The Small Glories Come to Lakewood Cultural Center

The Lakewood Cultural Center will close out its 2021/2022 Presents season with the heartwarming folk band The Small Glories at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 19. Hailing from Winnipeg, Canada, this dynamic duo showcases the talented Cara Luft and JD Edwards whose sound interweaves tight vocal harmonies with stomping claw-hammer banjo, guitar and harmonica. More than simply playing music, Luft and Edwards embrace witty banter that is the perfect blend of slapstick and sermon in an effort to draw audiences in and make them feel as if they are sitting on stage beside them.

"Luft is a Wailin' Jennys alum whose work on the clawhammer banjo is to die for, while Edwards' guitar and vocal harmonies deepen and enrich the duo's sound," said Stephen Thompson, co-creator of NPR's "TinyDesk Concerts." Hit hard by the pandemic, like many artists, the duo will be performing live for one of the first times in two years, giving the Lakewood audience a rare treat. This special evening is one not to be missed.

"There's so much animosity and divisiveness in our world these days," Luft said. "As artists, part of our job is to somehow create unity." Tickets start at $22 and are available at 303-987-7845, Lakewood.org/LCCPresents or the Lakewood Cultural Center Box Office, 470 S. Allison Parkway (Wadsworth and West Alameda Avenue).

Roots powerhouse duo "The Small Glories" are Cara Luft and JD Edwards, a musical tour-de-force partnership planted on the Canadian Prairies. Thrown together purely by accident for an anniversary show at Winnipeg's venerable West End Cultural Centre, "The Small Glories" could almost make you believe in fate.

The material of a Small Glories concert is welcoming in terms of subject, folk-pop melody and instrumentation - songs of love, loss, and environment, delivered with soaring, interwoven vocals on various combinations of stomping clawhammer banjo, guitar and harmonica. However, a Small Glories performance is really about what happens in-between the songs. "The feedback we get from a lot of audiences is that it's not just about the music for them," Luft says. "It's the whole package."

Learn more about the band at thesmallglories.com.

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