Sarah Harmer at the CBC

This afternoon, I had the good fortune to attend a recording at the CBC of Sarah Harmer playing songs from her new album. For those unfamiliar with Ms. Harmer, she’s from Kingston, Ontario and had great success with her fantastic first album, You Were Here.

About 25 of us descended three stories of cement stairs below the CBC building n downtown Vancouver. Like a cliff face, the building seemed to get older the deeper we went. Down in the bowels (really, the colon) of the CBC, we emerged in a small recording studio. After instructions on when to clap and how to be really quiet, the host introduced Ms. Harmer. She played six songs from the new album, combined with snappy patter with the host. The songs were great, and her voice was in excellent form. She has brilliant tone, an admirable range and a warm stage presence.

Yes, I’m a fanboy and I got her to sign my CBC backstage pass thingy.

I saw her in nearly-as-intimate circumstances two years ago, while living in Ierland. We saw her at a dodgy, mostly empty club on the north side of Dublin. There were about 50 people there. When most of them cheered when she said she was from Kingston, she asked “is there anybody here who isn’t Canadian?” My Irish friend Alan sheepishly raised his hand.

Her new album, called All Our Names, is due out in late March. The show will be played on CBC Radio 2 (despite it being a