ECMA award winners Rube & Rake are no stranger to The Carleton. They return with their literate and soulful compositions on Thursday, September 26th. Show time is 7:30 PM and tickets are $20 + HST. Rube & Rake perform contemporary folk music through an old time lens, complete with tight harmonies, skillful flat picking and an ample serving of dry humour. They will be joined by fellow Newfoundland singer-songwriter, Len O’Neill, who crafts poetic and personal songs that owe as much a debt to indie rock and folk as they do to Americana music. These travelling companions share a genuine love of storytelling and song and the open road, and together they make for a charming and inspiring evening of entertainment.
Following the award-winning 2017 debut Back and Forth, the St. John’s- based Rube & Rake wanted to keep the core of that album’s artistic successes—musical and collaborative harmony, folk storytelling—while recognizing audience expectations have intensified. “The first album ends up being the greatest hits of what you’ve done so far,” says Laite. “With record number two, you want it to be in the ring with the first one, only bigger and stronger.”
For their sophomore album Leaving With Nothing, Sandu and Laite enlisted producer Adam Hogan, best known for his anthemic guitar work as a member of Newfoundland’s most beloved indie-rock outfit, Hey Rosetta!. Recording in bits in houses around St. John’s, Rube & Rake (& Adam) worked to expand the band’s sound to include more instrumentation, pleasingly surprising time changes, and an overall expansion of intention.
Sandu and Laite have always maximized the duo configuration—even singing together at a single condenser microphone, allowing for space and patience within the songs—but this is the first time they’ve consciously pushed outside it, to fill in that air with new tones and textures in the form of a full band. The resulting record evokes Blue Rodeo at its most rollicking, Great Lake Swimmers at their most thoughtful, and The Tallest Man On Earth at their most gently contemplative.
Len O’Neill, a singer-songwriter from St. John’s, Newfoundland, began his musical journey in the local pub and bar scene, playing guitar and bass in rock bands and leading the award winning indie rock band Green & Gold through two albums and several east coast tours. Influenced by a diverse range of artists spanning classic rock legends to poetic songwriters, Len crafts introspective, lyric-driven compositions exploring themes of ambition, sorrow, and personal growth.
His upcoming solo album, “Out Of View,” slated for release in April 2024, showcases a dynamic evolution in his sound, marked by poignant storytelling and vulnerability. Here’s what songwriter John Moran has to say about Len’s work:
“He’s got songs that are meaningful in a way that most songwriters struggle to achieve, he’s not just stringing together a bunch of lyrics and chords that sound cool – he’s speaking from the heart and giving you something you might need. He writes in the way that you’d hope to be spoken to by a good friend during a challenging time.”