In just a few short years, Canadian Soul-Roots group AV & The Inner City have gone from an intimate local collaboration to a nationally recognized act, earning major festival slots, an award, and widespread media attention, all the while building a rapidly expanding national profile. Offering an excitingly fresh take on Canadian Roots and Soul, the group is comprised of powerhouse female vocalists from vastly different backgrounds who came together through a shared love of music, and who quickly evolved into a dynamic collective. With national recognition, plus radio play in the USA and Germany, and accolades in place ahead of their first full-length release, their 2025 self-titled debut EP made an undeniable impact, climbing to #7 on the CKUA Radio Top 30 and spending nine weeks on the Canadian Earshot Radio charts. The project has garnered strong support across the country, with coverage from The Edmonton Journal, Yahoo News, CBC, SiriusXM, Edify, and Porter Airlines Magazine, firmly positioning the group as one of Canada’s most compelling new voices in the genre.
At the core of AV & The Inner City’s sound is a powerful sense of connection. Their music explores themes of resilience, displacement, joy, grief, belonging, and survival, delivered through rich, gospel-leaning harmonies that are universally relatable. Reflecting the true fabric of Canada, the group brings together Black, Filipino, LGBTQ, recent immigrant, and working-class voices into one unified sound, creating music that connects with anyone who hears it.
About “A Dollar & A Suitcase”:
Blending Soul, Roots, and gospel-leaning textures with their signature emotional depth, AV & The Inner City’s “A Dollar & A Suitcase” is a deeply personal yet universally resonant reflection on motherhood, migration, and the quiet traditions that carry us forward. Written by AV as a gift for her mother’s 60th birthday, the song traces her grandmother’s immigration from The Netherlands to Canada in 1951. A three-week ocean crossing at that time meant saying goodbye to family forever, and in the life that followed her grandmother had seven children in 10 years, living in poverty with resilience, grit, dignity, and unwavering strength. Anchored by a rolling rhythmic undercurrent designed to echo the movement of aLship at sea, the track weaves together past and present, culminating in a simple yet profound family multigenerational ritual when a mother says goodbye: a stern but loving promise that “you’ll a dollar if you don’t cry”– and then a dollar slipped into the daughter’s pocket where a tissue is also stored, knowing that despite the determination to be tough the tears will come, the tissue will be reached for, and in that way the mother, her love, and a symbolic dollar will be with you wherever you go. It’s a gesture meant to soften the painful act of leaving and being left, whether for a short trip or a lengthy adventure, and is now brought to life by a group of women who each have their own relevant lived experiences relating to motherhood, loss, separation, and survival; and thereby the song expands beyond one family’s story into something that relates to everyone. “A Dollar & A Suitcase” captures the emotional weight of departure, the passage of time, and the quiet ways that add meaning to saying goodbye, reminding listeners that while circumstances or technologies may change, the act of leaving and having to say goodbye remains a shared thread across generations.
Quote: “‘A Dollar & A Suitcase’ tells the story of my grandmother immigrating to Canada, having to leave everything behind, and the kind of strength it took to build a life in a new place while missing all the people back home. It’s about how one woman found a creative and simple way to stay connected to her daughters despite distance and time, and how this small tradition like slipping a dollar into someone’s pocket can help us carry each other through pain and struggle to feel supported and less lonely.” – AV (Ann Vriend)
AV & The Inner City Live:
Saturday, May 23 2026 – Toronto, ON – Koerner Hall – Tickets
Biography:
AV & the Inner City is a Soul/Roots group that formed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Edmonton’s inner city. In just three years, they completed their first summer tour, playing major festivals like Vancouver Island, Calgary Folk Festival, and Edmonton Folk Festival, where they received the Emerging Artist Award. At the Calgary Folk Festival former Nickelodeon promoter Vic Bell praised their set by saying: “Soul and gospel singing ruled… This was an act that could have closed the Main Stage any night.” The group of all female vocalists grew out of AV’s weekly “porch concerts” – nearly 60 free shows held from 2020 to 2021 in Edmonton’s McCauley neighborhood, offering live music and connection during the pandemic. By summer 2021, the vocalists had become a polished ensemble, performing AV’s originals in rich, soul/gospel harmonies. Their first releases have already garnered over 30,000 Spotify streams, and their self-titled debut EP, released in October 2025 has continued that momentum, debuting on the CKUA Radio Top 30 and just one week later reaching #7. Featuring members from Black, Filipino, LGBTQ, recent immigrant, and working-class backgrounds, the group’s sound is shaped by lived experience and a shared commitment to community. Known for their powerful acapella moments, emotional depth, and commanding live presence, AV & the Inner City have quickly become one of the most compelling and authentic new voices in Canada’s Roots and Soul landscape.
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