After years spent encouraging each other’s musical pursuits, Fredericton songwriters Cat LeBlanc and Joshua Sangster teamed up for the duet single, Night Light.
Matt Carter
Over the past weekend, Cat LeBlanc and Joshua Sangster shared their new song, Night Light. The song marks the first collaborative single to surface from these two Fredericton-based musicians who, for the past few years, have been working together to support each other’s musical journeys.
LeBlanc and Sangster met as participants in Shivering Songs’ 2017 Songwriter’s Intensive hosted by Jim Bryson, and have been working together ever since.
“During the Intensive, we were all asked to pick a partner to create with over the weekend,” said LeBlanc. “I looked across the room and pointed at Joshua and said, ‘I pick him!’. Joshua was probably thinking, ‘who the hell is this and why did she pick me?’, but the rest is history. He is now in my band and we are good friends.”
Night Light is a fitting testament to the duet format that has long been a staple in folk and country music circles; an arrangement that allows two voices to complement each other while also taking turns carrying the lyrics and melody forward.
“Night Light was a seedling I had in my song book from a couple years earlier,” said Sangster. “I had the first line, the intro and the basic melody, and we expanded from there with the lyrics and structure. Cat really took the vibe and made it into a more complete song.”
In the tradition of classic folk/country pairings like George Jones and Tammy Wynette or Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris, Night Light takes the form of a conversation between two lonely hearts, each searching for a way to fill a void.
“It was like it was meant to be,” said Sangster. “I had tried and failed a few times to make something out of this idea, but I couldn’t until we met up.”
Sangster is a founding member of the group Honey Gut. He is also a member of LeBlanc’s live band and is featured on her 2020 debut, Blue to Blue.
