Bio & Press

Bio

Singing vibrant duets, writing deadly songs, playing handmade banjos and loving old acoustic guitars, Pharis & Jason Romero have a classic story. When some scratchy old records and a custom banjo led to their meeting in 2007, they quickly knew they were in for the long haul. They've since released five records - with a sixth coming out in May 2018 - and toured across North America and the UK. They've won a Juno award, been featured on NPR Music, CBC, BBC, and Folk Alley, and have performed on A Prairie Home Companion and CBC's The Vinyl Cafe. They are passionate teachers and believers in many things folk, and their heartbreakingly harmonic live show is an ever-evolving and never-ending quest for good songs and beautiful sounds. Pharis is Artistic Director for Voice Works, a workshop for singers, as part of her work as a diverse singing teacher; Jason instructs all styles of banjo playing, especially old-time three finger playing.

May 2018 brings a new release from the duo. All originals, with light, love and time leading the themes, it's a record that sounds like over a decade of playing and listening together. Part duets and part featuring guests, it’s Pharis & Jason at their very finest, their most open, and their most givin’ ‘er. Primarily recorded in Horsefly, BC by John Raham, it's produced by Marc Jenkins and features musical guests and a choir of family & friends. The new record follows up on the critical acclaim of 2015's A Wanderer I'll Stay.  Called "sublime" (NPR) and "brilliant" (BBC), it won a 2016 Juno Award, a Western Canadian Music Award, and was nominated for an International Folk Music Award and four Canadian Folk Music Awards. The title track was 2015's #1 most-played song on the Folk-DJ Charts. 

The Long Version...

It's a classic story. A matchmaker, some scratchy old records, a custom banjo and a flyfishing trip all led to to a meeting in 2007 at an old-time fiddle jam. She was living in Victoria, BC and he was living in Arcata, CA. Both had been playing music for decades, and both loved the early stuff. She sent him a copy of the 1928 recording Tupelo Blues from Hoyt Ming & His Pepsteppers, and they married 3 months later. In 2010 they moved their home and the J. Romero Banjo Company to the central British Columbia town of Horsefly (her hometown). Surrounded by wilderness and good people they build banjos and play music new and old, releasing three records as a duo - A Wanderer I'll Stay, Long Gone Out West Blues, and A Passing Glimpse - and two records with other folks.

Writing songs about ageless characters, hard lives, loss and love, Pharis’ songs have been played on radios around the world. She was called a “historical treasure” by the BC Folklore Society. On stage from a very young age with her family's country band, classically trained and country schooled, she was a co-founder of the award-winning and innovative roots-folk band Outlaw Social, releasing two celebrated albums from 2005 to 2009, before venturing out musically with Jason.

Jason was a fixture on the Arcata, CA bluegrass and old-time scene before coming to BC, and is deft in banjo styles from early fingerstyle to clawhammer to bluegrass. When not playing banjo, his resophonic and acoustic guitar playing is a distinct texture, melodic and percussive. His singing and his playing has been called both seductive and badass.

In 2008 Jason and Pharis started the Haints Old Time Stringband with fiddler Erynn Marshall and the later addition of mandolinist/guitarist/songwriter Carl Jones. Releasing their debut recording Shout Monah in 2009, SingOut magazine said “This is a very special recording, one that [we]’ll return to time and again. "They play and sing superbly" (fRoots), and Shout Monah was named one of the best banjo releases of 2009 (Banjo Newsletter).

In 2010 Jason and Pharis released an instrumental album of fiddle tunes, Back Up and Push. With nineteen west coast old-time fiddlers and Pharis and Jason's guitar and banjo back-up, it earned them the accolade "old-time duo of Canada" (Penguin Eggs).

2011 brought the release of their first duo album, A Passing Glimpse. A beautiful collection of songs - originals or lovingly sourced from old recordings - it set the stage for future duet recordings, with plenty of powerful duet singing over acoustic & National guitars, fingerstyle and clawhammer banjo. It won the 2012 Independent Music Award for Americana Album of the Year, hit #1 on the North American Folk DJ playlists, and won a 2012 Canadian Folk Music Award for New/Emerging Artist of the Year.

Their second release as a duo, 2013's Long Gone Out West Blues, found a new place in their songwriting, picking and closeness as a duet. It was featured on NPR Music's Favorite Sessions, Utne Magazine's Monthly Music Sampler, and in Folk Alley's Hear It First. It also brought a Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Singer and a nomination for Traditional Album of the Year, two Western Canadian Music Awards nominations, and an Independent Music Award nomination for Americana Album of the Year.

Their newest release is A Wanderer I'll Stay. Now raising a family while sustaining on an ever-growing line of custom handmade banjos, Pharis and Jason have carved out new songs - heartbreak to wilderness dwellers, gourd banjo instrumentals to moaning refrains - and put their singularly recognizable stamp on some beautiful covers. With instrumental guests on fiddle, bass, pedal steel and even drums, it was recorded by David-Travers-Smith at their home in Horsefly. Called "sublime" (NPR) and "brilliant" (BBC), it won a Juno Award (Traditional Roots Album) and a Western Canadian Music Award (Songwriter of the Year), and was nominated for an International Folk Music Award (Song of the Year - "A Wanderer I'll Stay"), and four Canadian Folk Music Awards. The title track was 2015's #1 most-played song on the Folk-DJ Charts and the album was the #1 most-played on Stingray's Folk-Roots radio.

Pharis & Jason's releases continue to attract audiences and radio play globally. Their delight in making music for music's sake no doubt contributes to the joyful lack of pretense in their albums and performances and to the rapidly-growing fan-base for both.

Performance highlights include several appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, a tour with The Vinyl Cafe, the Winnipeg, Vancouver and Edmonton Folk Music Festivals, Celtic Connections and Pickathon. When not building or performing, they also spend much of their year teaching at music camps and workshops including Voiceworks, BC Bluegrass Workshops, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Fiddle Works, 108 Mile Bluegrass Camp, Georgia Straight Guitar Workshop, and others.

Discography
Pharis & Jason Romero - A Wanderer I'll Stay (March 2015)
Pharis & Jason Romero - Long Gone Out West Blues (February 2013)
Pharis & Jason Romero - A Passing Glimpse (July 2011)
Jason and Pharis Romero & Friends - Back Up and Push (July 2010)
The Haints Old Time Stringband - Shout Monah (May 2009)
Outlaw Social - Dry Bones (2007) (Pharis' earlier band)
Outlaw Social - a seven song e.p. (2006) (Pharis' earlier band)

awards & Press

FOR A WANDERER I'LL STAY

2016 JUNO AWARD
TRADITIONAL ROOTS ALBUM

2016 Western Canadian Music Award - Songwriter of the Year

2016 International Folk Music Awards Nomination Song of the Year A Wanderer I'll Stay

2016 Canadian Folk Music Awards Nominations - Traditional Album, Traditional Singer, Vocal Ensemble and Producer (with David Travers-Smith) 

BEST OF 2015
FOLK-DJ CHARTS - #1 Song, #2 Album, #4 Artist of 2015
STINGRAY FOLK-ROOTS CANADA - #1 Most played in 2015
THE TELEGRAPH (UK) - #8 Best Country Album 2015
PENGUIN EGGS - #3 Album of 2015
BC PROVINCE - Top 10 Releases in 2015
FOLK ALLEY LISTENERS POLL - #13 Favorite Album of 2015

NPR Music's Best Songs of 2015 (So Far) 
NPR Heavy Rotation - 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

Sung with sublime vocal harmonies that blend and intertwine effortlessly. 
- NPR MUSIC - SONGS WE LOVE

5 stars. A very fine album. 
- THE TELEGRAPH UK - BEST COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2015

Their third duo record is perhaps their strongest yet. Their warm sepia tone has no artifice; it all rings true.
- FROOTS

4.5/5 stars. This is a stunning acoustic folk recording.
- LONESOME ROAD REVIEW

A knack for writing simple songs with beautiful lyrics and addictive melodies. 
- THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION

For old time country all roads lead to Romero. 
- SONGLINES

... Magnificent and inviting. 
- BLUEGRASS UNLIMITED

... highly recommended.
- MAVERICK MAGAZINE

Sign. Me. Up... The duo brings new life and passion to a classic folk and Americana... The Romeros welcome you into a timeless world and make you want to stay.
- POSTMEDIA NEWS - BIG RELEASES

4/4 stars. There are inevitable comparisons with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, but this couple deserve to make their own headlines. 
- THE DAILY EXPRESS (UK)

Seriously. What more could you ask for. 
- FOLK ALLEY - HEAR IT FIRST

8/10. There's easiness in the way that Pharis and Jason Romero sing together, but it's elsewhere too - it's in the fluid and breathy interplay between his banjo and her guitar playing... they are on a roll; a steady, slow, deeply traditionally grounded roll.
- EXCLAIM!

The only downside to the major triumph that is A Wanderer I'll Stay is that the record is going to create the kind of festival-circuit demand that will make downtime in Horsefly nothing but a fond memory.
- THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT

9/10. Spine tingling beauty of the human voice and a simple set of strings. 
- AMERICANA UK

Brilliant - I could listen to this all night long. 
- FRANK HENNESSEY, BBC RADIO WALES

For Earlier Releases

Their chemistry is undeniable, and the song feels like it's been rolling along a dusty plain out west for decades, just waiting to be picked up and sung. 
- NPR MUSIC - FAVORITE SESSIONS

Anchored by Pharis' rock-solid rhythm guitar and propelled by Jason's inventive picking on a variety of banjos and guitars, their plaintive voices and soulful blend capture the ear and the imagination.
- ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAGAZINE

With effortless harmonies, intricate finger-picking, and a refreshing veteran spirit, Pharis & Jason's second album displays a startling prowess. 
- UTNE READER

Powerful close-harmony singing, bright solo vocals by Pharis, precision picking, and a lonesome, laid-back vibe, make this perfect for close listening, but also for playing in the background of your daily life.
- THE HUFFINGTON POST

… Effortless evolves tradition with innovation. Meanwhile, high watermarks like "Lost Lula" simply defy categorization.
- CMT EDGE

This is music made on a timeless continuum... 
- FOLK ALLEY

... Wonderful, achingly beautiful harmonies. It's all perfectly judged, precise but never flashy picking, tangible chemistry and warmth between them and Grade A songs. 
- MAVERICK MAGAZINE

Songs of rare beauty and tenderness. 
- PENGUIN EGGS

Pharis and Jason could well be the future of a bygone sound. 
- HERALD SCOTLAND

I can't keep it out of my player. 
– CBC MUSIC