Maggie's Wake, Arrowwood Farms

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Yesterday was a fine August summer Sunday with a dramatic sky. Touch and go weather — it certainly looked like there might be a summer shower. We have tickets to see Maggie's Wake at Arrowwood Farms which is about an hour from here; to the south west of London near the small town of Melbourne (not the one in Victoria) which is on old highway two. Fortunately the weather held, it was a beautiful day for a drive and to see some live music — songs and tunes by local talent.

Kate and I are both pretty keen on Maggie's Wake (also Rant Maggie Rant and especially The Rizdales), we have their Maggie's Wake CD and went to the CD release party at the Grand Theatre back in the spring. We hadn't listened to the music as often as we should and one morning last week Kate heard "Maid of Fortune" on CBC radio, came home and we dug through the songs to find this one that she was so impressed by. The chorus that struck her was: "I will be your maid of fortune, your torch on the darkest night. And I will free your heart of trouble". And Kate says, we should see them again. On Facebook we see they're playing at the Arrowwood Farms and we buy our tickets online right away. It's only $25, how can we go wrong? Well, it might rain.

We suspect this might be an outdoor event and arrive with lawn chairs but are pleasantly surprised to find a very new three season building where the audience is safely out of the weather. The band has set up at one end, there's clear screening to keep our the wind, and there's tables and chairs that we're encouraged to reorganize to our liking. There's also a bar! I'm pleasantly surprised to find out they're offering several drinks we might go for including Pelee Island Pinot Grigio (white) and Pinot Noir (red) which are both quite drinkable, served in proper glass stemware and they only charge $6! When was the last time you got a glass of wine for only $6? I told the server that they really ought to be charging more. There's also several light snacks on offer at the bar. The farm grows blue berries so there's a blue berry square Tara says we ought to try. It's very tasty and only $2 (when was the last time you had a $2 snack); we end up buying more to take home. There's also some blueberry flavored beers and a blueberry lemonade that many are enjoying.

The show start promptly on time and alternates between "tunes and songs"; a distinction we first became aware of at a Stratford concert by Natalie MacMaster several years ago. For those who have not made the distinction: songs are tunes with words. Tara Dunphy is the song writer in this group, Lindsay Schindler writes the tunes. The tunes are in the "jigs and reels" style heavily influenced by music from the Canadian East Coast. Tara brings an Irish/Celtic influence with her violin and tin whistle. Today the band is a foursome with Andrew Kosty on bass and Ken Palmer on guitar (they're missing Stephan Szczesniak on percussion and Dean Harrison on piano). There's a good audience of perhaps 50 or so like minded, and well aged, folks like us with some young friends of Andrew and Ken's age. It's mixed but mostly older folk.

We enjoy the music. We've already mentioned "Maid of Fortune"; another tune that brought a tear to me is "The Life that You Made". Both will make it onto my "Christmas for Kate" collection for 2024. There are many lovely tunes and songs on their album which they showcase today. They play two sets, roughly 45 minutes each, with a 20 minute or so break in between for the bathroom, time to refresh your drinks, get a bite and to sell some merch. 

I talked briefly with Tara at the break (there was that blueberry square recommendation) but also to ask about Tom's album (Tom Dunphy is her partner in life and in The Rizdales). I know he's working on a country album, I suspect this is in the Rizdale's style, and Tara tells me it's going well but on hold for a bit as they're moving. In fact Tom and their two kids are busy today moving stuff to their new home while she's here playing music!

On the way home we're talking about Tara and her music. Kate asks about her playing guitar (in these bands she's usually on violin, flute and tin whistle). I remind Kate of Tara's Youtube channel where she does "one take" covers on guitar of all sorts of music. She's actually pretty good on guitar! Ken Palmer, who plays guitar today, is no relation to Ken Palmer of Home County and Dixie Flyers fame; I asked, he tells me it often comes up.

In closing, we enjoyed the music (as always) and were impressed by the facilities at Arrowwood Farms. It would be a great place to have an anniversary party with music; we wish there was something like it closer to St Marys.

See also

• Maggie's Wake home page
• Maggie's Wake Album playlist on YouTube.