Spun: Sarah Harmer

By Hoang-Mai Hong

Canadian country music is usually thought of as bland and dull, maybe because it’s filled with bland and dull Canadiana. Thanks to artists like Corb Lund and Sarah Harmer, Canadian country music is getting a bit of a kick.

The latter’s latest album, I’m A Mountain, is delightfully country, bluegrassy and Canadian as well, with songs like the folky French-Canadian “Salamander” and “Escarpment Blues,” a protest song on the current land-use dispute on Ontario’s Niagara escarpment. This sure isn’t boring Canadiana, though, especially with Harmer’s lovely voice which is calming without being sleep-inducing. A completely simple, but peppy acoustic set rife with plucked guitars, banjos and mandolins rounds out the disc.

The simplicity and beauty of the songs on I’m a Mountain almost bring you back to the idyllic good ol’ times on the porch with a fiddle, a banjo and maybe an old prospector blowing into an empty bottle of moonshine, even though you’ve never been there. I’m A Mountain is one of Harmer’s best yet and is not to be missed by fans of good country music.

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