It was just over a year ago that Shari Ulrich played to a near sellout Castlegar crowd as part of the legendary Pied Pumkin String Ensemble. She and her bandmates proved at the time the value of experience. Of course talent, originality and work ethic were equal parts of the recipe that had made the trio so successful.
Sunday night at the same Castle Theatre Café it was the Shari Ulrich Trio – mixing her own numerous assets with some mighty talented youthful energy supplied by Shari's daughter Julia Graff and Ted Littlemore - each an outstanding performer in their own right.
With an arsenal of strings and keys at their disposal, not to mention beautiful vocals, the three delivered a wonderful show, the likes of which will no doubt delight music lovers in Kaslo and Grand Forks as the crew enjoys a summer Kootenay tour. Featured was a sampling of Shari's vast body of work, including some fresh material which is populating a new release being produced by Graff – a student in the masters music program at McGill University.
A very decent turnout showed their love for the dynamic and versatile Juno award-winning Ulrich... they're probably hoping the trend continues with another of her involvements on the way next July, or hopefully... even sooner.
Kudos, in closing, to Lowell and Dean for sticking with it and running such a neat venue.