Month: May 2009

Two letters. Simple, right?

“T.” is T. Nile, a British Columbia-based singer-songwriter-banjo player whose music spans indie-folk, roots, blues, “alt” country, and reggae. “Emm” is Emm Gryner, a singer-songwriter-pianist-bassist who will rock the house and then tear our your heart with a ballad. I’ve known (of) Emm since high school, and met T(amara) last August.

I’ve seen Emm perform many times, in venues ranging from a tent at the Forest Fall Fair to the Glenn Gould Studio. The latter performance was her CD release show for Goddess in February; the good folks at CBC recorded the concert for broadcast, and, better yet, posted the show as a Concert on Demand.

Tamara, on the other hand, I’ve only seen a handful of times, including at a bar in Ottawa during a visit to see my niece and her parents, and most recently at the Trepid House in my old stomping grounds in Waterloo. CBC wasn’t at either of those shows, but as usual were out in front of the crowd, having recorded her way back in 2007.

Emm’s recently taken up with A Camp, a “solo” project by The Cardigans’ Nina Persson and her husband, Nathan Larson. Tamara has hooked up with a trio of siblings, Christa, Laura and Mike Mercey, and pedal steel player Burke Carroll, who collectively go by T. Nile & The Children of Mercey. Tamara’s getting set to release a new CD; Emm, as mentioned above, just put one out.

Despite the surface similarities, there’s really no comparing the two of them: they’re each excellent musicians in their own rights. What they share, though, is the ability to create great music.