The Laws

April 10, 2010

"... recalls The Everly Brothers in their prime. Yes, the harmonies really are that good."

Robert Oermann, Music Row Magazine

July 1995 ... a party for the "carnies", the travelling county fair workers, featuring a CSNY cover band called "Four Way Street" at a cottage in Delta, Ontario. Neither Michele or John had any idea that this evening would change their lives .... their eyes meet over everyone's heads (they're tall) and it's love at first sight (well, maybe a bit of lust, too).

Three weeks later, with just one suitcase and a guitar, they arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia to begin their new lives together.

Chatham, Ontario-born John Law had a lifelong interest in music, but his exposure to it as a child was limited. His father had a Roger Miller greatest hits album, and a Johnny Cash album, and that was all. But John learned every nuance of both records on his black acoustic, and he became infatuated with the guitar after being inspired by his sixth grade teacher, who often entertained the class with Bob Dylan tunes played on "a big ol' electric Gretsch guitar," according to John. "That did it for me; that hooked me. I just wanted to play guitar after that."

John honed his instrumental skills over the next few years, a turning point coming when he was injured in a motorcycle accident at age 16. "That's when I really got into guitar and started putting bands together because I couldn't do much else. I just played in rock 'n' roll bands, '70s rock 'n' roll style stuff. Neil Young was a big influence and I always played harmonica and guitar at parties, with friends. But the band was mostly rock 'n' roll." "Songwriting," he adds, "was an afterthought. There's a couple of guys who did write original stuff, but I was always the guitar player or thinking of a bridge or something, a new direction--not really getting credit for writing bridges, but I didn't know you could! I was always the guitar picker and harmony singer hired to put on a little sweetener to their songs."

John then moved to Toronto to play the street and eventually put together a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover band that toured throughout Canada for seven years. John and the members of "Four Way Street" eventually settled in the Kingston area and John started getting into American roots music through recordings by Doc Watson and Tony Rice, among others. Then his band was hired to play the carnie party ...

Born in Kingston, Ontario, Michele, though growing up doing "a lot of harmony singing" with her sisters at home, was about as far from music as she could get when she met John at that fateful party:  she was a hospital fundraiser, and she played no instruments at all. "Well, I did have a band when I was a kid ... my best friend and I were the singers and the boy across the street played the drums ... we called ourselves "The Odd Squad" and made the neighbors listen to us sing Three Dog Night songs that we learned from our older brothers and sisters", laughs Michele. There was always music in their house: "Mom played Gordon Lightfoot and Carol King's music and my Dad always had classical music and opera playing ... he was a competitive classical singer when he was a kid growing up in Ottawa. I know I learned about harmony singing through my Mom 'cause she's a natural, too."

When John and Michele got to British Columbia, John started playing guitar and mandolin with some west coast songwriters. "I remember one particular show, watching John on stage, and I thought "I want to be up there, too."  When we were at home alone, John would play and sing songs and I would sing harmony with him ... we instantly had this incredible vocal blend and it was just so ... easy between us. We decided since music was such a big part of his life that I should be part of that too," Michele explains.

"We had a five-year plan, and he taught me to play guitar --we'd have friends over to jam and it was all guitar players. So I said, "Maybe you should teach me how to play bass." Then I found out that I'm the third chick bass player in my family!  A friend gave me an old red bass that he used to smash on stage. The action was so bad that my fingers were constantly bleeding!" laugh's Michele. "We put together a bluegrass band called "One Track Mind", made a live recording and sent it out to some west coast festivals. We were totally shocked when we got booked right away by a bunch of them - they loved our harmony singing!  We got quite a reputation for John's guitar and mandolin playing and our harmony singing. John and I were hired to sing and play on dozens of recordings and live performances while out west."

"I was playing and touring in singer/songwriter Joe Charron's trio. Joe invited Michele to sing harmony on a song on one of his CDs and when the trio was on the road, Michele stayed home and learned the bass and harmony parts to all of Joe's music. The bass player called in sick one day and Michele got the gig ... Joe loved it and she was soon the newest member of the band!" says John "With this trio we were opening for some great acts, but people just kept encouraging the two of us to do our own writing and that we had something special on stage. We didn't know; we were both shy and having fun working with someone else as the front man. But we certainly listened. One day we got up and wrote two songs and just kind of got the bug. And the first time you do your own music on stage and people actually clap and like it, you realize, Yeah, this isn't bad at all. This could be fun."

Fast forward to 2009 ... now with 8 years of touring throughout Canada, the United States and Australia, and 5 CDs, Ontario-based The Laws have been called "the best duo out of Canada since Ian and Sylvia.", won the 2007 Chris Austin Songwriting contest, secured a writing deal in Nashville and have been featured on CMT, Entertainment Tonight Canada and as "rising stars" on the upcoming PBS special, Legends and Lyrics. They published a cookbook and have appeared on numerous cooking and national news shows, generating almost as much press for their culinary skills as for their music.

What's upcoming for The Laws? A second cookbook, a new CD and a hot new trio featuring Nashville guitarist Brent Moyer.

Cooking or music? Music or cooking? At one point that might have been a tossup. Now, however, with the songwriting award and upcoming TV spotlight, it appears the Laws are really ready to start cooking. But not in the kitchen.

"We're planning a trip back to Delta this summer to celebrate our humble beginnings" laughs John. "Maybe we'll see if the carnies are having another party!" And they smile at each other ...