by Tiana Feng

on Thursday, I helped filmed a session for Exclaim! during the day with Cape Breton’s Tom Fun Orchestra. In the evening, I attended their show at the Horseshoe.

Opening up the night was Olenka from Olenka and the Autumn Lovers. It was a very low key set and I almost didn’t recognize who it was until she played the upbeat Odessa. It sounds so different without the 5 others backing her up.
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers- Olenka
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Following was Toronto bluegrass/folk group The Strumbellas. This was my first time seeing them and I didn’t know they had such a huge following in the city. The obnoxious audience members even got the encore they desired. The group of 6 have great chemistry and energy on stage.

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I thought Tom Fun Orchestra was great during their session, but it was night and day compared to their show at The Horseshoe Thursday night. All seven members looked like they were having so much fun on stage playing their instruments which consisted of things such as banjos, trumpets, accordion. The group played mostly new material from Earthworm Heart which will be released next week on November 13th. Ian MacDougall’s (nobody in the band is named Tom Fun btw) rough vocals swept the audience away and the rest of the band kept everyone’s toes tapping.

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