Victoria trio Chasing the Sun in Oak Bay

Three-part harmonies and hot picking will amp up the atmosphere in the Upstairs Lounge Friday night.

The Roots trio The Sweet Lowdown – Amanda Blied on guitar, Shanti Bremer on banjo and Miriam Sonstenes on fiddle – will perform for their hometown crowd.

“We’ve been to shows there but we’ve never performed at the venue. I’m really happy for Oak Bay that this concert series is going on, it’s wonderful,” said Blied.

On the high from a recent gig for CBC radio show The Vinyl Café, the trio is excited to perform for their loyalest of followers, hometown Greater Victoria fans.

“They’re usually with us from the first note to the last, right there with the stories we’re telling with our music,” Blied said. “When you’re in a new town you win over the audience in ideally the first song or two. They’re with you right from the very first note and that’s a wonderful feeling.”

The Sweet Lowdown’s recent award-winning album, May (Island Roots Album of the Year at Vancouver Island Music Awards) was produced by Adrian Dolan and mastered by Joby Baker. It earned the trio a nomination for Vocal Group of the Year at the 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

The trio’s brand new album Chasing The Sun is also produced by Dolan and features all original material and has already garnered critical acclaim in North America and the U.K.

“It’s No. 1 in the Folk DJ Charts. It’s been really well received,” Blied said. “We’re really happy with that.”

The Oak Bay crowd will get a healthy taste of the newest album, released in November.

“It’ll be a mix of songs from all of our albums as well as a couple that aren’t on any albums,” Blied said. “A bunch of the repertoire that we’ve recorded on our new album, we haven’t really performed that much, so we’re excited to perform some of that.”

“We have such a big repertoire now it’s a little difficult to choose, because we love it all.”

The Sweet Lowdown performs Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. (doors at 6) in Oak Bay Recreation’s Upstairs Lounge, 1975 Bee St. Tickets are $12 in advance at Ivy’s Bookshop and Oak Bay Recreation or at aconridgeproductions.com online. Tickets are $15 at the door. Get a taste of the band at thesweetlowdown.ca.

cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com