", coined to express the successful expansionist agenda of James K. Polk's presidency, which was intent upon controlling a contested U.S.-Canada border area in the Oregon boundary dispute.

[3] Neil Osborne and Brad Merritt met in 1978 at South Delta High School in Tsawwassen, British Columbia.

After studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Osborne returned home and formed the band 54-40 with Merritt and drummer Ian Franey.

In 1981 they made their first recordings for the Mo-Da-Mu label, with four tracks appearing on the independent compilation LP Things Are Still Coming Ashore, which also featured music by Vancouver bands Animal Slaves and Junco Run.

Franey was replaced by Darryl Neudorf and Phil Comparelli was added on guitar, trumpet and vocals.

[5] In January 2016, the band released a greatest hits album titled La Difference: A History Unplugged.

[6] In 2018 54-40 performed with fiddler Daniel Lapp, both locally[7] and also as the opening band at Ottawa's CityFolk Festival.

[8] Lead singer Neil Osborne began playing shows with his daughter, singer-songwriter Kandle, billing themselves as A Family Curse, self-described as "pure folk-art worked from found objects (something old, something new).

The father-daughter duo played later that year on August 7, 2019[11] as part of Roy Thompson Hall's Live on the Patio[12] series, also in Toronto.