Donna Durand kicks off The Road Back
• Local singer Donna Durand celebrates the release of The Road Back with a concert at the Sunnybrook Farm Museum on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 2; let’s hope the weather co-operates. Reviewed below, Durand is a talent worth supporting.
• As part of the Old-Time Country Fair at The Davenport Church of Christ, Alberta folk artist Rob Heath performs on June 12 at 1 p.m.
• Innisfail’s Century Theatre presents an Ian Tyson tribute show on June 13.
• The annual Canadian Rockies Bluegrass Fest at David Thompson Resort goes later this month, from June 18 to 20. Canadian bluegrass and acoustic acts and old-time autoharpist Bryan Bowers will appear.
• The ever-popular Duane Steele brings his acoustic show to The Matchbox on June 10 and 11 with Tera Lee opening. Steele stops at Innisfail’s Century Theatre on June 20.
• Ruth Purves Smith & the 581 make their area debut at The Matchbox Theatre on June 18. Discover a new roots voice fronting an inspired group of musicians. Acoustic stringband Headwater performs on June 20. Tickets at the venue and Ticketmaster.
• Montreal’s Randall Spears visits The Hub on Ross on June 19. The 4 p.m. concert in support of his album Slow Parade is only $10.
• The Central Music Festival is slated for Aug. 13 and 14. Featuring an abundance of local talent, headliners include The Trews Acoustic, Shane Yellowbird, Ponty Bone & the Squeezetones, Jim Byrnes, Steve Coffey, and the tightest of jam bands, Great American Taxi.
This week’s disc reviews:
Donna Durand The Road Back
www.donnadurand.com
Red Deer’s Donna Durand has released a roots music album that rivals the best Canadian, acoustic music released this year.
With a gentle manner that is reminiscent of fellow Central Albertan Ruth Purves Smith, Donna Durand has turned her ‘pre-retirement’ songwriting and performing hobby into a full-fledged, second career.
The Alberta musicians who recorded the 12-track The Road Back with Durand do themselves and the songwriter proud. Local musicians Dave Grobe (percussion) and Tony Mellor (bass) stand alongside Edmonton’s Gord Matthews (guitars and mandolin) and Byron Myhre (fiddle) to create a seamless tapestry of largely acoustic sounds.
Whether Durand’s characters are brothers hauling coal in an “ice blue storm” during The Winter of 1943 or a prairie girl fretting inevitable heartbreak among the Wild Roses, Durand captures intimate relationships.
With a realism marked by familiarity, Durand’s songs are imbedded with details that can only be gleamed from personal experience or those of family and neighbours. The farmer making “one more round” in the fields while supper dries in a pan will be familiar to all wives of the country. When the truck gets stuck in a Durand song (Maybe), the results are not only life-affirming but oddly romantic as her rescuer’s “eyes grey mist sad;” yearning, Durand sees and hears him everywhere.
Although she may suffer from misdirection when driving — and is chided for this failing by Ian Tyson within the title cut — Donna Durand’s music is steadfastly assured within this gleaming album, capturing both the geographic openness and people temperance of our province.
Jaydee Bixby Easy to Love EMI Canada
Briefly a Red Deer resident, Jaydee Bixby’s sophomore release is a competent collection of radio-friendly country. Having woodshedded with Nashville-based writers, Bixby’s songwriting voice emerges and he had a hand in writing five of the 10 cuts contained herein.
A reworking of Tom Cochrane’s Boy Inside the Man has mass appeal while Closer Than You Think and The Long Haul hint at developing maturity. Bixby’s voice no longer betrays him as a karaoke cowboy. Light fare such as Tailgate and Dream Bigger will fit within modern radio playlists.
At just 19, Bixby has a long way to go before he can be considered a premier country singer; Easy to Love suggests he may find a way to ascend to such a level.
Also in rotation: Kris Kristofferson — Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends; Elizabeth Cook — Welder; Tallest Man in the World — Wild Hunt; Martin Sexton — Sugarcoating; The Sadies — Darker Circles.
Donald Teplyske is a local freelance writer who contributes a twice-monthly column on roots music; visit fervorcoulee.wordpress.com for additional reviews. If you know a roots music event of which he should be aware, contact him at fervorcoulee@shaw.ca
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