You may well have already been lucky enough to catch the Canadian folk duo Mama’s Broke (Amy Lou and Lisa Marie) at a gig or festival this month as they have just finished touring here in the UK. Their final performance was at Purbeck Valley Folk Festival where I managed to catch them on Sunday. Prior to that, I was also lucky to see them at Sidmouth Folk Festival, where they proved they’re equally adept at performing in the intimate setting of the Cellar Bar as well as the grand stage of The Ham.
In his review of their debut album Count The Wicked, Danny Neill felt the album was so strong that he was straight to the point in his conclusion: “Debut albums as strong as this should not be ignored.” Luckily, looking at their substantial UK tour and the audience numbers, they most certainly were not ignored.
What’s abundantly clear is that they have pure folk DNA pumping through their veins. The music has its roots laid bare, there are no concessions here to 21st-century recording techniques, it’s an old-fashioned record that captures unadorned acoustics and natural performance. The harmonies feel like the purest, clean spring water and the playing has an ebb and flow, blowing hard and gentle like changes in the breeze. Danny Neill, Folk Radio UK
When I spoke to them at Sidmouth they admitted to being surprised by the UK tour attendance considering their album was self-funded via Kickstarter. They just didn’t expect to have that sort of turnout outside of Canada…but they did, some even attended gigs wearing ‘Mama’s Broke t-shirts’! It’s stories like this we need to hear more of.
While at Sidmouth Folk Festival, they were led to “one of Sidmouth’s iconic seafront shelters. The fiddlesticks were obtained from the Thai food stall across the street…”
Buy the album and follow them: https://mamasbroke.ca/