Cara Luft is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist and

clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called down-picking, overhand, or frailing, is a distinctive banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direct ...

banjo player, and founding member of the Canadian

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

trio

The Wailin' Jennys The Wailin' Jennys are a Canadian music group. They have released several albums and received two Juno Awards. The group has been featured several times on the American Public Media program ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and their album ''Firecr ...

. She returned to her solo career in 2005.

Early life and education

Luft was born 27 May 1974 and raised in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta to folk-singing parents. She was brought up in the city's vibrant folk music community. She began playing

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

and

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

at the age of four, and started singing with the family band. Her guitar self-studies began at age 11.

Career

After spending four years living in British Columbia, she moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Manitoba in the fall of 1999 to further pursue her music career. She developed an understanding of

alternate tunings Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitch (music), pitches to the open string (music), open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Musical tuning, Tunings are described by the particular pitc ...

and both finger and flat-picking techniques, becoming an accomplished acoustic guitar player. She performs as a claw hammer banjo player, and sings with an

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

voice. Her writing and playing styles are influenced by rock groups such as

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, as well as both modern and traditional

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

(British, Canadian and American styles). She has worked as a workshop leader and instructor at international music camps, including the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Foothills Acoustic Music Institute, Colorado Roots Music Camp, and Goderich Celtic College. In 2000 Luft released her debut album, ''Tempting the Storm''."Cara Luft The Light Fantastic"
''Exclaim!'', By Rachel Sanders, 23 May 2007 Luft co-founded and performed with the Wailin' Jennys in the early 2000s, which released a self-titled EP and an album, ''40 Days'', in 2004. Luft left the band soon after and set out once more on a solo career. She released the album ''The Light Fantastic'' in 2007, which was produced by

Neil Osborne 54-40 (often stylized 54•40) is a Canadian alternative rock group from Tsawwassen, British Columbia. The band take their name from the slogan "54-40 or Fight!", coined to express the unsuccessful expansionist agenda of James K. Polk's presiden ...

of the Canadian rock band

54-40 The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in t ...

, and mixed by

Warne Livesey Warne Livesey (born 12 February 1959) is an English/Canadian music producer, mixing engineer, songwriter and musician. He has produced Midnight Oil, The The, Matthew Good Band and Deacon Blue. Life and career Warne Livesey started his career in ...

. Luft toured Europe with Liverpool-based side musician Scott Poley, a music producer who plays guitar, pedal and lap steel. In Canada she toured with bass player Gilles Fournier, sometimes with guest musicians Donovan Giesbrecht and Chris Neufeld of The Other Brothers. Her co-writing partner for the album ''Darlingford'' was Lewis Melville, of Guleph, Ontario. Luft performed in Scotland in 2008 with Hugh MacMillan, and returned to tour with him again in 2009. In 2012 she released another album, ''Darlingford'' on the Blue Case label. In 2016, Luft joined with JD Edwards to form the duo The Small Glories. They released their debut album ''Wonderous Traveller'' in February 2016.

Discography

Cara Luft

*''Cara Luft'' (EP) (cassette only) *''Tragedy of the Commons'' (EP) *''Tempting the Storm'' (2000) *''The Light Fantastic'' (2007) *''One Take Only'' (EP) *''Black Water Side'' (2011) *''Darlingford'' (2012)

The Wailin' Jennys

*'' The Wailin' Jennys EP'' *''

40 Days ''40 Days'' is the debut full-length album from Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. The lineup of the group at the time was Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Cara Luft. This was the last recording to feature Luft, who left the group the followin ...

'' (2004)

The Small Glories

*''Wonderous Traveller'' (2016) *''Assiniboine & The Red'' (2019)

References

Other sources

External links

Cara Luft
Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luft, Cara Living people Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian folk guitarists Canadian women folk guitarists Canadian women singer-songwriters Musicians from Calgary Musicians from Winnipeg Year of birth missing (living people) The Wailin' Jennys members Black Hen Music artists Canadian indie folk musicians