Saanich Peninsula Folk and Fiddle Festival Society
Cara Luft with Shari Ulrich and Jeanne Tolmie & Hilary Grist
Saturday, April 6th, 2024 - 7:00PM

To mark her long career and her 50th birthday, Cara Luft (The Small Glories, The Wailin' Jennys) is launching “50 for 50” — fifty curated shows that will see her travel across Canada, the US and Europe.  She will be joined by a cast of friends and special guest artists who share her sense of adventure and joyful music-making, as well as her passion to explore, collaborate and celebrate.  No two shows will be the same.  For the Seaside Folk’NFiddle show at the Mary Winspear, Cara will be joined by West Coast songbird and close friend Shari Ulrich.  Beloved by fans and musicians alike, Shari has a way of drawing people close to her heart.  She holds space for many in the music community, offering support and wisdom gained from her decades of performing.  A musician's musician and a songwriter's writer, Shari sets the bar for any artist wanting to expand their skill and vision.   And Cara?  As one promoter put it, "I don’t know which is more beguiling... her 1000 watt personality, her wizardry on guitar and banjo, the power of her voice or her songwriting talent?  In any event, the audience is in for a real treat!”  Join Cara and Shari and other special guests for a one-of-a-kind unique performance full of musical surprises.

SHARI ULRICH
Shari Ulrich is an award winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (violin, mandolin, piano, guitar, dulcimer) who has been winning hearts with her music for over four decades. From the legendary Pied Pumkin to The Hometown Band (“Fear of Flying”), and as a solo artist, she has released 25 albums - including collaborations with Bill Henderson and Roy Forbes (UHF), Barney Bentall and Tom Taylor (BTU), and The High Bar Gang, a 7-piece bluegrass band with Barney Bentall. Her work has garnered two JUNO awards, an induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, and a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award (CFMA) for English Songwriter of the Year.

Hilary Grist was composing music at the piano in pre-school. Later years of piano lessons and singing with the high school choir propelled her to Vancouver, where she studied jazz at Capilano University while deepening her pool of musical influences and honing her songwriting skills. Grist’s songs can evoke emotion with ease, and their cinematic conductivity translates as well to the big and small screens as it does to her listeners’ real-life narratives. Her music has been part of ten major television shows and she has an international following in Japan and South Korea. 

Victoria’s Jeanne Tolmie is a singer songwriter with a great love and knowledge of country and folk music. She is an honest and emotive performer, a master harmonizer, and closet accordionist. Her resumé includes the bands Big Yellow Taxi, Daisy Duke, JT King, Sidecar, and the Golden Country Clan. Her mastery of back up singing earned her back-up vocal work on numerous recording projects for Steve Dawson’s Henhouse Recording Studio. Jeanne is also a social worker in the field of dementia and hospice care.