Trent Severn

Band member Emm Gryner (pictured in 2005), contributed vocals and bass

In 2011 Emm Gryner approached fellow Canadian singer-songwriter Dayna Manning about forming a folk band, and Manning's childhood friend and violinist Laura C. Bates joined soon thereafter.[1] Gryner and Manning had co-billed a number of stages early in their careers,[5] and had both been raised in Ontario.[3]

They named the trio Trent Severn, after the Trent-Severn Waterway in Southern Ontario.[3] All three women contribute to the songwriting and the vocals,[3] and frequently reference Canadian culture and landscapes in their music.[3] They also typically do all instrumentals themselves, with Manning on banjo or guitar, Gryner with a bass and stomp box, and Bates with a fiddle[5]/violin[6] and sometimes percussion.[5] They sold out a number of their early shows, also playing on CBC Radio's Q.[1]

They released their self-titled 10-track debut album on Nov 6, 2012, under the imprint Dead Daisy Records.[1] Excluding a guest appearance by Joel Plaskett on the track “Bluenose On a Dime” and percussion by Dave Tolley,[6] all the music is arranged and performed by the band.[1] The writing, recording, and mixing process overall had taken fourteen months.[1]

The album received heavy airplay on CBC Radio,[3] and reviews were generally positive.[1] According to one reviewer, the album "contains a distinctly folk feel reminiscent of Joni Mitchell or Gordon Lightfoot."[3] Post City praised the balanced feel between tracks, stating "For the most part, the album [has a] laid-back, twangy trend, punctuated by a couple of fast-paced and upbeat numbers here and there. The result is a warmly nostalgic record padded with darkly pensive instrumentation...Trent Severn sing and play with the weight carried by old souls, but they can still throw in a wink with playful verses and jaunty songs."[6]

The band was nominated for two 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards.[2] Trent Severn tours frequently and plays both large and small events, many informal and outdoors.[3] In 2013 Manning arranged an original folk version of "O Canada" with three part vocal harmony,[7] which Trent Severn performed at the flag raising ceremony on Parliament Hill, Ottawa on July 1, 2013.[8]

The band had an ongoing campaign to have people send postcards from across Canada.[3] On March 15, 2013, they became the first band to receive a phone call to a concert from space, when they played a live song for Commander Chris Hadfield while he was on the International Space Station.[9] On Canada Day[3] of that year the band was part of Hadfield's first performance back on Earth, of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.[10]