Their current CD, “Ten Thousand” was released in 2008 to a torrent of critical acclaim and in an effort to spread that special kinda gospel ever wider, following their b ...more

Their current CD, “Ten Thousand” was released in 2008 to a torrent of critical acclaim and in an effort to spread that special kinda gospel ever wider, following their brainstorming performances at the Larmer Tree, Big Chill, Tartan Heart, Summer Sundae and Green Man Festivals last year, the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir have just announced a return trip to the UK and Ireland for their first European dates this year.

Yup.  They’re a quartet.  And they’re not from the mountains...  The music, on the other hand, is not a joke.  People often mention whiskey, brimstone, the Mississippi Delta and the Appalachian Mountains when they talk about their music.  There are few bands who conjure the intensity of the original blues and folk music pioneers while uniting roots and rock audiences.  The Agnostics are one of them.

Hollering, growling, and high, lonesome keening.  Duelling slide guitars, tin can banjo, frenetic finger picking, sheet metal percussion, and pounding upright bass.  That’s The Agnostics. 

Critics drop adjectives like ‘punk’, and make comparisons with Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart.  The band maintain that the punk spirt was born in Delta and the mountains.  Beefheart and Waits know that too.

Since 2001 The Agnostics have fostered a devoted following in their native Canada and garnered and impressive reviews for their first two releases, ‘St. Hubert’ (2003) and ‘Fighting and Onions’ (2005).  Word spread across the prairies and over the Atlantic.  Mark Lamarr is a convert - they played rambunctious BBC Radio 2 sessions for him in 2007 and 2008 - and so is the roots legend, Seasick Steve.  After gigs together at the Open House Festival in Belfast in 2006 and 2007 Steve proclaimed them ‘my new favourite band.’

‘Ten Thousand’ has been nominated for Blues Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards, due in September 2009, while AMGC are currently writing their fourth album planned for release in 2010.