Steve's Blog
Thursday January 15, 2009

Hi everyone

It's been a while since our last update, and we won't have a new issue of the Rogue Folk Review out until next week, so this is a larger issue of the Update than usual.

First off I should mention that my weekly radio show, The Edge On Folk, is pre-empted this weekend. So please tune in to Radio Rogue for a wonderful selection of new releases from all around the world, and a generous helping of music by performers coming to the Rogue Folk Club and Cap Folk & Roots Series over the next few weeks. Full instructions for accessing Radio Rogue online are posted on our home page.

We have some great concerts lined up for the next few weeks.

Les Yeux Noirs, Sunday January 18th, Capilano University Performing Arts Theatre, 8pm

The first concert of 2009 takes place this weekend, Sunday January 18th, with the amazing French gypsy band Les Yeux Noirs at Capilano University. Les Yeux Noirs, French for "The Black Eyes," take their name from the title of a Russian gypsy tune made famous by Django Reinhardt in the '30s. It's the perfect name for a French sextet that plays their own variety and melding of Gypsy and Yiddish music, with a nod to Manouche (French Gypsy jazz). Inspired by different influences, Les Yeux Noirs invite us to share in moments of intense emotion and indescribable joy, as they weave their magic with extraordinary energy. Both joyous and nostalgic, this nomadic music perfectly reflects the lives of a persecuted people in exile, caught up in a massive Diaspora, all with an unshakeable will to live.

Tickets are $32 ($29 members) available at the Cap Box Office only 604-990-7810 or online.

Don McGlashan (NZ), Sunday January 25th, Capilano University Performing Arts Theatre, 8pm

Don McGlashan is recognized as one of New Zealand's foremost songwriters, artists and performers with five entries in APRA New Zealand's Top 100 Songs Of All Time. In 2007, he was awarded the "Living Legend" award by the Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand. His career spans from the seminal post-pop-punk band Blam Blam Blam, to art experimentalists The Front Lawn, to the platinum selling and internationally recognized popular band The Mutton Birds. Most recently, he has embarked upon a solo career with the release of Warm Hand, a more stripped down acoustic recording that shows McGlashan in top form in voice and song. In the spring of 2008, McGlashan toured North America with the New Zealand legendary band Crowded House as a solo opener and band collaborator. Truly McGlashan's body of work showcases a visionary songwriter, uncompromising, always evolving and above all else, an intensely unique voice.

Tickets are $28 ($25 members) available at the Cap Box Office only 604-990-7810 or online.

Colin Linden & Whitey Johnson, Friday January 30th, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue, 8pm

Don't miss this collaboration between two of the most versatile and creative exponents of the Blues - Colin Linden, and Gary Nicholson (aka Whitey Johnson).

Colin Linden, Canada's musical renaissance man, is indeed a multiple threat - as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He is in major demand by artists wanting him to produce, write for, and/or play on their records (he has played on 300 and produced 60 albums), yet somehow finds time to both pursue a prolific solo career and play a key role in Canadian roots-rock "supergroup" Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

If forced at the proverbial gunpoint to come up with just one self-defining phrase, chances are he'd come up with "bluesman." The form that first stirred Colin's musical soul nearly four decades ago sustains him still. "I've been playing country blues, '20s style acoustic blues, since I was a really little kid. When I was 11, I met [electric blues pioneer] Howlin' Wolf. One of the things he said to me that really got me onto this path was that 'if you want to play this kind of music you should listen to the people I listened to.' He told me about Charlie Patton and Son House and that generation of artists. That was like opening the biggest door in the world for me, so I just dug in deep. I listened to it and have been playing it seriously for over 30 years now." Website: www.colinlinden.com

Whitey Johnson is a recently discovered blues singer/songwriter/guitarist from Texas, now living in Tennessee and performing worldwide. There are various stories about Whitey's past, he has made his living making music for well over thirty years, yet has remained relatively unknown, having only recently recorded his debut album. But one known fact is that under the psuedonym Gary Nicholson his songs have been recorded by such blues greats as BB King, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, Delbert McClinton, Gatemouth Brown, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Shemeka Copeland, John Mayall and many others. He also won a Grammy as producer of the Best Contemporary Blues Record 2001, Delbert McClinton's "Nothing Personal". Why Whitey? Well, you'll just have to come along and find out. Website: www.garynicholson.com

Tickets are $25 ($22 for members) and can be purchased from Highlife Records and Rufus' Guitar Shop, online or by calling 604.736.3022. Doors open at 7:30. Concert details...

Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart, Saturday January 31st, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue, 8pm

My how time flies! After almost 3 years, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart are at it again with their new Gearle Records release, "Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart Town Square", which is only available at their concerts. They recorded 32 acoustic versions of songs they have performed over the last 16 years, inspired by the overwhelmingly warm response to the acoustic version bonus CD of their 2003 duo release, "Never Gonna Let You Go". "We are thinking, maybe, it is what the audience wants and we aim to please. Folks come to the show; they ask if we have something that sounded like us that night. Let's call it a souvenir. It seems we have become songwriters, live performers, then recording artists in that order."

While each still remains an individual solo artist with solo releases (such as the new 2008 release of Mark Stuart "Left of Nashville" and Stacey Earle "The Ride" due in 2009), it is through the respect of each others work and years of playing together - and in Stacey's brother Steve's band The Dukes - they have created their own unique sound. A sound that allows each individual to shine through. "We know the economics, it's tough out there. We had to learn how to be the whole twang dang."

A show not to miss, Stacey and Mark reach back and grab songs of the past, then fast forward to the present and into the future. They will be performing songs from their own new solo releases as well. Website: www.staceyandmark.com

Tickets are $23 ($20 for members) and can be purchased from Highlife Records and Rufus' Guitar Shop, online or by calling 604.736.3022. Doors open at 7:30. Concert details...

Martyn Joseph, Monday February 2nd, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue, 8pm

Always charming, sometimes alarming, Martyn Joseph is a unique songwriter who digs deep and delivers an ultimate, life affirming message. One of the most unusual and compelling performers you are likely to encounter. Website: www.martynjoseph.com

Tickets are $23 ($20 for members) and can be purchased from Highlife Records and Rufus' Guitar Shop, online or by calling 604.736.3022. Doors open at 7:30. Concert details...

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Thursday February 5th, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue, 8pm

Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music. His unique sound, his mastery of his chosen instrument