Twilight Hotel

Check-Out Time-Roots duo Twilight Hotel packing their bags and hightailing it to Austin, Tex.

Winnipeg Sun August. 20/2009
Check-Out Time
Roots duo Twilight Hotel packing their bags and hightailing it to Austin, Tex.
By DARRYL STERDAN

This town ain’t big enough for the both of them. Local roots duo Twilight Hotel — aka singer-guitarists Brandy Zdan and Dave Quanbury — have decided it’s time to check out of Winnipeg and seek their fortunes elsewhere. In their case, that means packing their trunks and shipping out to the musical hotbed of Austin, Tex. “We’ve been thinking about this for quite a while,” says 26-year-old Zdan, who has been hanging out on and offstage with the 31-year-old Quanbury for about seven years. “After going to South by Southwest this year, we decided to see what would happen down there.” Zdan says they’re looking for a home base that’s more inspiring, closer to the U.S. markets where they spend most of their time anyway — and more receptive to their cabaret-roots sound. “In Canada, there’s no real market for us,” Zdan says. “We’re too edgy for the folk clubs and we can’t play the rock ‘n’ roll venues.” Not surprisingly, the hard-touring duo will work their way to the self-proclaimed Music Capital of the World, touring across Canada, down the West Coast and through the desert to their new adopted home. The road trip begins with their final hometown gig at (where else?) Times Change(d) tomorrow night. It’s sure to be both a blowout and a bittersweet affair, with Zdan and Quanbury joined by a full band that includes Joanna Miller, Sky Onnoson, Scott Nolan, Patrick Keenan and many special guests (which will probably end up including virtually every local roots musician, and that’s a pretty long list). I wish Zdan and Quanbury plenty of luck, though they sure don’t need it from me — their deservedly acclaimed sophomore disc Highway Prayer earned them a Juno nomination for Roots / Traditional Album of the Year, and a Western Canadian Music Award in the same category. Still, as anyone who has spent time in Austin knows, there’s a reason why the music scene’s unofficial motto is Don’t Move Here. Along with the greater opportunities afforded by the myriad of venues and industry connections, the talent pool is so wide and deep that it’s harder for smaller fish to get noticed. Still, if anyone has the goods to pull it off, I think it could be these two — and Zdan concurs. “I think we’re going to bring an edge to things.” And besides, they’ll be heading to Europe shortly after their arrival, so they aren’t exactly hurting for work. Send us a postcard every now and then, kids. And don’t forget to try the King Ranch Chicken at Threadgill’s with a side of scalloped potatoes and a Shiner Bock.