MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE MARRIEDS - FIRE IN THE FLAME

While the band name gives away the living arrangements, there's a lot more to Jane Carmichael and Kevin Kennedy's gig than love and family songs. Well, they do those, and very well, but they aren't often biographical. Instead, Carmichael (the chief songwriter) has an ear for other people's touching tales, and then the couple adds great-sounding folk and country-edged hooks and harmonies.


Carmichael has the kind of voice that hits you just at the right moment, and is the kind of writer who knows when to place those moments in a song. Turquoise Blue, about a six-year-old boy with leukemia, has a chorus with a beautiful vocal and harmony, as she sings "Little trooper, little soldier." A Girl Said Yes, about a couple who's first date was initiated by the man writing a letter, has another killer chorus: "It's all because a boy wrote a letter/It's all because a girl said yes."


Closing cut Fire In The Flame is one from her own life, about her father's Alzheimer's, and what thoughts he may have lived with at the beginning: "Will you still love me if I don't know your name?" Bring an extra Kleenex if you're checking out any of the duo's upcoming shows, including these ones:


July 27th - Plan B, Moncton, NB
July 28th - The Company House, Halifax, NS
July 29th - Evergreen Theatre, Margaretsville, NS
July 31st - Mont-Carmel Summer Concert Series, Mont-Carmel, PEI