Around the Province and Across the Pond

Music Runs Through It’s first touring series will pair Julie Aubé (NB) with Luke Jackson (UK) for shows in New Brunswick and the UK.

Matt Carter

Fredericton music fanatic Emma Chevarie and her Music Runs Through It concert series will be stepping outside their regular programming this spring to try something new, something ambitious. In partnership with UK-based artist development specialist Neil Pearsons (Sounds Just Fine) and with support from Music NB and the Province of New Brunswick, MRTI will be organizing a New Brunswick tour with British songwriter Luke Jackson and New Brunswick’s own Julie Aubé. This bilingual double billing will play five shows around the province in May with plans to repeat the process overseas in the year ahead.

“Neil Pearson and I met at the ECMAs and hit it off right away,” said Chevarie. “He has successfully worked with PEI artists in a similar format. I wanted to apply that model to NB and he was willing to help make that happen. Keeping both the artist and the audience in mind, the aim is to give the artists a solid tour to expand their audience within the province and beyond our borders and also to provide audiences the opportunity to experience a well curated musical event.”

The act of curation has always been at the forefront of Chevarie’s work. Creating intimate experiences where artists and audiences can gather together for a listening experience has remained the guiding light behind her work with MRTI since she started hosting performances several years ago.

“It’s definitely exciting to take the MRTI brand beyond Fredericton’s borders to share my passion for the live music experience,” she said. “I hope this tour will be the first of many.”

Prior to this project, Aubé and Jackson were unknown to one another but Chevarie says they are both excited for the coming tours.

“With input from Music/Musique NB and in collaborating with Neil, we made the decision to partner Julie and Luke for this tour. Julie is such an accomplished musician and in developing her solo career has a lot to share with both devoted and new fans.

“Relying on Neil’s expertise with the UK artists, he felt they’d be a perfect match,” she said. “Luke is contemporary with some leanings towards the 60’s-70’s.”

Hailing from Moncton, Julie Aubé is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist well-known as a member of the band Les Hay Babies. In 2016, Julie felt drawn to write an album of her own, so recorded and co-produced Joie de vivre with Marc Pérusse. The result is a vintage-sounding psychedelic rock record, with lyrics firmly planted in the present day that moves everyone who listens.

Award-winning British singer, songwriter and guitarist, Luke Jackson, has now released five studio albums and a live recording and tours widely in Europe and North America. Jackson is an accomplished performer who impresses from the outset and takes his audience on a journey with songs of love, hope, sorrow, and melancholy via the styles of folk, roots, blues, Americana and soul.