RUSSELL DECARLE with the Salt Cellars at the Marble Arts Centre

No stranger to Canadian and international audiences, Russell deCarle is recognized as the lead singer and a founding member of award-winning multi-platinum country-roots group Prairie Oyster. For over a decade, he has concentrated on his solo career, and has released four recordings, the most recent being The End of the Road.

deCarle’s music isn’t easily categorized. Apparent are a lifetime of influences absorbing a wide range of musical genres from a time when Buck Owens, Frank Sinatra, and The Beatles could be heard back-to-back on commercial radio.

For some artists, the urge to make solo records asserts itself almost as soon as they start to gain attention as part of a successful band. Not so for deCarle: “For decades people were asking for a solo record,” he says, “but I never thought I was ready and the band always satisfied the musical part of my life.”

Russell’s sound may surprise those who remember Prairie Oyster, but truth is that the band was always more than a “country” band, and deCarle’s warm, burnished and intimate voice has always honoured an eclectic range of songs. True to form, the songs off his most recent albums The End of the Road and Alone in this Crowd offer a fluent collection of songs that mix southern soul and restrained balladry, with obvious touches of jazz, blues, old-school country, and western swing. deCarle’s songwriting has absorbed all those influences, and he avidly listens to both soul singers and the men and women who made early country music so compelling.

As Russell puts it, “I want people to be emotionally invested in these songs, whether I wrote them or whether they were created by others. If they touched audiences in some way — well, that would be the best thing that could happen.”

Russell will be joined by stellar sidemen, Steve Briggs on guitar and Russ Boswell on bass. You’re not going to want to miss this music legend or his opener, The Salt Cellars. Join us for what will be an evening of spectacular musicianship and great fun!

The Salt Cellars, Virginia deCarle and Rob Bersan are a singer/songwriter duo hailing from the south side of Algonquin Park. They are a product of their many influences and blend the sounds of Folk, Americana, Blues, Jazz and Pop to create a sound that is uniquely their own. In 2016 they formed the duo, ‘The Salt Cellars’.

Their audiences love their tight harmonies, writing styles, skilled musicianship and energy. In 2017 the duo became a trio with multi instrumentalist Ron Kapitain, and in 2018 they recording their first album titled “Truth” at Anaxjunius Music Studios with recording engineer/musician Richard Joudrey in Maynooth, ON featuring Tom Fitzgerald on violin (“The Gate”). In 2018 The Salt Cellars became a six piece inviting Richard Joudrey (bass), Anne Wilde (backing vocals), Ron Kapitain (piano, harmonica, melodeon) and Brendon Burgess (drums) to join the band.

As a six piece they released a second album at Anaxjunius Music Studios titled “Crooked Tree”. In August 2022 they released their 3rd album titled, “Inside These Walls”. “Inside These Walls” features guest Canadian musicians Jane Bunnett, a multi JUNO award winning member of Maqueque, and Hugh Marsh, a jazz violinist who has played with, among others, Bruce Cockburn, Loreena Mckennitt, Kevin Hearn and The Rheostatics.

The Salt Cellars made several independently funded Music videos produced by Videographer Peter Chatterton (“You Don’t Know Me”, “Our Favourite Lake”, “Wanna Be With You” and “Silence”) and Harold Eastman (“Inside these Walls”). Now a duo, they have had the opportunity to be showcase artists at the 2023 Folk Music Ontario Conference. They have a great lineup of shows booked for 2024!