[4] The band's name was a reference to a founding member's grandmother, who the family believes to be reincarnated in his sister of the same name.

[5] Musicians performing with the band varied from one show to the next, but core members included Greg Tilson (guitar, vocals), Annie Clifford (banjo, vocals), Lucas Huang (ukulele, percussion), Jason Erb (piano), Matt Rogalsky (guitar, mandolin), Josh Lyon (trumpet, piano, accordion), Pete Bowers (percussion), Chris Trimmer (theremin), and Pim van Geffen (trombone), with Amanda Balsys (violin, vocals) joining in time for their first full-length release, Dawn Time Riot in 2010.

[7] Their single "All the Dollar Bills Sing Hallelujah" debuted at the top of the CBC Radio 3 R3-30 chart in the summer of 2013.

[9][10] In 2012 they played during the finale of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival alongside the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger Band.

[4] After their early years of regularly performing and recording, the band occasionally reassembled between 2013 and 2020 to contribute to community and activist projects, including providing the score for a 2014 documentary about the closure of prison farms across Canada,[11] releasing a song critical of first Prime Minister John A. Macdonald's racist and expansionist policies in counterpoint to celebrations on his 200th birthday in 2015,[12] and in 2016 releasing a song and music video to protest a plan to extend a road through Douglas Fluhrer Park in Kingston.