This Saturday July 19th at the Evergreen Cultural Centre, Music on the Grill continues with Carli and Julie Kennedy, rising stars on the Canadian country scene. For six years, Music on the Grill has given lovers or great entertainment a chance to relax, enjoy the summer breeze and feast on great barbecue with some of the world’s most accomplished musicians in blues, folk, jazz and country. The last Music on the Grill evening sold out, so be sure to get your tickets while you can!
With a mixture of folk, country, jazz and even classical music, Carli and Julie Kennedy embody everything Music on the Grill is about. Their acoustic stylings and beautiful duets will remind remind fans of some of their favourite female performers in country music, with a refreshing twist. We had a chance to sit down with Carli and Julie over the phone from their home on Vancouver Island. As you might imagine, speaking to identical twins with almost identical voices on the phone can get a bit confusing, especially since, as sisters who work and live together do, they are prone to finishing each other’s sentences. With that in mind, their similar vocals might make for tough journalism, but they make for excellent harmonies…
On growing up with music and learning their craft…
Carli:
We had lots of music in our house all the time, my dad grew up playing in bands and he plays guitar and sings and my parents have lots of jam nights with our friends over playing music together. I think that’s what first instilled the love of music in us for sure, and I mean from the time we could talk, we have family videos of us at 3 years old putting on shows in the living room. I think my parents said they knew early on that we were going to be performers. The music thing was always part of the Kennedy family so as soon as we turned 5, we started taking piano lessons and we didn’t look back.
On performing in front of bigger and bigger crowds…
Carli:
Every performer, it depends on the night, gets nervous sometime. We like to call it “being excited” because it really is the fun time for us and we love sharing our music with audiences and we love being on stage. Of course sometimes we get nervous but mostly, it’s a lot of fun for us.
Julie:
When you’re touring you’re on the stage so much you get used to the excitement and if the adrenaline isn’t there you kind of miss it. I’ve had nights when I’ve wished I was a little bit nervous so it gives you this excitement. Athletes say that to before a competition, you want the adrenaline to fuel you.
On their unique brand of country, jazz and classical music…
Carli:
We call it “Classical Country” so that’s us. Because we started out playing with our family we had family jams with mostly country music and folk tunes and that was our introduction to music and that’s our true roots. We took music lessons, we were mostly studying classical music and we did our Bachelor’s degree in classical music in the University of Victoria, so now we’re back to country. So in this show you’ll get a little taste of everything.
On their inspiration and giving fans what they want…
Julie:
Our history and study of music has been a big part of everything we grew up listening to, it all combines to what we create now and what become our show. Another big influence is our audience and our fans because were really involved online and we have a dedicated fan base on Twitter and Facebook and we’ve been spending the last 2-3 years touring all over Canada and the States. We gain feedback and what people say to us is that they just love this unique combination, the little bit of classical and jazz that you throw into our country show, so we kept throwing into that because that’s what people enjoy in our shows. We’ve actually arranged a special tunes where people can come up and request specific songs, I know that some of the people have asked for a tune a while ago will hopefully be there so we can fulfill their request.
Carli:
[A two way communication] is what music is, you want to be involved and feel like you’re part of the show. All of our fans and listeners, they become friends to us. In ever city we visit, we build that relationship and it’s a pretty special thing to build a community everywhere you visit. We have this responsibility to keep fulfilling the requests.
Julie:
We want to have an open conversation, we want to talk about things that matter to us, our family, love, small town roots. We all live in BC and we all know it’s the most beautiful place in the world and that influences our music because we’re west coast girls and we want to sing about our experience. If we can have a shared experience with people who are listening and they can relate to that, that’s the goal.
On performing together and keeping it in the family…
Julie:
We started out in a family band in our hometown playing together and that was our true introduction to being musicians. We performed in every community event, my dad and mom and us carted around the music gear and we learned the behind the scene real quick. Carli and I were totally hooked.
Carli:
We never questioned it, we realize how lucky we are to always have known what we want to do. We always knew music was going to be our career, we didn’t know exactly how it would turn out. As I said we went to university and studied classical and absolutely love that style of music and love where that took us. We had a lot of years of each of us working individually on our instruments, Julie plays violin and I play guitar. We always loved the most, playing together, so we would find ways to perform duets or write music together for special programs for the school. We were always finding our true love when we were performing as a duo.
Julie:
We didn’t think too hard about it, as soon as we graduated we went straight to the studio and did our first DP and it wasn’t even a question. We live together and work together and we’re best friends, and I think we really ever questioned it.
Carli:
When we were 8 years we started violin and guitar, we didn’t know how well it would go together but we made it our duo and its become our sound and the fact that our voices are similar worked out.
On their upcoming album due out next spring…
Julie:
We are actually heading into the studio this summer, right now were in pre-production. We’re picking all the new songs and the new album will be coming out in the Spring of next year. Our first single will be released at the end of 2014.
Carli:
We have been travelling back and forth from Nashville, we’ve been writing with a lot of our favourite co-writers down there. We can’t wait to finally share it…
Julie:
The album will be a continuation of what we’ve been doing as artists and the message that we’ve been sharing in our past music that audiences can expect to see. More development in our variety of influences, we’re going to try to bring that into the country genre. We have a lot of new tunes that people haven’t heard and a few that we’ve had a lot of feedback from previous songs that fans have been asking for.
Carli:
We’ve got a couple in the works [for the title] and you can expect it to probably be something happy. You have so many influences writing songs so there will be a real mix on there so we hope there’s something for everybody.
On their upcoming show in Coquitlam…
Julie:
We’re west coast girls so any performances we can do in our home province is an absolute pleasure. We love performing at home. We met some of the organizers at one of the provincial showcases in Canada. They have showcases for Canadian artists and international artists that are performing and touring. They heard us at an Alberta showcase and we connected with the organizers right away, that night, and they said they would love to have us. We’re just so excited to be there, good food, music, good people—I don’t think we can go wrong! We’ll also be bringing our Victoria band so it’s going to be a really good time.
Carli:
Our show is family friendly, its going to be an upbeat and entertaining evening. We have a four-piece group so it’s guitar, fiddle, base, and procession/drums. Julie and I switch around instruments as well. They can expect a lot of sibling harmonies and just a fun, all ages show that’s going to celebrate summer in Coquitlam!
Learn more about Carli Kennedy & Julie Kennedy, find out about their upcoming shows and album here.
Music on the Grill returns July 19th, this Saturday, but even if you miss this weekend’s festivities there is still one more evenings of great entertainment on August 9th with Zakiya Hooker featuring Chris James. Tickets are $52 for dinner and a concert, or $32 for a concert only. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Contact the Box Office at 604-927-6555, or buy tickets online at www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca.