This past Friday, Jenn Grant released her new album, Queen of the Strait (which is currently only available on bandcamp) and embarked on a very special tour called Cradled by the Waves.

The show was promised to be a multimedia experience, and it started immediately on entering the theatre; everyone received a small envelope with a card & pencil and the screen behind the stage was playing a loop of waves crashing on the beach.

After a quick introduction the members of Jenn Grant’s band took the stage, including an “anonymous entity” who provided interpretive dance throughout the show. A lone telephone on a stool rang and Grant emerged to answer, having a conversation with her younger self by way of old camcorder footage on the screen.

This lead into the title track from the autobiographical album, “Queen of the Strait”, going through the whole LP over the course of the evening. Spanning from her childhood with the deceptively upbeat “Daddy and His Shotgun” through her 20s with the moody “Crazy”, touching on heartbreak in “Nobody Knows” and darker subject matters, with the raw emotion of “Put It On A Shelf”.

Between each song Jenn talked about the album, telling stories from her life and showing more footage. She sought advice from her mother through old home movies, gave cooking tips from an appearance on the CBC — while also sharing a recipe of her own for ‘Postpartum Souffle’ — and even included footage from an old TV show where she and her brother were trying to get their family dog adopted, leading into “I Hate The Violin”. Jenn also told the incredible story behind her single “Jim Cuddy Dress”, her mother meeting the Blue Rodeo singer at the Juno’s shortly before passing away, and asking to be buried in the dress she was wearing that night. During the heartfelt song, the picture of them together appeared on screen behind the band.

After a conversation with (archival footage of) her grandfather Daniel J. MacDonald, she asked everyone to take out the slip of paper they received and write down something that gives them hope, which would be collected after the show. While we did that, she slipped off stage for a quick change, then was back for the gorgeous “Seaglass”.

As the show was wrapping up, Grant took a moment to thank everyone responsible, including projectionist Jose Garcia-Lozano and cinematographer (& brother) Daniel Grant, then everyone on stage: Kim Harris on keys, her partner Daniel Ledwell on guitar, Jamie Kronick on drums, and Carlie Howell on bass (saving her til last to sing happy birthday), as well as the ‘anonymous entity’ Tanya Davis. Jenn then announced the last song, joking that a certain Dan in the audience once told her that he rarely did encored any more, and closed with another ode to her mother “Take Me To The Movies”, accompanied by old footage of her family at a fair and riding a small roller coaster.

Jenn Grant is a great songwriter with an incredible voice, but also an effortlessly charming storyteller, both in song and on stage. Many artists give a peek into their personal lives & themselves through their music and on stage, but with the new album Queen of the Strait & this show Cradled by the Waves, she took that to the next level for a fantastic show.

setlist
Queen Of The Strait
I Hate The Violin
Daddy and His Shotgun
Crazy
Ladies Night
Nobody Knows
Gonna Be Free
Jim Cuddy Dress
Put It On A Shelf
Seaglass
Take Me To The Movies