The Duhks

The Duhks are a Canadian folk fusion band, formed in 2002 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Featuring banjo, fiddle, guitar, percussion, and vocals, The Duhks blend folk music together with various Canadian and American traditional styles, including soul, gospel, old-time country string, and zydeco. The band also commonly plays traditional Irish dance music, integrating Latin-influenced percussion as well as often Celtic- and Cajun-influenced fiddle-playing.

The Duhks
OriginWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
GenresAmerican folk, blues, Irish folk, folk rock, gospel, Latin percussion, soul, zydeco
Years active2002 (2002)–present
LabelsSugar Hill (former)
Websiteduhks.com
MembersLeonard Podolak
Jessee Havey
Kevin Joaquin Garcia
Colin Savoie-Levac
Anna Lindblad
Past membersSarah Dugas
Christian Dugas
Jordan McConnell
Scott Senior
Tania Elizabeth

History

In 2002, Appalachian-influenced clawhammer banjo player Leonard Podolak founded The Duhks in Winnipeg with singer Jessee Havey, fiddle player Tania Elizabeth, and Celtic-influenced guitarist Jordan McConnell—all Canadian musicians.[1] The name "Duhks" comes from Scruj MacDuhk, Podolak's defunct previous band.

The Duhks' first album, Your Daughters & Your Sons (2003), was nominated for a Juno award, leading to a contract with Sugar Hill Records. A new percussionist, Latin-influenced Scott Senior, joined the band, who then released their eponymous second album (2005), produced by Béla Fleck, which won a Juno for Best Roots & Traditional Album by a Group. "Heaven's My Home," from their third album, Migrations (2006)—produced by Tim O'Brien—was nominated for the 2007 Grammy award for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

In March 2007, Jessee Havey left the band to pursue other interests and was replaced as the lead singer by Sarah Dugas. The group was joined in November 2007 by Sarah's brother, Christian Dugas, as a replacement for percussionist Scott Senior, who left to spend more time with his family.[2] In October 2007, The Duhks Sustainability Project was launched to raise awareness about ways to live a more economically viable and ecologically sustainable lifestyle.[3] The following year, the website FestivaLink released The Duhks' first live album as well as the first to feature Sarah Dugas as lead vocalist and Christian Dugas as percussionist; the album is a compilation of old and new songs, largely recorded at a post-Earth Day benefit in Nederland, Colorado on April 2008.

Fast Paced World (2008), produced by Jay Joyce, was the first official studio album to feature the Dugas siblings. It also received a Juno nomination for Best Roots & Traditional Album. In 2009, FestivaLink released The Duhks' second live album, featuring several guest musicians and recorded primarily at that year's MerleFest in North Carolina.

On January 15, 2010, fiddler Tania Elizabeth announced that she would be moving on.[4][5] She was temporarily replaced by fiddler Casey Driessen. As of 2010, the whole band was on semi-hiatus, playing far fewer shows. In April 2011, the band announced on their website that this pace would continue, including some shows with former members Havey and Senior, as the Dugas siblings had begun recording and performing as an independent duo.

In January 2012, the band announced a reformation of the band featuring original lead vocalist Jessee Havey, fiddler Tania Elizabeth, Jordan McConnell on guitar, Scott Senior on percussion, and Leonard Podolak on banjo. This lineup did some reunion tours before McConnell, Senior, and Elizabeth left and Havey and Podolak went on to scout a new lineup. The band then did tours with a lineup consisting of new American members, including Rosie Newton (temporary fiddler, who toured with the band for a six-month period ending in the winter of 2014), temporary guitarist Jefferson Hamer, and permanent new percussionist Kevin Garcia. The band entered the studio in December 2013 after successfully using crowdsource funding site Indiegogo to raise money for the recording of a new album, originally planned for release in spring of 2014.[6]

In June 2014, The Duhks officially released their new album, Beyond the Blue. Their permanent new lineup now also includes Québécois multi-instrumentalist Colin Savoie-Levac on guitar as of 2014 and the Swedish fiddler Anna Lindblad on violin as of January 2015.

In the spring of 2016, the band announced on their Facebook page that they would no longer be touring, and have not done any shows since.

Members

Current members
  • Canadian:
    • Leonard Podolak – banjo and vocals (2002–present)
    • Jessee Havey – lead vocals (2002–2007; 2011–present)
    • Colin Savoie-Levac – guitar and bouzouki (2014–present)
  • American:
    • Kevin Garcia – percussion (2013–present)
  • Swedish:
    • Anna Lindblad – fiddle/violin (2015–present)

Former members
  • Canadian:
    • Sarah Dugas – lead vocals (2007–2011)
    • Christian Dugas – drum kit and percussion (2007–2011)
    • Jordan McConnell – guitar (2002–2013)
    • Scott Senior – percussion (2002–2007; 2011-2013)
    • Tania Elizabeth – fiddle and vocals (2002-2010; 2012-2014)

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album details Peak chart
positions
US Heat
[7]		 US Indie
[8]
2003 Your Daughters & Your Sons — —
2005 The Duhks
  • Release date: February 8, 2005
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
 30 40
2006 Migrations
  • Release date: September 12, 2006
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
 — —
2008 Fast Paced World
  • Release date: August 19, 2008
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
 36 —
2014 Beyond the Blue — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Live albums
Year Album details
2008 FestivaLink presents The Duhks at the Backdoor Theater, Nederland, CO 4/29/08
  • Live at the Backdoor Theater, Nederland, CO, April 29, 2008
  • Release date: 2008
  • Label: FestivaLink.net
2009 FestivaLink presents The Duhks at MerleFest, NC 4/24/09
  • Live at Hillside Stage, Merlefest, NC, April 24, 2009
  • Release date: 2009
  • Label: FestivaLink.net

Singles
Year Title Album
2004 "Mists of Down Below" The Duhks
2006 "Out of the Rain" Migrations
2008 "Fast Paced World" Fast Paced World
"You Don't See It"
gollark: Why does it matter if they've actually fused, though?
gollark: Why?
gollark: So would you say that two gametes in a test tube have the same status as a fertilized egg?
gollark: Via a multi-step process, but that doesn't matter apart from it being more annoying.
gollark: To use a concrete example I just came up with: if you can convert JPEGs to PNGs and PNGs to PDFs, or something, then ultimately JPEGs can be converted to PDFs.

See also

References
  1. Grant Alden; Peter Blackstock (October 1, 2008). No Depression # 76: The Next Generation. University of Texas Press. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-0-292-71928-6.
  2. Rotter, Joshua (February 14, 2008). "The Duhks continue to play despite changing lead singer, percussionist". The Record. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  4. "Big Changes for The Duhks!". Dukhs.com. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
  5. "Tania Elizabeth News – January 25, 2010". Taniaelizabeth.com. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  6. "The Duhks - Our New Album!". Indiegogo.com. July 14, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  7. "The Duhks Album & Song Chart History – Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
  8. "The Duhks Album & Song Chart History – Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
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