Whitehorse (Luke Doucet & Melissa McLelland)

Event information

The group name may be new, but those of the two principals in Whitehorse are very familiar. Individually, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland are two of Canada's most acclaimed roots-oriented singer-songwriters. They are now putting their individual recording careers on hold and reinventing themselves as Whitehorse, but as they explained in a recent interview, their joint project is much more than a simple diversion from their day jobs.

"People waiting for our next solo albums are going to be waiting a long time," says Doucet. "This is not a side-project." McClelland adds, "Our new record is partly about bringing our two fan bases together. There is a lot of overlap already, but we thought bringing some of the old material [her hit 'Passenger 24' and Doucet favourite 'Broken'] and putting it in a new light, changing them around, would be a good way of introducing this new band."

The pair came up with most of the instrumentation on Whitehorse, with Doucet's former Veal bandmate Barry Mirochnick playing most of the drums. The bulk of the sessions took place at Hamilton, ON studio Catherine North, with Michael Chambers doing the engineering and mixing. Other recording was done at the pair's home studio and at Sarah McLachlan's house in Vancouver.

The result is eight songs totalling 24 minutes, but Doucet doesn't like the term EP. "That's a dirty word. This is a record, a short record, and we'll put out another record next year. We have enough material for a double album already, including tracks we built up with Andrew Scott, who did ‘Steel City Trawler’ [Doucet's much-praised 2010 record]."

Doucet and McClelland, who are married, have worked together extensively prior to the creation of Whitehorse. Doucet has produced the last three McClelland albums, they frequently accompany each other on their individual gigs and both tour extensively as members of Sarah McLachlan's band.


Thad Beckman, who is Tom Russell's guitarist, supported Ian McLagan in August last year at the Bullingdon and went down very well. It is great to have him back in the more intimate surroundings of Tingewick.

The dust-filled wind sweeps steadily down and across the flat, arid plains of Woody Guthrie's America. Beginning many hundreds of miles from Portland, Oregon it carries with it the hopes and dreams of those who have gone before… the dreamers and seekers. It whispers a birthright to the singular voice of a modern compatriot-in-arms 
…singer/songwriter Thad Beckman.

A professional musician for more than 30 years, Thad Beckman has paid his dues on these same dusty roads which run from California to New Jersey and points in between. His finely-crafted original songs are the story of life, the voice of modern America...from the growling delta blues of the Deep South to evocative contemporary folk...bound by the common thread of experience leaned from the road. You can hear it in his voice....he's been there.

As Jim Beal of the San Antonio Express-News states
"Beckman plays an engaging blend of folk, singer-songwriter and blues music. Not everyone can pull off such a combination, but Beckman has chops, writing talent, a big personality and a bag full of true stories which all dovetail for a cool show”.

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