Sons of Maxwell making the most of a good gene pool
TODD MACLEAN
The Guardian
If Maxwell Carroll hadn’t often kept his two boys up before going to sleep, serenading them with nightmare-inducing folk lullabies like John Henry, then we probably wouldn’t have the gift of the group known as Sons of Maxwell today.
Thousands of fans here in the Maritimes, throughout Canada and abroad thus owe this man a debt of gratitude — for musically guiding his sons with his own gifted talents, while being selfless enough to not seek the spotlight as a performer, subsequently inspiring them to carry out the musical dream that he always had.
This is the story of Dave and Don Carroll, two men at the centre of a Halifax-based group that has been shaking up audiences all over for the past 15 years.
Now with seven recordings, a handful of ECMA nominations, a 2002 roots/traditional group ECMA and a number of other awards under their belt, Sons of Maxwell has certainly been making a great living outta’ making papa proud.
This past Sunday, the boys made the road trip back to P.E.I., their first time here since the Shellfish Festival in the fall and their first time in Summerside since Contact East in 2005.
They played the Jubilee Theatre, and I was lucky enough to be one of 250 wildly appreciative crowd members — a Sons of Maxwell first-timer when I walked in and a raving fan when I walked out.
“So happy to be here tonight!” Don said, dashing up to the mike to greet the crowd.
“We’re pretty glad that the storm they were calling for held off. It was a great day for a drive. We’re gonna’ kick it off with a song called Games People Play.”
On a chugging, chiming acoustic guitar, Dave Carroll proceeded into the opening chords, coming in singing at the mike neighbouring his brother, who sang away as well, tambourine flapping about.
An upbeat song, with a folk/pop vibe from 2004’s Sunday Morning CD, it got the crowd’s toes tapping and heads bobbing right away as it also became instantly notable what one of the shining characteristics of Sons of Maxwell really is: harmony, harmony, harmony.
In every song that followed, in fact, it became further apparent that there really is something to be said for the seamless blend of two great and accomplished voices from the same immediate gene pool.
Backed by a tight drummer and a solid bassist, Sons of Maxwell were both rollicking and driving and soft and contemplative when they needed to be.
But it was the performances of these soft and sweet ballads that really won my reviewer’s heart over that night.
As soon as I heard Don say, “This is one song that many people have used at weddings,” I thought, “Uh oh, we could have some tear flowage here.” (For those who are unaware, which would be most of you, I presume, three weeks ago at a sushi restaurant in Toronto, I proposed to my now fiancée Savannah.)
And one can imagine that as Dave sang, with such sincerity, the chorus line, “And if I died tomorrow, years before my time, I’d be happy knowin’ she’d been mine,” it was pretty hard to keep the ol’ tears from pouring out.
Another song that really shook my soul that night was a song called Now from Dave Carroll’s brand new solo record, Perfect Blue.
As soon as he said, “This next song was inspired by a book I read recently by a man named Eckhart Tolle,” I thought, “Yep. The Power of Now.”
The bestselling book has inspired millions, and now the author’s new book, A New Earth (along the same spiritual lines) is the focus of an Oprah Book Club online workshop.
So, along with feeling a sense of complete blissful enlightenment while listening to Carroll play this song (which I feel is an absolutely pure and perfect musical representation of Tolle’s message), I thought, of course, “Oh, man, this guy’s gotta’ get this in the hands of someone at Oprah.”
It could be instant millions for Carroll if it were possible.
And in talking to him after the show, he did mention that he sent the song to Tolle himself, who finds it to be “enthralling.”
I have a feeling Carroll’s tribute to the present could indeed end up being quite a gift to many, many people.
The band brought it all home with some real barn-burners to top off the night like Mary Mac, Oceanside Again and Rocky Road to Dublin, getting people up outta’ their seats, clapping away and bringing on two standing ovations before it was all said and done.
Check out www.dave carrollmusic.com for all the info on the band and Dave Carroll’s new CD, which you need to get — now.