VIDEO PREMIERE: The Lonesome Ace Stringband Offer Bluegrass Reflection on Impact of Wildfires with “Praying for Rain”

Masters of their trade, The Lonesome Ace Stringband bring grit, skill and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless.  

Instrumentation alone sets the trio’s sound apart: consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Malone), the band moves freely between a sound so commanding it doesn’t seem like it should be coming from a stringband, to a sparse fragility that draws the listener closer.  Whether singing about climate change, modern love, BBQ techniques or life’s inevitable existential crises, the band cuts to the core. They can also turn and churn out a tune with so much verve that it will make your heart spin and set the dance floor swirling.

The band’s recording journey mirrors the arc of their on-stage evolution.  Their early catalogue is anchored in inventive and excited versions of  traditional repertoire punctuated by original compositions.  Now with more than a decade of group music-making under their belts, they’re releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty collection of all-original material titled Try To Make It Fly (due out October 13th). And much like their seamless live performances where they trade-off lead vocals, each member has brought their songwriting voice to the album.  

Call Lonesome Ace Stringband whatever genre you want – they are just unorthodox enough to be brilliant.

Today Glide is premiering the video for the standout tune “Praying for Rain,” a poignant tune that balances the kind of unconventional approach of acts like Split Lip Rayfield with a more old timey country sound that brings to mind acts like Trampled by Turtles. Straightforward lyrics touch on a subject matter we can now all relate to: climate change and living under increasingly hot temps and the threat of wildfires. Nowhere has this been more true than in Canada this summer, and the band offers vivid lyrics to articulate the emotional impacts of dealing with these issues. They do this in a way that marries bluegrass, country and old time music.

The band describes the inspiration behind the tune:

In the fall of 2019, Max (bass, vocals) and his wife packed up everything they owned into an 8’ X 16’ trailer and hauled it from Toronto to a tiny town called Horsefly in British Columbia. They stayed in a friend’s cabin while they built their homestead. They finished just in time for the arrival of their son in late Spring of 2021. That summer was one of record-breaking temperatures. The skies turned an eerie orange and the sun a blood red as smoke drifted from a nearby forest fire. Several hours south from them, the Lytton fire ravaged the town nearly to the ground in a matter of hours. With that backdrop, Praying For Rain came to Max in a matter of minutes.

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