BrucePeninsula began as a vehicle for a couple old friends to explore archaic field recordings from the 1900's. Enraptured by these well-travelled songs (many of which were documented by an ethnomusicologist named Alan Lomax, who traversed the American South to collect field recordings of regional blues and soul singers), Matt Cully and Misha Bower performed a short set of traditional songs in Toronto in March 2006.
It was clear early on that this was a music meant to be made by many, and so, BrucePeninsula quickly ballooned out to become the 11-headed behemoth it is today. Incorporating a 5-girl choir and 3 drummers, the band is now primarily focused on applying the teachings of those early touchstones to their own material, creating a new sort of secular gospel music. They've just completed work on their debut full-length (expected to surface in the fall of 2008). In the meantime, the band has collected 3 of their earliest rally-calls - including a song by long-departed Texan pastor Washington Phillips and 2 call-and-responses of anonymous origins – for release on 7" vinyl (Escape Goat Records, July 2008).
Bruce Peninsula have shared the stage with the likes of the Acorn, the Sadies, Basia Bulat and more and have played in magnificent churches, on working farms and in countless clubs with stages too small to contain them.
