Elena Yeung is making sure bluegrass music is alive and well in the Kootenays. Following her 2008 debut The Gravedigger’s Daughter, she is getting set to release her second CD, Dandelion with a regional tour that stops in Nelson’s Scout Hall (310 Cedar Street) this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Yeung followed the 2008 release with a year of touring, a year of resettling in Creston, then songwriting, and finally recording. Meanwhile, The Gravedigger’s Daughter has since received respectable reviews nationally and received international airplay.
Like its predecessor, Dandelion follows much of the traditional bluegrass sound but also makes several detours into older influences of bluegrass — old-time, gospel, folk, and swing. As implied by its title, the overall tone is more fun and light-hearted. There is also more variation in instrumentation, including dobro, clawhammer banjo, piano, and a special a capella number in five-part harmony, recorded with The Persuasions in New York City.
“I just wanted to have fun this time around, get a little more variety in the sound, and include some old friends from the bluegrass community in Vancouver. But this project became a learning experience on a whole different level. There were moments of absolute magic that still make me smile every time I listen to it.”
Yeung is joined on tour by The Kootenay Special: fiddler Karl Sommerfeld, guitarist Keith Larsen and Steve Jones on upright bass.
Tickets are $10 at Otter Books or $12 at the door.