Based out of St. John’s, NL, Rube & Rake deliver folk songs with sparse and beautiful harmonies. 2022 ECMA Songwriter of the year, their music is an exercise in creating something beyond the sum of their parts.
Rube & Rake’s new album, “Leaving with Nothing,” begins with an ode to family and friends— togetherness—as Josh Sandu declares, against a hopeful bluegrass backdrop, “somewhere there’s a place to lay my head.” Nine songs later, over a gently plucked guitar, he sings, “I won’t go picking it up, the weight of the page is just too much.”
Following the award-winning 2017 debut “Back and Forth”, the St. John’s- based Sandu and Andrew Laite wanted to keep the core of that album’s artistic successes—musical and collaborative harmony, folk storytelling—while recognizing audience expectations have intensified. “The first album ends up being the greatest hits of what you’ve done so far,” says Laite. “With record number two, you want it to be in the ring with the first one, only bigger and stronger.”
Len O’Neill, a singer-songwriter from St. John’s, Newfoundland, began his career in the local pub and bar scene, playing guitar and bass in rock bands and leading the award winning indie rock band Green & Gold through two albums and several east coast tours. Influenced by a diverse range of artists spanning classic rock legends to poetic songwriters, Len crafts introspective, lyric-driven compositions exploring themes of ambition, sorrow, and personal growth.
