Inn Echo

After 6 remarkable years as a band, touring 3 continents and garnering Music PEI awards and JUNO, ECMA and CFMA nominations, Inn Echo already have much to reflect upon. Fiddler Karson McKeown has often said, “We keep having to come up with new goals because we keep reaching them!” Needless to say, they are beyond grateful for the journey that has taken them from their home base on Prince Edward Island to places like Australia’s Woodford Folk Festival and Scotland’s Shetland Folk Festival, the type of journeys that inspired the title of their 2023 album Hemispheres. But it’s the future that excites them most, not just for new tours and territories to explore but for how their sound continues to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what three trad instrumentalists can achieve.

The allure of a vibrant traditional music scene brought Karson McKeown (Ottawa, ON), Tuli Porcher (Victoria, BC) and Tom Gammons (Butte, MT) to Prince Edward Island. Despite attending the same music school in Charlottetown, they met in a more typical folky way: at a session in a local pub. Instantly, tunes, stories, and laughs were being shared, and they felt a sense that their passions aligned. Inn Echo emerged in 2019, a transcontinental love story between fiddle, cello and guitar.

It’s not just differences in hometown that bring new flavours into the mix. The trio have a special combination of musical personalities. Karson’s fiddle playing is direct, precise and powerful, showing true command over the melodies at his fingertips. Tuli often takes the scenic route, venturing between lead, harmony, and rhythm parts on both the 5-string fiddle and cello. Tom relishes the role of filling the space between two string players of such distinct styles, grounding the groove and expanding the harmony on the guitar.

Their 2023 release, Hemispheres, is a tribute to the places they’ve toured, carrying a piece of PEI with them. Produced by Jake Charron and Donnie Richard, the album has the island at heart. But the tracks invoke a range of images: an Acadian kitchen party on Breton Tune, the night sky in Queensland on Jupiter and Mars, or Tuli’s childhood home on Vancouver Island on Big Blue. Most of the tracks contain original compositions, their contributions to the continuing craft of tune writing. When they borrow from the tradition, they weave it seamlessly into their style, like with Dot MacKinnon’s by Kevin Chaisson, a PEI classic which brings a climactic finish to the track If Only. Pull up a chair, but keep your dancing shoes on, Inn Echo have stories to share and the tunes to match them.