News

Duo record with Nic Gareiss released this month!

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:30:00 -0700

Hope y’all are having a good year, thus far! I’m currently apartment-less, traveling the country with brand new US permanent residency, and taking advantage (once again) of Louisiana’s beautiful and warm-weathered April. On Saturday, I took part in the butchering of a freshly-slaughtered pig for the first time ever at the Louisiana Folk Roots Boucherie. Best pork I ever tasted. Highly recommended.

But down to business...I’m very pleased to announce that Nic Gareiss and I’s first duo record (self-titled), is now available! Nic and I had such a great time recording the album down in Louisiana with Joel Savoy, despite all the mosquito and fire ant bites I came back with, and cockroaches I stepped on! Ha! We really, truly, though, had an amazing time, and are very excited to have the finished project in our hands!

You can purchase the record on iTunes or, if you prefer a hard copy, you can purchase it via CDBaby.

In other news, Joy Kills Sorrow has a lot of shows on the books this summer. We’re excited to be playing Colorado Folks Fest and Strawberry Music Festival, among many others. Keep an eye out for more dates being posted soon. You can purchase that new record here.

Tour with Nic Gareiss, camps, and more!

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:46:03 -0700

What a summer! I’m on Vancouver Island, at the moment, where it’s hotter than California! We’re only mid-way through the best of the summer months, but here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to so far...

During the last week of June, I had the great pleasure of doing a small tour around my home island with bouzouki player, singer, and dancer, Nic Gareiss. Nic and I had only done one gig together, prior to the tour, so it was a new adventure for both of us! I feel a great honour to be able to play with Nic; I don’t think I’ve ever matched musically with anyone as well as I do with him. We had an amazing time playing together and exploring Vancouver Island, the gulf islands, and over to the Sunshine Coast, and were fortunate enough to have so many welcoming people open their beautiful homes to us.

Nic and I will be heading down to Louisiana in a couple weeks to make a record with my dear and very talented friend, producer/engineer/musician, Joel Savoy. Check out his record label, Valcour Records! I highly recommend that everyone own every record off that label, particularly the highly-acclaimed, ground-breaking, “Christine Balfa Plays the Triangle”, featuring Christine Balfa.

Emma & Nic Gareiss on tour!

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 18:53:40 -0700

My dear friend, Nic Gareiss, and I will be on tour around Vancouver Island and the lower mainland later this month, June 23rd-27th. I’m very excited! For more information on dates and venues, see my schedule or visit my MySpace page. Here’s Nic and I’s bio:

It is seldom that a young folk duo emerges with so focused a direction and critical regard. After their first show together, Emma Beaton and Nic Gareiss’ sound was lauded “delicate and broken and perfectly sweet.”

Perhaps it was to be expected considering their respective burgeoning solo careers: Emma, a folk cellist, vocalist, and banjo player originally from Vancouver Island, had performed across North America and Scotland with notable musicians such Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Bruce Molsky, Laurie Lewis and Back of the Moon. Emma is also the front-woman of the Boston-based modern American stringband Joy Kills Sorrow. Her recent solo release, “Pretty Fair Maid” was awarded a Canadian Folk Music Award, naming her the 2008 Young Performer of the Year. Her singing has been described as “gorgeous and clear,” the music, “diverse and inventive”.

Nic, a dancer, singer, and bouzouki-player from northern Michigan has danced and played across Europe and the states with The Chieftains, Tim O’Brien, Footworks, and Uncle Earl. He has studied and performed music and dance internationally, including a year in Irish Music Performance at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Emma and Nic first met at several music camps and began playing together late at night after square dances and evening-long fiddle tunes sessions. The songs they sang became the last music of the night. Today, their music retains a sense of staid nostalgia and quiet, almost secretive intimacy, grounded in Celtic and Americana traditions, but ultimately all their own.

New Joy Kills Sorrow Record on the way!

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:09:39 -0700

I’m very pleased to announce that the new Joy Kills Sorrow record, “Darkness Sure Becomes This City”, is on the way! With mastering in its final stages, and the graphics almost finished up, we’re hoping to have it ready and available for purchase by the end of the summer.

For a week in March, we had a great time working with the incredible Eric Merrill on this record. Jonathan Cooper was kind enough to allow us to take over his old woodshop for the week, so we set up in cold and snowy Gorham, ME, and laid down 7 original songs, along with 4 songs by friends of ours. Eric did an amazing job of all the production, to say the least. We are very excited for y’all to hear it!

Stay tuned for a release date!