A Union Duke and his dad: A Sudbury coincidence

Greater Sudbury can bring people together. This week, it brings together two people who aren't even from the Nickel City.

David Warry-Smith is director. If you've watched Stargate, Due South, This Is Wonderland or The Chris Isaak Show (to name but a few), you've seen his work. He's spending time in Sudbury this summer working on a couple of films — the Hallmark TV movie Lead With Your Heart, which is filming now (you've probably seen the crew at work in various parts of the city), and Ice Girls, which starts shooting after the Hallmark flick wraps.

His son, Matt Warry-Smith, is the supremely talented singer, percussionist and harp player (that's harp, as in harmonica, not harp as in the thing angels play). He plays in the Toronto bluegrass band Union Duke, which came virtually out of nowhere and made a huge splash at the Mariposa Folk Festival last year. Union Duke plays the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre on June 17 as part of the Vale Concert Series, which raises funds for the Sudbury Food Bank.

Since it's kind of odd that this father and son happened to be in the same city at the same time for very different reasons, we just thought we'd tell you about it.

Bluegrass, which was kind of all but forgotten in popular music circles, has made a real resurgence in the past few years. There are new bands, new festivals (Manitoulin Island hosts a couple and you're likely to see a banjo or mandolin at Northern Lights Festival Boréal, too) and a new love affair for what is too often dismissed as backwoods, hick music.

If you think Metallica's Kirk Hammett can play fast, you've seen nothing. Sure he's fast, but a good bluegrass picker can out-pace a metalhead anytime and improvise while doing it.

David said he rediscovered bluegrass only because his son got into it.

"I love bluegrass, but must admit it took Matt and Union Duke to rekindle my interest," he told NorthernLife.ca "I've recently been digging back into the archives and listening to the Louvin brothers etc. It's always amazing to be hearing Matt's band play and seeing the reaction of the crowd."

And Matt only got into it by accident. The band started out as friends who wanted to start a rock band, which they did. One of them bought a banjo, their sound started to change, and next thing you know, Union Duke was playing bluegrass.

"We're very high-energy, like to have fun and we hope the audience can get a piece of that also," Matt said. "We're touring all throughout the summer and our website has all the details on that."

Check out the website for sure, but even better, check out the band in Bell Park on June 17. Bring some cash you can donate to the food bank. The summer's always a tough time for the food bank and the Vale Concert Series really helps keep the shelves stocked.

If you can't make the June 17 show, the next Vale Concert is July 15 with Charlie A'court.