44 FOCUS - MAY 2018 Ensconced as the house band at the ancient, ram- shackle tavern, The Montreal House, the original duo of Charlie Glasspool and Trevor “Tiny” Davis attracted old friends and grew from a duo, to a quintet, to an anarchic horde of over a dozen players and singers, bringing a dark, absurdist edge to their re-workings of blues, country and tin-pan-alley music, and tore into originals, standards and contemporary covers with equal ferocity and grim glee. Veterans of Peterborough’s folk, hard rock and ex- perimental music scenes of the 1990s, epic three-set shows turned the band into a powerhouse, loose-but-tight ensem- ble of arch-individuals, and put the pressure on the band to master such arcane instruments as sousaphone and theremin, and to always learn or write more timeless songs to fill out the set. The Silver Hearts reached their creative zenith on the albums “No Place” (2002; CBC Bandwidth album of the year) and “Our Precious City”(2004), adding another idiosyncratic chapter to the history of experimental folk music, and contributing a few otherworldly instrumen- tals, heartbreaking ballads and abstract dance numbers to the people’s songbook in the process. After releasing a full-album cover of Tom Waits’s “Rain Dogs”, the band went on hiatus, regrouping temporarily to make “Dear Stranger” (2006) with Andre Ethier. “Golden Favourites” (2016), their first studio album in over a decade, serves as an excellent reintroduction to the band. The multi-member, eclectic “beer hall orchestra” (as they style themselves) have recorded an album of songs that have been hallmarks of their live act since the beginning. Greenbank Centennial Hall, Greenbank Hwy 12. Tickets are $ 25 each and available at: Blue Heron Books: 62 Brock St West, in Uxbridge, 905-852-4282 P O E Designs: 146 Queen St, in Port Perry, 905-985-0060 or phone 905-985-8351 for reserved tickets and information. Check our web site and watch for future concerts at: http://www.greenbankfolkmusic.ca/ and on Facebook. So, please, come join us on May 26th as we board this very lively “... musical freight train...” (Sarah Green, NOW) known as The Silver Hearts! Beerhall Orchestra featuring “SEASON FINALE” SATURDAY MAY 26