Sweet N’ Gritty time promised with PEAR band

Times Reporter      

 

The Strathmore Musical Arts Society is once again bringing a top-notch act to our community. PEAR, a Calgary based country music duo, will be coming to Strathmore on April 26. 

There is also once again an early bird draw: anyone who buys their tickets before April 19 will have their name entered into a draw for a $250 gift certificate for the Rocking R Ranch and two tickets to Rosebud Theatre. 

“They opened for Johnny Reid at his Christmas concert that was here,” said Linda Storkson, president of the Musical Arts Society.

“It should be good fun.”

Husband and wife Lynae and Denis Dufresne make up the PEAR band, and they are excited to be coming to Strathmore. 

“We always like playing close to home. That’s one of the hard parts about touring is just not being home, it’s going to be great to be out in Strathmore because we’re close to Calgary and we get to reach out to a new community. We always enjoys building our audiences, especially close to home,” said Denis Dufresne. 

“Lynae and I are doing an acoustic show that night. We have travelled around the world and we tell stories about our travels and our music is pretty upbeat and energetic and it’s kind of a family show so it is good for all ages and we have our storytelling songs but then we also have high energy instrumentals and things like that so it is a good time.”

The couple had met in 1997 when they joined Barrage, one of the most successful fiddle shows in the world. Denis had come from Medicine Hat and Lynae from Sandpoint, Idaho. Within the first nine months the two had started dating and it wasn’t long before they married. 

The duo eventually decided to take some time off from touring the world, and start a family. About six months after their son was born they both began getting calls about gigs, and off they went again. 

“We just weren’t seeing each other anymore so we formed PEAR in about 2006 and we didn’t really get serious about it until about 2001, once we put our time into it, now the family gets to stay together which is pretty awesome,” said Denis. 

Since then the pair released their album Sweet N’ Gritty in 2012 and have been touring extensively the last few years. The show will be held at the Travelodge ballroom on April 26. Cocktails will be at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 pm. and the show starts around 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 each and are for sale at PJ’s Appliances, Assist Business and Pro Water Systems. Anyone looking to find out more about the PEAR, or to hear some of their tracks check them out on Facebook, Twitter or at their website www.pearband.com.