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Sarah Harmer

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Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer at the 2010 Vancouver International Folk Music Festival
Sarah Harmer at the 2010 Vancouver International Folk Music Festival
Background information
Born (1970-11-12) November 12, 1970 (age 53)
OriginBurlington, Ontario, Canada
GenresFolk, pop, rock
Occupationsinger-songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, bass, drums
Years active1987–present
LabelsCold Snap
Websitesarahharmer.com

Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and activist.[1]

Early life

Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sister started taking her to Tragically Hip concerts.[2][3]

Career

At the age of 17, Harmer was invited to join a Toronto band, The Saddletramps. For three years, she performed with The Saddletramps while pursuing her studies in philosophy and women's studies at Queen's University.[4]

After leaving The Saddletramps, Harmer put together a band of her own with several Kingston, Ontario musicians, and chose the name Weeping Tile.[2][3][5] The band released its first independent cassette in 1994.[6] Soon afterward, they signed to a major label, and the cassette was re-released in 1995 as Eepee. The band performed regularly on the rock club circuit and on campus radio with their subsequent albums, but never broke through to the mainstream, and broke up in 1998 after being dropped from their label.[4]

Also in 1998, Harmer recorded a set of pop standards as a Christmas gift for her father.[2] After hearing it, her friends and family convinced her to release it as an album, and in 1999 she released it independently as Songs for Clem.[2] Harmer began working on another album, and in 2000, she released You Were Here.[4][7] In 2001 she toured around Canada and the US in support of the album.[8][9]

A poppier, more laid-back effort than her work with Weeping Tile, You Were Here was a commercial success, and led to the hit singles "Basement Apartment" and "Don't Get Your Back Up". The album also appeared on many critics' year-end lists, including TIME magazine, which called it the year's best debut album.[8] It was eventually certified platinum for sales of 100,000 copies in Canada. Almost half of the album (including both of its major hits) consisted of songs she had previously recorded with Weeping Tile or The Saddletramps.

In 2002, her song "Silver Road" was featured as the lead track of the soundtrack of the film Men With Brooms.

In 2004, she released All of Our Names. The album included the singles "Almost", which made the top 20 on Canadian pop charts, and "Pendulums".

Her fourth album, I'm a Mountain, was released in Canada on in November 2005 and in the United States in February 2006. It was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize, a jury-selected $20,000 cash prize for the Canadian album of the year.

Harmer has also appeared as a guest vocalist on albums by other artists, including Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Rheostatics, Bruce Cockburn, Luther Wright and the Wrongs, Loomer,[10] Skydiggers, The Weakerthans, Neko Case, Great Lake Swimmers, The Tragically Hip and Bob Wiseman.[11]

In February 2007, Harmer received three Juno Award nominations. I'm a Mountain was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album and her DVD Escarpment Blues was up for Best Music DVD. Harmer herself was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year for her work on "I Am Aglow", "Oleander" and "Escarpment Blues".

In 2010, Harmer released a fifth album, Oh Little Fire, which was nominated for three Juno Awards. The album signaled a shift toward a more rock-based sound.[12]

In 2011, Harmer participated in the National Parks Project, visiting British Columbia's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site with Bry Webb, Jim Guthrie and filmmaker Scott Smith.[13] She was also commissioned by CBC Radio 2 to write an original campfire song for the network.[14]

On August 19, 2016, Harmer and Jim Creeggan appeared on CBC Radio's Q to perform a live cover of The Tragically Hip's "Morning Moon".[15] That year Harmer also performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.[16]

In 2018, Harmer contributed the song "Just Get Here" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook.[17]

Activism

In 2005, Harmer co-founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), an organization which campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development which would see some parts of wilderness near the escarpment removed.[18] To support the organization, she and her acoustic band embarked on a tour of the escarpment, hiking the Bruce Trail and performing at theatres and community halls in towns along the way. A documentary DVD of this tour was released in 2006 as Escarpment Blues. Harmer also coauthored a book about the campaign, The Last Stand : A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, which was published in 2007. In October 2012, PERL won their case against the development.

Harmer has performed and canvassed in support of the NDP and politician Marilyn Churley, who also promoted the protection of the Niagara Escarpment.

On March 24, 2018, she joined the demonstration at Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Terminal to protest against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.[19]

Discography

Albums

Title Details Peak chart
positions 		Certifications
(sales thresholds)
CAN US Heat
Songs for Clem
  • Release date: 1999
  • Label: Cold Snap Records
 — —
You Were Here
  • Release date: August 29, 2000
  • Label: Cold Snap Records
 — —
All of Our Names
  • Release date: March 23, 2004
  • Label: Cold Snap Records
 6 43
  • CAN: Gold
I'm a Mountain
  • Release date: November 15, 2005
  • Label: Cold Snap Records
 31 —
  • CAN: Gold
Oh Little Fire
  • Release date: June 22, 2010
  • Label: Cold Snap Records
 7 24
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year Single Album
2000 "Basement Apartment" You Were Here
2001 "Don't Get Your Back Up"
"Weakened State"
2003 "Silver Road" Men with Brooms
2004 "Almost" All of Our Names
"Pendulums"
2005 "I Am Aglow" I'm a Mountain
2006 "Oleander"
2010 "Captive" Oh Little Fire

In 2007, Harmer also reunited with Weeping Tile to record a song, "Public Square", for the Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions.

Publications

  • Peter E. Kelly, Douglas W. Larson, Sarah Harmer, The Last Stand : A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, Natural Heritage Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-897045-19-0 (paperback).

References

  1. ^ Spalding, Derek (January 13, 2011). "Indie icon focuses on the planet". Nanaimo Daily News. Retrieved March 30, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d "Sarah Harmer: Out at the Hideout". Exclaim!, January 1, 2006.
  3. ^ a b Famous Female Musicians Gr. 4-8. On The Mark Press. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-77072-776-2.
  4. ^ a b c Jennings, Nicholas (March 5, 2001). "Sarah Harmer - Harmer's Charm". Maclean's. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  5. ^ "Where are they now?". Queens University Journal, July 25, 2006 Emma Reilly
  6. ^ "Sarah Harmer". The Canadian Encyclopedia, Jennifer Higgs, 12/09/2012
  7. ^ Larry LeBlanc (March 31, 2001). Canadian Music at a Crossroads. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 48–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b "Sarah Harmer's quiet storm". Sarah Hampson. Feb. 22, 2001.
  9. ^ Larry LeBlanc (February 7, 2004). "Harmer's Faith in Names". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 53–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  10. ^ "Loomer - Songs Of The Wild West Island (Newtone Records)". NetRhythms, Michael Mee November 2006
  11. ^ "Sarah Harmer: Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  12. ^ "A New Wind", Words and Music, Summer 2010
  13. ^ "Sarah Harmer: from National Parks to Massey Hall". CBC Radio 2, July 14, 2011.
  14. ^ "Sarah Harmer's new campfire song: Hear (and play) it now!". CBC Radio 2, July 15, 2011.
  15. ^ "Sarah Harmer, Jim Creeggan raise Morning Moon in studio q". Q, August 19, 2016.
  16. ^ " 2016 Edmonton Folk Fest an understated, wonderful weekend". Edmonton Sun, By Fish Griwkowsky. August 07, 2016
  17. ^ "Canadian poet Al Purdy inspires songs by Jason Collett, Sarah Harmer and more". Now, January 22, 2019.
  18. ^ Richmond, Vanessa. "Placing Sarah Harmer". The Tyee. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  19. ^ "Musicians Sarah Harmer, Grimes join B.C. pipeline protests". CTV News, March 24, 2018.
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