John and Lisa McLaggan met in graduate school where they were both getting their masters in musical performance.
That proved a successful relationship since that meant a musical partnership as the band Tomato Tomato, as well as a marriage and one daughter.
Tomato Tomato will be sharing their bluegrass and east coast music with Humboldt when they come to the Humboldt and District Gallery on March 9 as the third performers in the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils’ Stars for Saskatchewan concert series.
While they fit into more of the roots branch of the east coast music tree, the storytelling and singalong aspect of the music is there, just like other east coast styles.
“The energy of what we do is very east coast so there’s that,” says Lisa, and that energy is something they are also bringing to Humboldt along with their musical chops.
However, the influences go far beyond the east coast since they have lived so many places, says Lisa.
The most recent album was recorded in Nashville, so that is another location that has had a strong influence on their music.
“That is the ongoing question with our music is what kind of music is it. We just try to make it the good kind.”
Lisa says that the musical duo was an inevitability since her and John met through music.
Even though they were studying jazz and started the band around a jazz sound, with John on saxophone and Lisa on piano and singing, eventually they turned to the music style that they loved and started performing under a folk sound.
“It was really born out of the music we loved most at the time and music we were playing and singing at home and what we were singing in harmony.”
The switch was difficult for John, says Lisa, since it meant him trading in the saxophone for guitar.
“He’s quite introverted so for him to be playing guitar in front of people. He hadn’t picked up a guitar since high school.”
Playing both the bass line and chords on the piano, Lisa says she has always been a multitasker, which made the eventual switch to her array of percussive instruments, including washboard, tin cans, bass drum, and tambourine, easier.
Their musical family has also extended to their daughter, Lucy, who made her first appearance with her parents to a sold out 850 person crowd during a home concert in St. John this past Christmas.
Lucy sang with mom and dad accompanying her and Lisa commented that she does not know how Lucy will ever come down from that.
Tomato Tomato at the Gallery is sponsored by Causeway Natural Health.
Country singer/songwriter and proud Saskatchewan artist, Chris Henderson, will wrap up the Humboldt Arts Council concert series with a show on April 14 sponsored by Behiel Will and Biemans Law Offices.
