Sometimes the best artistic collaborations arise from love. In the case of married couple-cum-musical partners John Antoniuk and Jen Lane this is clearly the case.
While both have successful solo careers, the Saskatoon-based duo released last year Jen & John, a seven-song album comprised of five originals and two covers. With rich vocal harmonies, soothing melodies and strong country and folk influences, the record is a perfect soundtrack for an intimate evening.
Ottawa residents can hear the Prairie duo play live this Friday at 8 pm at Raw Sugar Cafe (692 Somerset St. West). Ottawa’s Jasper Bridge will be joining the two singer-songwriters and tickets are $12 at the door.
“John and I have been playing music together since 2003,” Lane tells Apartment613 in an interview. “We met at a songwriters showcase and by 2007 we were married. I’d sing here and there with John’s band and he became my regular lead guitarist and back up vocalist. He also manages his career and mine.”
While the duo still live in Saskatchewan, they have been performing a bi-annual residency every May and November at the popular Cameron House in Toronto. When they first started their Toronto residency shows in 2013, they decided to play together rather than split up their sets, with one playing one song and then the other the next.
“[I]t ended up having a really nice dynamic where we could really play on the couples banter and the audience responded well to that format,” says Lane, who has released four albums as a solo artist, three of which have been nominated for Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
“Naturally, we just went with the flow and released something together,” continues Lane. “The Jen & John album is really three of his tunes, two of mine, and two of our favorite covers, so there’s no co-writing technically. However, we are always giving each other feed back and suggestions in our writing and we are always tweaking each other’s material. We have been doing some co-writing recently and we hope to record those for Jen & John 2.”
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The Way Home written by John Antoniuk and performed by Jen Lane and John Antoniuk from the album Jen & John (August 2014). Video filmed by Mitch Fillion, SouthernSouls.ca May 2014
Curious to know more about their musical collaboration, I asked how the couple approached songwriting together.
“We take on all of our writing very organically. It’s never really planned out to write any specific part first,” replies Antoniuk, who has released solo albums as Smokekiller, as well as the 2012 record Always With You, which he released under his own name as a tribute to his mother who died of cancer in 2010.
“I think both Jen and I have different ways of writing and we individually approach songs differently every time,” he continues. “There’s no calculating the emotional aspect of any song when you’re writing it. You’re basically just along for the ride.”
As for a follow up release, the Prairie couple are working on a second joint album, although they are also focusing on Lane’s career.
“We are planning on doing some writing together this summer and even possibly working on an album of children’s songs,” says Antoniuk. “The focus for late 2015 and early 2016 is definitely on the next Jen Lane album This Life of Mine. We recently recorded Jen’s next record with producer John Ellis (Ridley Bent, Doc Walker), and received support from FACTOR to record and market the record.
“We have always ‘leap frogged’ with our projects and it’s Jen’s turn to take the lead. We are also extremely proud of Jen’s new album. It’s her best work to date, and we will be hitting radio with a single in fall 2015 and the album will hit the streets in spring 2016.”
Jen & John perform this Friday at 8 pm at Raw Sugar Cafe (692 Somerset St. West). Ottawa’s Jasper Bridge will also be playing and tickets are $12 at the door.
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