A family band on and off the road for the past seven months is winding up its trip in Coquitlam on Sunday, March 24.
The McDades — made up of siblings Shannon Johnson (violin and vocals); Solon McDade (bass and vocals); and Jeremiah McDade (multi-instrumentalist and vocals) — will end their 19-date Prairie Sunrise Tour at the Evergreen Cultural Centre.
Speaking from Kelowna, where the JUNO Award winners performed last night, the Edmonton-raised Solon McDade told the Tri-City News that the name of the tour refers to “getting up early, beautiful sunrises and long drives. Everything that’s good about the Prairies.”
For this concert round, the Celtic/folk music trio brought on Andy Hillhouse, a Chilliwack guitarist who played with Shannon in the band Mad Pudding, as well as Richard Irwin, a drummer from Montreal who studied at McGill University while Solon was a graduate student in jazz performance there.
Because the tour is split into chunks of one or two weeks on the road, “it hasn’t been a grind because it’s spread out,” Solon said. “It’s really fun and we have enough breaks to catch our breath.”
Their Coquitlam show — the last before their summer adventures — will feature a good mix of original and cover tunes from their past three CDs, Solon said.
And there will even be a few songs off their new album that drops in September. That work, he said, will include more world beats with collaborators and perhaps a cover or two of Grateful Dead music.
Also lined up this year for The McDades is a recording with a European symphony, Solon said.
Tickets for The McDades on Sunday, March 24 are $37/$34/$16 by calling the box office at 604-927-6555 or visiting the venue’s website.
