Amy Honey
Now Toronto

Now that Neko Case is off making her own creepy brand of high lonesome noir, VanCity wailer Amy Honey could easily step up to play co-Corn Sister to kooky country soulmate Carolyn Mark (who delivers fine backing vocals and saloon-style piano on Pioneer Woman).

Like Mark, Honey has a tendency to write oddball pop pastiches of trashy country tunes, documenting the colourful characters who populate her urban hinterland with the warped humour of that brash regular who goads you to make it to last call at your local.

She's strongest when she reins things in, though, and there are affecting themes of Canuck survivalism, isolation, the inevitability of death and heartbreak. Lily My Deer's derelict mother and the beat-driven ode to Lost In The Barrens author Farley Mowat showcase Honey at her best.