Finest Kind Farewell

Date 1: Saturday April 30, 2016 at 8 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm)

Date 2: Sunday May 1, 2016 at 4 pm (doors open at 3:30 pm)

Location: Chelsea United Church, 8 Chemin Mill, Chelsea, QC

Tickets: $25 in advance

As many will know, Ottawa's own vocal harmony trio Finest Kind (Ann Downey, Shelley Posen and Ian Robb) announced some months ago that the trio is retiring from active duty (with the exception of an annual Christmas show at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield), but that there would be a farewell concert. This has now blossomed into two concerts, which will be held at the Mill Road Community Space (Chelsea United Church) Saturday April 30th at 8pm, and Sunday May 1st at 4pm, with a pot luck dinner planned for after the Sunday concert. A cash bar and bake sale will be part of the festivities. The venue is an old wooden hall with lovely acoustics, and holds about 130 people. Ann, Shelley and Ian will be accompanied by their long time "fourth member of the trio", fiddler, mandolinist, old friend and record producer, James Stephens.

Finest Kind was born almost accidentally in 1991, when the three singers happened to sit next to each other at a singing gathering, and discovered a remarkable blend in their collective voices. Originally hailing from Canada, the US and the UK respectively, Shelley, Ann and Ian each brought quite different musical backgrounds to this blend, but their passion for harmony singing and old songs was the glue that cemented the group. In the next 24 years they toured extensively across the US and Canada, and made four trips to the UK. They first recorded in 1994, contributing several tracks to Ian's "solo" album "From Different Angels", and went on to record 6 more CDs as Finest Kind.

Finest Kind wants these concerts to be as social and intimate as possible, and we hope that some of the trio's many friends from out of town will be able to make it to the capital region for the weekend to join us in celebrating this remarkable group.

Website/Listen here: http://ianrobb.com/finestkind/

You can find the event poster here.