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Sarah Lois Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
After leaving the Saddletramps, Harmer put together a band of her own with several Kingston, Ontario musicians, and chose the name Weeping Tile. "Where are they now?" . Queens University Journal, July 25, 2006 Emma Reilly The band released its first independent cassette in 1994. "Sarah Harmer". The Canadian Encyclopedia, Jennifer Higgs, September 12, 2012 Soon afterward, they signed to a major label, and the cassette was re-released in 1995 as Eepee. The band performed regularly on the rock club circuit and on campus radio with their subsequent albums, but never broke through to the mainstream, and broke up in 1998 after being dropped from their label.
Also in 1998, Harmer recorded a set of pop standards as a Christmas gift for her father. After hearing it, her friends and family convinced her to release it as an album, and in 1999 she released it independently as Songs for Clem. Harmer began working on another album, and in 2000, she released You Were Here. In 2001, she toured around Canada and the US in support of the album. "Sarah Harmer's quiet storm". Sarah Hampson. February 22, 2001.
A poppier, more laid-back effort than her work with Weeping Tile, You Were Here was a commercial success, and led to the hit singles "Basement Apartment" and "Don't Get Your Back Up". The album also appeared on many critics' year-end lists, including Time magazine, which called it the year's best debut album. It was eventually certified platinum for sales of 100,000 copies in Canada. Almost half of the album (including both of its major hits) consisted of songs she had previously recorded with Weeping Tile or the Saddletramps.
In 2002, her song "Silver Road" was featured as the lead track of the soundtrack of the film Men With Brooms.
In 2004, she released All of Our Names. The album included the singles "Almost", which made the top 20 on Canadian pop charts, and "Pendulums". All of Our Names won the JUNO Award for Best Adult Alternative Album, a new award category in 2005.
Her fourth album, I'm a Mountain, was released in Canada in November 2005 and in the United States in February 2006. It was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize, a jury-selected $20,000 cash prize for the Canadian album of the year. Also in 2005 she had an acting role in Anita Doron's film The End of Silence."Director lauds Harmer". Kingston Whig-Standard, March 10, 2006.
Harmer has also appeared as a guest vocalist on albums by other artists, including Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Rheostatics, Bruce Cockburn, Luther Wright and the Wrongs, Loomer, "Loomer – Songs Of The Wild West Island (Newtone Records)". NetRhythms, Michael Mee November 2006 Skydiggers, The Weakerthans, Neko Case, Great Lake Swimmers, The Tragically Hip, and Bob Wiseman.
In February 2007, Harmer received three Juno Award nominations. I'm a Mountain was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album and her DVD Escarpment Blues won the JUNO Award for Best Music DVD. Harmer herself was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year for her work on "I Am Aglow", "Oleander", and "Escarpment Blues".
In 2010, Harmer released a fifth album, Oh Little Fire, which was nominated for three Juno Awards. The album signaled a shift toward a more rock-based sound."A New Wind", Words and Music, Summer 2010
In 2011, Harmer participated in the National Parks Project, visiting British Columbia's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site with Bry Webb, Jim Guthrie, and filmmaker Scott Smith. "Sarah Harmer: from National Parks to Massey Hall". CBC Radio 2, July 14, 2011. She was also commissioned by CBC Radio 2 to write an original campfire song for the network. "Sarah Harmer's new campfire song: Hear (and play) it now!". CBC Radio 2, July 15, 2011.
On August 19, 2016, Harmer and Jim Creeggan appeared on CBC Radio's Q to perform a live cover of The Tragically Hip's "Morning Moon". "Sarah Harmer, Jim Creeggan raise Morning Moon in studio q". Q, August 19, 2016. That year Harmer also performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. " 2016 Edmonton Folk Fest an understated, wonderful weekend". Edmonton Sun, By Fish Griwkowsky. August 7, 2016
In 2018, Harmer contributed the song "Just Get Here" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook. "Canadian poet Al Purdy inspires songs by Jason Collett, Sarah Harmer and more" . Now, January 22, 2019. In the same year, she performed at the Juno Awards of 2018 in a tribute to the late Gord Downie, performing a medley of "Introduce Yerself" and "Bobcaygeon" in collaboration with Dallas Green and Kevin Hearn.
Her newest album, Are You Gone, was released in February 2020 on Arts & Crafts.Brock Thiessen, "Sarah Harmer Returns with Her First New Album in a Decade". Exclaim!, November 14, 2019. It was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, and nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album at the Juno Awards of 2021.Holly Gordon and Andrea Warner, "Here are the 2021 Juno Award winners". CBC Music, June 4, 2021.
Harmer has performed and canvassed in support of the NDP and politician Marilyn Churley, who also promoted the protection of the Niagara Escarpment. She has also performed in support of Ontario Green Party Leader and MPP Mike Schreiner.
On March 24, 2018, she joined the demonstration at Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Terminal to protest against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. "Musicians Sarah Harmer, Grimes join B.C. pipeline protests". CTV News, March 24, 2018.
In February 2019, she spoke against the Ontario government's proposed Bill 66 at a Kingston City Council meeting.
In January 2022, Sarah helped launch the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition with co-chair Graham Flint. The RGMC seeks to reform the gravel mining industry in Ontario.
At the Juno Awards of 2025, Harmer was presented with the Juno Humanitarian Award in honour of her environmental activism.Holly Gordon, "'It's a joint acceptance,' Sarah Harmer says of receiving the 2025 Junos Humanitarian Award". CBC Music, Mar4ch 25, 2025.
In 2007, Harmer also reunited with Weeping Tile to record a song, "Public Square", for the Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions.
Activism
In 2005, Harmer co-founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), an organization which campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development which would see some parts of wilderness near the escarpment removed. To support the organization, she and her acoustic band embarked on a tour of the escarpment, hiking the Bruce Trail and performing at theatres and community halls in towns along the way. A documentary DVD of this tour was released in 2006 as Escarpment Blues. Harmer also coauthored a book about the campaign, The Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, which was published in 2007. In October 2012, PERL won their case against the development.
Family
Her niece Georgia Harmer, the daughter of Sarah's sister Mary with their former Weeping Tile bandmate Gord Tough, is a singer-songwriter whose debut album Stay in Touch was released in April 2022 on Arts & Crafts Productions.Kaelen Bell, "Georgia Harmer Announces Debut Album 'Stay in Touch,' Shares New Song". Exclaim!, February 15, 2022.
Discography
Albums
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Singles
2000
! scope="row" "Basement Apartment" You Were Here 2001
! scope="row" "Don't Get Your Back Up" 2003
! scope="row" "Silver Road" Men with Brooms 2004
! scope="row" "Almost" All of Our Names 2005
! scope="row" "I Am Aglow" I'm a Mountain 2006
! scope="row" "Oleander" 2010
! scope="row" "Captive" Oh Little Fire 2018
! scope="row" "Just Get Here" The Al Purdy Songbook 2019
! scope="row" "New Low" Are You Gone 2020
! scope="row" "St. Peter's Bay"
Publications
External links
Categories: 1970 Births, Canadian Alternative Country Singers, Canadian Folk Guitarists, Canadian Women Folk Guitarists, Canadian Folk Singer-songwriters, Canadian Pop Guitarists, Canadian Rock Guitarists, Canadian Women Singer-songwriters, Canadian Women Rock Singers, Juno Award For Adult Alternative Album Of The Year Winners, Living People, People From Burlington, Ontario, Queen's University At Kingston Alumni, Singers From Ontario, Writers From Ontario, Canadian Environmentalists, Canadian Women Environmentalists, Zoë Records Artists, Canadian Women Pop Singers, 20th-century Canadian Women Singers, 20th-century Canadian Guitarists, 21st-century Canadian Women Singers, 21st-century Canadian Guitarists, Canadian Folk-pop Singers, Canadian Folk Rock Musicians, Arts & Crafts Productions Artists, 20th-century Canadian Women Guitarists, 21st-century Canadian Women Guitarists, 20th-century Canadian Singer-songwriters, 21st-century Canadian Singer-songwriters
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