Alumna adds Juno nod to accolades

By Janis Wallace
February 08, 2012

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The Juno Award-nominated Good Lovelies featuring Western University's Don Wright Faculty of Music alumna Kerri Ough, right.

Western University's Don Wright Faculty of Music alumna Kerri Ough has one more reason to celebrate. Nominations for this year’s Juno Awards were just announced and Ough and her Good Lovelies mates are up for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group. William Shatner will host the CTV broadcast of the Junos April 1 from ScotiaBank Place in Ottawa.

The trio’s latest recording, Let the Rain Fall, has been gathering audience and critical acclaim since its release. In December 2011, the Good Lovelies were named Vocal Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in Toronto Sunday. As well as Ough, the trio includes Sue Passmore and Caroline Brooks.

The three first sang in a bar – a rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Ough and Passmore had been a duo in London pubs before they met Brooks. They liked the way their voices sounded together and decided to join forces. A lot of other people also like the way they sound. They quickly began gathering awards: the One-Fret Less and Best Folk at Toronto’s Independent Music Awards and Emerging Artist at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Their recording The Good Lovelies won the Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group in 2010.

The trio may not have much time to celebrate. They are on tour in the U.S. through February, then in western Canada in March.

Their light-hearted songwriting and irresistibly buoyant dispositions have earned them fans across the country during summer festivals, including Mariposa, Hillside and the Montreal Jazz Festivals. They have toured with Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Café and shared the stage with Broken Social Scene, Kathleen Edwards and Jill Barber.

Musicianship is high in the group. They sing three-part harmonies and constantly switch instruments and onstage banter. Let the Rain Fall, is an ode to camaraderie. The group says the album is about confidence that bright and breezy days lie ahead.

The recording shares the nomination category with the Deep Dark Woods, The Once, The Wailin’Jennys and Twilight Hotel.

For the Canadian Folk Music Award, the Good Lovelies were up against Genicorum, Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer, The Finest Kind and The Wailin’ Jennys.