‘STRONGER THAN BEFORE’
The Small Glories coming to NM for concerts, workshops
Cara Luft has only been to New Mexico once — it was enough time to fall in love.
“Posole and sopaipillas, need I say more,” she says. “We can’t get anything like that here in Canada. We once drove to Fargo, to get Mexican food.”
Luft is one-half of the folk group The Small Glories. The duo is rounded out by J.D. Edwards.
The Small Glories have been on tour since March. The tour brings them to New Mexico for a few shows — one in Santa Fe, one in Albuquerque.
Luft and Edwards will also be leading a two workshops for local musicians. More information on those workshops can be found at ampconcerts.org.
Luft says she jumped at the opportunity to be in New Mexico for longer than one day.
“I performed in Albuquerque at the BioPark in 2004 when I was with The Wailin’ Jennys,” she says. “I met Neal (Copperman) of AMP Concerts then. He saw me and J.D. perform a few years ago. He wanted to bring us to New Mexico for some events and here we are.”
Before forming The Small Glories, both Luft and Edwards had successful careers on their own.
It wasn’t until the pair was partnered together for a show in Winnipeg, Canada.
“They put people together who had never sung together before,” Luft says. “I got paired with J.D. and something magical happened. We just follow each other on this musical journey.”
As the pair grew into songwriting for the duo, Luft says it’s been difficult to put them into a genre of music.
“We’re not technically Americana or folk,” she says. “I think we make good music and we’re storytellers. We play good music.”
Luft has been living on the road for the last nine years.
She’s settled in Winnipeg, where Edwards also lives.
While the pair was working on new music during the pandemic, the process was slow.
“I’ve lived in four different places and I haven’t been able to unpack and settle,” she says. “J.D. has his family and when we were on lockdown, I couldn’t go over to work with him. We did find time to rehearse as the lockdown eased and the creative energy is stronger than before.”
Luft says the pandemic has also altered the way The Small Glories tours.
“Before the pandemic, we would run ourselves ragged going from show to show. It was crazy stuff,” she says. “The pandemic showed us the opposite. We are trying to find the center. Because J.D. has a family at home, he wants to balance that as well. So we’re usually out for 10 days and then come back home for 10 days.”