The Sadlier Brown Family Band

Starting out as a group of family and friends, getting together on a Saturday night to play roots and original music in a vintage style, catching the Sadlier Brown Family Band live is like walking into the family kitchen, or the back room at a tent revival and finding a really magical collection of musicians playing the kind of music that you can’t help but move your feet to.

Born out of a common penchant for old-time roots and rockabilly music, the SADLIER BROWN FAMILY BAND brings together two generations of musicians who are a throw back to the days of Hank Williams, Wanda Jackson, and the jug bands of the early part of the century.

The SADLIER BROWN FAMILY BAND consists of Alberta rockabilly stalwart, Mark Sadlier Brown (of Alien Rebels fame), Beverly Bruce (Mark’s wife and a long-time fixture on the Alberta roots music scene herself), Dylan Sadlier Brown (Mark’s son and singer/bass player with Calgary rockabilly outfit, the Surefires), fellow Surefire Adam Strong, and newcomer Leah McCartney, lending vocals and ukulele to the mix.

Mark Sadlier-Brown was a part of the highly acclaimed Western Canadian rockabilly roots band, the Alien Rebels, for several years. A prolific singer-songwriter who is on call for the CBC to do “quick songs on hot topics,” Mark is considered one of Alberta’s top-notch talents. Mark will appear as a feature performer in the Epcor Centre’s songwriters festival, The Alberta Sessions, this spring.

Bev Bruce is married to Mark and has been a big supporter of Mark's music over the years, helping Mark with his music until she finally picked up a snare drum and started to work on her own craft, and she hasn’t looked back since. Her sense of rhythm, style and enthusiasm on stage adds a special energy to the show.

Dylan Sadlier-Brown is Marks son. His dad and the musicians that frequented his home as a child have had a huge impact on him. He was born with a guitar pick in his hand but soon picked up the bull fiddle and ran with it (that’s not easy!) playing the enthusiastic "slap" style. He was on the scene as with a dynamite rockabilly band called the "Sure Fires,” putting out an album last year, but is now playing with the family band and is in demand with other musical groups in Southern Alberta.

Adam Strong is a good friend of the family and he played lead guitar and fronted the Sure Fires. A throwback to the fifties, he plays with the stylings and all of the energy of an authentic rockabilly star.

Leah McCartney met the Sadlier Brown clan, where else, but at the flea market, where they were all on the hunt for vintage records, instruments and stylin’ cowboy shirts. She brings a vocal style reminiscent of early Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Melba Montgomery to the mix.