vintage

Whoa guys, I’m going to promise that next week’s stuff will be on time. Relying on the internet is becoming increasingly difficult these days. I’ll write a bunch in advance so you actually see them when they’re supposed to be posted!

Anyway, here we are at the double Tunesday post. In case you haven’t noticed yet, I love country and country-laced music, but we’re not talking Keith Urban or Garth Brooks here. I’m talking real country, that folky stuff with banjos and good bass lines and a little twang. In other words, the good stuff. It goes by any name: alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, folk, nu-grass, country-rock, or perhaps even psychedelic cow-punk (sorry).

The first track I want to share is by a fairly legendary Canadian outfit by the name of Blue Rodeo. I’m sure the name itself gives you some hints about its country leanings, but they are by and large a rock band (with a healthy amount of hoedown). Blue Rodeo have been around for 25 years and 11 studio albums, and they’re still doing pretty much the same thing they’ve always been doing. I mean this in the best possible way: they’ve found a working formula and made an incredible amount of great music using it. It’s bands like these that Canada should always be known for.

This song is from their incredibly popular 1993 record Five Days in July, which went 6x platinum … not bad for a bunch of guys from the Great White North. Here y’are.

Tunesday 10-1: Cynthia

The other track is by “nu-grass” favourites of mine, The Be Good Tanyas. I keep recommending this song to everybody I know, and then they’re always disappointed when their other songs aren’t quite like this one. Regardless, it was responsible for me collecting all of their albums and seeing them live, and it is still among my favourites. There’s something about it that just feels like sunshine — or as my friend Alex so eloquently said, “It makes me want to cook breakfast for someone in my underwear”.

Tunesday 10-2: The Littlest Birds

Enjoy! Sorry again about the incredible delays. Technology … not always a solution.

Also, I recently found out that Phoenix’s new album is going to be called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I love it already.

Tags: blue rodeo, the be good tanyas

Hello, blogosphere.

I’m sure at least one of you have noticed the lack of Tunesday post this week. Sorry about that — our internet went down for a few days and the stolen wireless was barely enough to load a page, let alone upload a track, so I decided to forego it until next week. Fortunately, the upcoming post will feature two tracks to make up for it … stay tuned!

We’re back in school at York and it seems to be leaving little time for blogging lately. Imagine that, I know. I hope posts will be appearing regularly in a week or so, once the giant paper has been written and the myriad of assignments are handed in. Sorry for the general silence!

In other news, though, Jim Cuddy played at Massey Hall last night and was terrific as usual. I only got to see about 2/3 of the show, so I’m not sure how much Blue Rodeo material he pulled out this time around, but I did witness a particularly excellent rendition of “5 Days in May” featuring a serious violin solo by Anne Lindsay. Cuddy can always be counted on for a great performance, solo or with Blue Rodeo, and he always looks like he’s having the time of his life on stage. To top it off, his voice has never been better. Highly recommended!

If you’re interested, the Toronto Star published an interview with him yesterday in anticipation of the show. Aww, Valentine’s Day.

Coming up: the double Tunesday post, Brent Randall & His Pinecones‘ new album, and an interview with yours truly. The fun never stops!

Tags: blue rodeo, housekeeping, jim cuddy, massey hall

I’ve finally decided on the best live shows I saw all year. I couldn’t narrow it down to ten (largely because of the Calgary Folk Music Festival), but who decided that was the format for year-end lists? Fifteen it is, and in chronological order because I cannot figure out how to rank them.

Sloan (March 6, The Supermarket, Toronto)
review

Just by virtue of the fact that they played a host of songs I never thought I’d see them do (“Stood Up” and “Same Old Flame”, for example, from an old 7″ released around 1996), gave us a preview of some new tunes a few months before Parallel Play, and had a good time on a small stage.

The Bad Plus (May 24, Quincy’s, Calgary)
review

One of the more talented jazz groups I have had the pleasure of witnessing, and of course, they ended with their now-famous cover of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” (which the Bad Plus have released on 2007’s Prog). Incredibly talented and versatile musicians, and Quincy’s was a great venue for them.

The Weakerthans (July 24, Calgary Folk Festival)
review

I credit this show with catapulting me into becoming a Weakerthans fan. They were terrific, and just the perfect sort of music for a summer afternoon. There couldn’t have been anything better about the Weakerthans’ short folk festival set.

Be Good Tanyas (July 25, Calgary Folk Festival)
review

I’ve wanted to see the Tanyas for quite a few years, dating back to the first time I heard “The Littlest Birds” from Blue Horse. Unfortunately, they didn’t play that, but they put on a very impressive show at the Folk Festival, reminding us that their blend of bluegrass, folk and country is not going anywhere. Three of the finest voices this country has to offer.

Andrew Bird (July 25, Calgary Folk Festival)
review

Definitely one of the most unique and interesting acts at the Folk Festival this year. It was hard to believe everything was being done by one man and a hard-working loop pedal; very intricate and delicately crafted music, and a great experience to see it being done live.

Blue Rodeo (July 26, Calgary Folk Festival)
review

Words can’t describe how much fun I had with Blue Rodeo. It had rained most of the afternoon and evening that day and I was ready to bail, but I’m glad we stuck it out — it’s obvious to me now why Blue Rodeo have been around for such a long time. Incredible musicians, and their joy of playing radiates from everything they do.

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet (July 27, Calgary Folk Festival)
review

Abigail Washburn: a redheaded Southern belle who can sing in fluent Mandarin, accompanied by a string band. This alone is good enough to land the Sparrow Quartet on the list, but on top of that, they are amazing (also featuring banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck). To see these musicians is a real experience.

Squeeze (August 28, Kool Haus, Toronto)
review

I’ve wanted this to happen for years, and when it finally did, nothing was a letdown. Tilbrook was on top form, his voice and guitar skills as good as they ever were, and a bonus of touring without an album to back was a setlist jam-packed with all kinds of unexpected songs. A party from start to finish.

Sigur Rós (September 22, Massey Hall, Toronto)
review

I didn’t know what to expect going into this, but everything about it was great. Ethereal and soaring and very, very musical. The encore didn’t hurt either: a huge, joyful version of “Gobbledigook” featuring all the members of opening band Parachutes, and near the end, the biggest blast of confetti I’ve ever seen inside a concert hall. We were picking up the pieces for weeks!

Martin Tielli (September 28, Hugh’s Room, Toronto)

I regret not doing a proper review for this show, since it stayed with me for quite a few weeks. Tielli is one of those musicians you can go to when you’re sick of everyone doing the same thing, because he’s never, ever conventional. An incredible performance of his solo tunes and Rheos material with a great band of supporting musicians.

David Byrne (October 29, Massey Hall, Toronto)
review

Byrne is a real legend, and deservedly so; he did all the right things on the Massey stage, and added some quirks too (like the dancers!). The new material translates exceptionally well live, and he threw in some Talking Heads favourites too. He’s a thrilling performer, and one I’d see again in a heartbeat.

Hayden (November 1, Massey Hall, Toronto)

Backed by members of Cuff the Duke, Hayden’s jamming-in-a-living-room sort of set was homey and perfect, filling the beautiful old Massey Hall with his easygoing music. I didn’t want it to end. I’d see him again quite readily, especially since I bought his album after the show and know it reasonably better now.

Robin Williams (November 22, Massey Hall, Toronto)

The funniest hour and a half I’ve spent all year. Robin Williams just does not stop talking, and flits around from subject to subject to potty joke faster than light. Much ado was made about the American election, but also the Canadian one (he did a remarkable impression of Prime Minister Harper), and his accents and miming skills are among the most hilarious things I’ve seen in a while.

Justin Rutledge (December 1, Cameron House, Toronto)

If ever there were a perfect show, this might be it. The Cameron House’s front room capacity is about 70, and there were at least that many people crammed in there to hear Justin Rutledge on night 4 of his “Incredible Shrinking Tour” (each night brought a smaller venue). Many songs from Man Descending were played, and he went over two hours before finally deciding to take a break. I had no idea that much time had passed — a testament to the captivating things happening on stage.

Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe (December 14, Massey Hall, Toronto)

I must confess: before this, I didn’t even like Stuart McLean. I would turn the radio off when the Vinyl Café started. However, there’s something about seeing the live version that makes things all the more enjoyable; ad-libs, personal anecdotes, and the really great musicians he brought along with him. I have been inducted into the world of Dave and Morley, and while I probably won’t listen to too many studio broadcasts, the live ones have a certain warmth that I really enjoyed.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: There were two shows that I feel worthy of mentioning here, but they didn’t make the main list mostly because I was heavily involved with them (and that is probably a conflict of interest!). One of them is The Bicycles’ CD release party at Lee’s Palace on November 8, featuring a myriad of guest performers like Forest City Lovers, Henri Fabergé and the Adorables, Sloan, Hooded Fang, $100, Matt Murphy, etc. I did play in about 8 songs, but the Bicycles put on a fantastic performance in every one, including backing up all the aforementioned bands. It was a great way to bring Oh No, It’s Love into the world. (review)

The other is Entire Cities’ CD release party at the Canadian Corps Hall on April 11. This is my band, and we had planned for quite some time to get the release party in order. Everything went without a hitch; no delays, no PA problems, great sound, and a lovely time. It still stands as probably the best show I’ve ever played, and certainly the best show with Entire Cities; I think that in itself merits a mention.

Happy new year, everybody! I look forward to the news and tunes of 2009 (already shaping up to be a pretty good year). Now if only that strike would end already.

Tags: abigail washburn & the sparrow quartet, andrew bird, be good tanyas, blue rodeo, david byrne, entire cities, hayden, justin rutledge, martin tielli, robin williams, sigur rós, sloan, squeeze, stuart mclean, the bad plus, the bicycles, the weakerthans

I am not getting any real work done, so I might as well write a post. Here is the second half of my folk festival ramblings!

Saturday & Sunday: Workshops

The awesome thing about the weekends at the Calgary Folk Music Festival is that the daytimes – 10:30 in the morning until 5:30 when the mainstage starts – are all workshops and smaller concerts, and the workshops are where so much of the magic of this festival lies. They throw together two or three groups, who have probably never even seen each other before, let alone played together, and let them go for an hour. The stuff that comes out of these stages … man, you have no idea. Here’s what I took in on Saturday:

Machinations & Palindromes
Andrew Bird, Master Musicians of Jajouka, A Hawk & A Hacksaw

Wicked and Weird
The Weakerthans, Calexico, Handsome Family, Torngat

Shout, Sisters, Shout!
Woodpigeon, Basia Bulat, The Consonant C, Julie Doiron

Sweetly Undone
Calexico, Bill Callahan, A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Andrew Bird

A Brief History of Rhyme
Wendy McNeill, Josh Ritter, Woodpigeon, Trish Klein (Be Good Tanyas)

as well as a concert by the Handsome Family.

Things I learned: Andrew Bird is a great collaborator with anyone, and so are Calexico (that horn section! that lap steel!); John K. Samson (Weakerthans) and Joey Burns (Calexico) should always sing together; Basia Bulat covering “Thirty Days” is one of the best things to happen to workshops, especially with a backing band of about fifteen people; Bill Callahan sings about blood a lot; and the Handsome Family write really sad songs about milk.

The workshops, in short, were awesome.

Sunday

OK, by Sunday I was exhausted. Saturday ends at 11:30 and you are back at the park at something like 8:30 to get a spot, so everyone is a bit sluggish in the morning. However, the workshops got people on their feet pretty quickly. Here’s what I got to see:

Indie 500
Basia Bulat, Great Lake Swimmers, Julie Doiron, Sam Parton (Be Good Tanyas)

3 Altered Chords & The Truth
The Duhks, Joël Fafard, John Wort Hannam, Diana Jones

That Ain’t No A Flat Major!
Maryem Tollar & The Toronto Cairo Collective, A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Düvö

Blue Blue Grass of Home
Tim O’Brien, The Duhks, Sparrow Quartet, Craig Korth (Widow Maker)

as well as concerts by Julie Doiron and Basia Bulat.

I think “That Ain’t No A Flat Major” takes the cake for one of the best workshops I’ve seen at the folk festival. To give you a bit of background, Düvö is from Hungary, and they play Hungarian folk music (complete with fiddles, hammer dulcimer, etc). A Hawk & A Hacksaw, interestingly, is from Alberquerque but based in Hungary – when they said “We’re going to play a Hungarian czardas for you,” all the members of Düvö cheered and roared and joined in. CLASSIC. Maryem Tollar is the one behind the theme song to Little Mosque on the Prairie, for all you Canadians, and she and her band are originally from Egypt. You can imagine how awesome that sounded. It was terrific, and there was this tiny two- or three-year-old girl running around and dancing the whole time, which just made it better.

MAINSTAGE

To be quite honest I don’t want to spend an hour talking about all these acts because it is going to sound repetitive, so here is the short version!

Josh Ritter – I knew his stuff already from The Animal Years, and I was thrilled he played so many songs from that record; he was incredibly joyful AND he stopped a rainstorm (only to have it start again after he left the stage, unfortunately).

The Duhks – Amazing. They fuse Celtic-type stuff with folk and rock and all kinds of things, and out comes a really energetic live show. Their vocalist can really belt it out! Well worth checking out, and definitely one of my favourite festival discoveries.

A Hawk & A Hacksaw – I mentioned them already, of course, but they were great. I think some of the crowd were surprised to see an instrumental band, because there were a few bewildered faces in the audience, but they were really incredible, and once they started playing some blistering fiddle tunes everyone was dancing anyway. Bonus points for the indie kids as Jeremy Barnes used to be the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel.

James Blood Ulmer – Serious, gritty blues, backed by soul vocalist and bass player Meshell Ndegeocello. He was good and fun and really grooved well, but I guess I just wasn’t totally into his set. He plays his guitar in a pretty interesting way! Great voice though, holy. Very dirty-blues.

The Men They Couldn’t Hang – Hands down one of my favourite acts of the festival. Slightly aging folk-punk musicians from across the pond, rousing everybody with rather Pogues-like tunes, these guys were a total blast. It also didn’t hurt that everything was delivered in heavy Scottish or English accents, only adding to the fun. They sold out of their records in a flash – I didn’t get to pick one up, but if I do find one, I will post something here for your enjoyment!

Blue Rodeo – Can I just say, I love Jim Cuddy. And the rest of Blue Rodeo, too, but I just think Cuddy is like a really cool uncle who would play your favourite songs on his guitar and let you sit on his knee and take you out for ice cream when your parents weren’t around. I like that guy. Anyway, I am so glad we didn’t succumb to the rain and miss Blue Rodeo – they were amazing. Hit after hit! “Til I Am Myself Again,” “Five Days in May,” “C’mon” etc. One of my favourite live acts and one that I would love to see again and again.

Sonny Landreth – Another really great blues player, but one that I was more into. I loved this guy. Serious chops and serious feel. He reminded me a bit of Jack Semple, but I think I liked Landreth’s playing a lot more. He got a bunch of people dancing, always testament to how well you are doing at a festival.

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet – Featuring Bela Fleck of the Flecktones, who were Festival performers last year. These guys were amazing. Washburn, a beautiful Southern belle, has spent some time living in China, and consequently is fluent in Mandarin. She sang some Mandarin tunes for us and it is so mind-boggling to see this very fair, red-haired, Tennessee lady singing Chinese folk songs. I was thoroughly impressed. Not to mention her and Bela Fleck’s blistering banjo over everything – Fleck performed a tune by himself, as well, and it sounded like there were two or three banjos playing at once. What a guy. Add this to my favourites list.

It was starting to rain again after their set, so we took off and missed Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band and Ani DiFranco, although to tell you the truth I don’t think any of us were too disappointed.

And of course, Festival Mini-Sampler Pt. 2:

Basia Bulat – In the Night
Josh Ritter – Wolves
Blue Rodeo – C’mon
Julie Doiron – Swan Pond

Tags: a hawk and a hacksaw, abigail washburn, andrew bird, basia bulat, bela fleck, bill callahan, blue rodeo, calexico, calgary folk music festival, handsome family, james blood ulmer, josh ritter, julie doiron, master musicians of jajouka, sonny landreth, sparrow quartet, the consonant c, the duhks, the men they couldn't hang, the weakerthans, torngat, woodpigeon