Oliver and I found ourselves in downtown South Rustico on Thursday night, so it seemed pre-destined that we would stop in at Gallant’s Clover Farm and purchase tickets for last night’s Lennie Gallant Songwriters Circle at Harmony House in Hunter River.

Wow. It was a fantastic evening.

Sharing the stage with Lennie were Meaghan Blanchard, Dennis Ellsworth and Gary Gallant, and while all were a joy to listen to, it was the other Gallant who was the real stand-out for me. With a day-job as a certified organic dairy farmer, Gary Gallant has an intriguing and infectious guitar style, sings with wit and passion, and tells a good story.  Alas he is unrecorded to this point, something he promised to rectify “before the decade is out.”  If you have a chance to see him in concert, do.

Harmony House itself just keeps getting better and better: this year’s addition is a bar and lounge in the basement, hand-crafted by the multi-talented pharmacist, musician and carpenter Kris Taylor.