The Caretakers

The Caretakers emerged from one of the original hubs of Canadian music—Hamilton Ontario in 2007—although the trio could just as easily have stepped off the stage of Café Wha? in Greenwich Village circa 1964. With folk music at their roots and the cultural grit of a working-class city upbringing, Jeffrey C. Martin, Lena Montecalvo and Norm Van Bergen fuse rich Peter, Paul and Mary-style harmonies with REM-inspired melodies and swampy ‘70s southern rock grooves. The trio first gained notoriety in 2008 on Toronto and Hamilton Indie stations with their anthem, Sing Merry Christmas, which featured Tom Wilson and The Mississippi Kings. Their first full-length offering, Unfinished Thoughts (and other stories from the songwriter’s den), is a statement on contemporary society—war, politics, animal cruelty, propaganda and urban life. But, it also evokes thoughts on God, spirituality, love and family. Martin’s lyrics are thought provoking; Montecalvo’s vocals are powerful and Van Bergen’s 12-string acoustic guitar provides an anchor for the trio’s lush harmonies. The Caretakers’ primary songwriter is Martin, who over the course of his career has gone from freelance writer to corporate writer to songwriter. A public relations professional and college/university instructor by trade, he became disillusioned with the corporate world and began feeling contempt for what he describes as the “less-than-ethical mainstream public relations profession.” While Martin’s songwriting rips a page from the cold protest movements of the late ‘60s and ‘70s (evoking the dynamic tension between compassion and indifference), his songs are warmly wrapped in melody, metaphor and poetic prose. The Caretakers music speaks to your heart and mind. They are the real thing. Not packaged. Not young and shiny. Not about to be the subject of an 18-year-old’s tweet any time soon. And that’s probably what’s so appealing about them.

Hamilton, ON