Fun Fact #1: No one in The Travelling Mabels is named Mabel.

Fun Fact #2: The Travelling Mabels will be here at St. Andy’s on Friday, Nov. 16.

Fun Fact #3: You could win a pair of tickets by liking and sharing this article on Facebook.

With each successive stop in Cochrane, The Travelling Mabels are building an even stronger following.

There’s a good reason. In a fun-loving kitchen party style, they offer strong harmonies and insightful songs that showcase the trio’s spirit, spunk and laughter.

“We’re going to have lots of laughs, we’re going to tell a lot of stupid jokes and fun little stories and we get a bit sentimental sometimes, too, and tug at the heartstrings,” says Keith Floen, of the Mabels. “So it’s a great range of stuff and definitely at the core of it there’s always a little bit of humour in there.”

“We want people to come away with having had a great time and maybe a laugh or two and maybe not worry about the things that are on their minds that day. We want to take you away for a couple of hours.”

This Friday, Nov. 16, the Travelling Mabels will be performing at the St. Andrew’s United Church, 128 1st St. E., as part of the St. Andy’s Rhythm and Roots fall lineup. Doors open at 7 p.m. and show time is 8 p.m.

The Travelling Mabels are a trio of female singer/songwriters Lana Floen, Eva Levesque and Therry Lawson with CCMA nominated keyboardist Keith Floen. It was a natural harmonic blend of voices that brought them together and is what remains at the heart of all their music.

At the CCMA awards as friends, Eva and Suzanne Levesque and Lana Floen hit the stage at an after party open mic in Winnipeg 10 years ago. They performed spontaneous versions of “Delta Dawn” and “Seven Bridge Road” and realized they had something.

“The harmony was really natural so when the three of them came together with their musical ears they all found a spot,” says Floen. “One of them took the lead and the other two filled out around the edges and, boom, there it was. “

After a year of preparing and recording, they hit the road.

Now a decade and three albums later, there has been one change in the lineup. Suzanne Levesque, Eva’s daughter, has gone on to another music project with her husband and taking her place is bass player and vocalist Therry Lawson

“She’s been a great new addition and we’re super excited to present the show with her,” says Floen, “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

No one in the band is named “Mabel.” Rather, explains Floen, the name comes from a storied dog of character Eva had met at friends in Georgia while long-distance trucking with her husband.

“It was a very independent, won’t-listen-to-anything, does-as-it-pleases type of dog even to the point where she would purposely knock over your beer just so she could drink it.”

Floen suggested the name when they were forming the band and it stuck.

“On every one of our album covers, you’ll find a little dog hiding in the artwork somewhere. That’s our ode to Mabel.”

Following a steady lineup of performances leading into Christmas and the New Year, the band is also looking forward to performing at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Montreal in February.

The Mabels will also be hitting the recording studio in January to start laying down the tracks for their fourth album.

Tickets are $30 in advance or, if available, $35 at the door. You can purchase your advance tickets at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3602024

Should you come early, large slices of pie and coffee are available for purchase while you wait for the show to begin.

Like and share this article and you’ll be entered into a draw for a pair of tickets. Deadline is Thursday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m.