Steve's Blog
A Tim O'Brien 101 / Birds of Chicago ticket giveaway / turn your radio on / excellent Rogues!
Friday November 15, 2019
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1. Tim O'Brien Band, Friday November 22nd, 8pm, Mel Lehan Hall at St. James (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tim O'Brien is one of the most revered musicians in bluegrass. A master of all things stringed, he excels on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki and banjo - and he's a heck of good singer and songwriter too. His music crosses genre boundaries and touches everything from bluegrass to Celtic to Old Time to Jazz to Appalachian Trad to contemporary song. I looked back at the annals (aka Roguestory on our website) to see when he last played here. His last solo gig with us was in June 2005, but he also played here with Chris (Old Man) Luedecke in 2009. Tim had just produced Chris' latest album (I think it was My Hands Are On Fire) and had played on it, so they performed together. I'd forgotten about that show. Nice to be reminded of such special moments. Back in 2005 Sue Kavanagh used to interview upcoming performers and we put those interviews into our magazine, the Rogue Folk Review. She interviewed Tim O'Brien back then, and it's a fascinating journey into the music and history of the great man. You can read it here, and I include three photos from the solo gig that took place that month.
Tim's new project sees him fronting a five piece band with his wife, Jan Fabricius on vocals, Patrick Sauber on banjo and guitar, Shad Cobb on fiddle, and Mike Bub on bass. They released a fine CD earlier this year, blending Tim’s Blues, Jazz, and Celtic influences within a string band setting, transforming five originals and some well-chosen covers into his own unique brand of bluegrass.
Opening for the band will be Vancouver stringband Burying Ground (Woody Forster on vocals and guitar, and Devora Laye on washboard and saw, with Clara Rose on fiddle, and Winston Minckler on upright bass). "Taking vintage blues and jazz, swing, old-timey country and folk as their templates, this super-cool duo pens authentic sounding material that appears as if plucked from the Alan Lomax archives, but also bears the gritty qualities of their punk rock background. " - David Morrison of Folk Radio Uk's Top ten albums of 2017
For tickets and information on this show - which promises to be a major highlight of Vancouver's music calendar in 2019 - click here.
2. Around town tomorrow night!
There are two incredible concerts on Saturday November 16th. Cuba's Orquesta Akokan (above) plays The Chan Centre at UBC, and Birds of Chicago (below: Allison Russell and J.T. Nero with Steve Dawson as the 3rd member of the trio) play the Shadbolt Centre in Burnaby. I wish I could see both bands!! Tune in to The Saturday Edge On Folk tomorrow morning and you could win a pair of tickets to see Birds Of Chicago!
The next Roguelele Ukulele Night is next Tuesday November 19th from 7 to 9:30pm in the Mel Lehan Hall at St. James. Admission is just $10 at the door. Bring your uke or just come along and sing along with some familiar songs played on up to 100 ukes! It's great fun!!
3. Radio Waves
On this week's edition of The Saturday Edge On Folk (CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca from 8am to noon) I'll have some fabulous new music from Ireland (Lankum, The Crannua Collective, Liag), Vancouver (Reid Jamieson & Carolyn Mill), Holland (The Lasses), PEI (The East Pointers),Toronto (Andrew Collins Trio, Lonesome Ace Stringband), and Victoria (Stephen Fearing). I'll also feature the amazing career of Tim O'Brien, and play heaps more roots music from around this wonderful blue planet - from Cuba to Africa and across Canada and Europe - for starters! I hope you can tune in and maybe win those tickets to see the Birds of Chicago...
We also have Radio Rogue running 24/7 on our website with lots of music from upcoming Rogue performers and a few hundred current faves of mine.)
4. Coming Soon To The Rogue
- Quebec's powerhouse trad quintet Le Vent Du Nord on November 26th,
- BC's sublime songstress Marin Patenaude and her band with opener Mark Stuart on November 29th,
- Cape Breton fiddle diva Mairi Rankin with The Fretless cellist Eric Wright (November 30th),
- Cascadia's finest bluegrass combo John Reischman & The Jaybirds on December 5th,
- American blues / soul duo Charlie Hunter & Lucy Woodward (December 6th),
- and our annual seasonal show Cool Yule with Van Django and LJ Mounteney on December 13th.