spirits, this shining life painted in song.

For encore, dropping the audience/performer wall, Madison Violet sit on the front of the stage and sing unamplified. They teach us the backing vocal ‘ooos’… and we’re only too happy to oblige. A paean to hometown, ‘whenever I'm away, I keep you in the small of my heart’.

Did we go home happy? Oh yes, we sure did.

Words by Callum MacLeod, photos by Peter Salkeld.