Mama’s Broke

Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria met carpooling to a festival where both were booked, and as Mama's Broke the Halifax, Nova Scotia, duo has been trading fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar and shruti box ever since. Their dark-hued folk draws on Appalachian, Eastern Canadian, Irish and Eastern European traditions; Count the Wicked won ensemble of the year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and Narrow Line earned a Juno nomination. The Fogartyville stop is on the tour for Reunion, their third full-length, cut in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, with bassist Paul Kowert on several tracks. Its songs take on fractured communities, lost common ground and institutions that have failed, with more empathy than sermon.