You can instantly tell if an act has history by giving their harmonies a good listen - those soaring, heart-yanking harmonies are like musical tree rings, revealing the stories shared by those layered voices raised in jubilant major chords or plaintive minor-key intervals.

You know when a group's got it, that elusive chemistry that only comes from years of bickering, bonding and really understanding each other, when their harmonies ring out clear as bells; in Canadian country trio Doc Walker,s case, their fantastic harmony-laced new album Beautiful Life leaves no doubt - these boys have it and then some.

The core guitar-playing threesome of Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasyliw and Murray Pulver have known each other since they were just scrappy kids fooling around with guitars in small-town Manitoba but with their self-titled disc named Album of the Year at the 2007 Canadian Country Music Awards, Doc Walker are well on their way to becoming one of the hottest country acts in North America.