Will White opens Waskasoo season Oct. 2
On Saturday night, Canadian songstress Sarah Harmer brings her folk-roots approach to the Memorial Centre with Bahamas opening.
Gordon Downie and the Country of Miracles (Oct. 2) and Carolyn Dawn Johnson (Oct. 7) play the same venue early next month. Tickets for all three events are available at the Black Knight Inn.
Monday and Tuesday evenings, The Vat hosts British Columbia’s Rodney DeCroo and Carolyn Mark. A lover of words and melody, DeCree’s latest album Queen Mary Trash pretty much rocks.
The Waskasoo Bluegrass season kicks off with Calgary’s Will White Trio at The Matchbox on Oct. 2.
With an emphasis on bluegrass sounds within a wide-acoustic palate, White is joined by Alberta’s favourite fiddle player Byron Mhyre and bassist Dale Ulan.
Tickets ($25) for this terrific evening of music are available at the usual outlets including 53rd Street Music, Red Deer Box Exchange, The Key Hole, Parkland Mall Service Desk, Innisfail’s Jackson’s Pharmasave, Lacombe’s Popow’s Auto Body, Old’s Dee J’s, and Rocky Mountain House’s Novel Ideas.
Call Gale at 403.347.1363 for information.
Straddling the intersection where jazz, soul and roots meet, Vancouver’s Mary Kastle is scheduled to make an appearance at Restaurant 27 on Oct. 21. Tracks from the beautifully lush Beneath the Folds can be heard on Kastle’s MySpace site.
The Matchbox Theatre’s roots concert offerings continue on Oct. 29 when the well-regarded Slaid Cleaves travels from Texas.
The Good Lovelies make a return appearance on Nov. 28. Tickets are on sale for all Matchbox shows at their box office.
This week’s roots music review:
Will White
Rise Above
Self -released
Based in Calgary, Will White hasn’t been a prominent member of the Alberta roots community for very long.
Proving himself adept on a number of instruments throughout this debut recording — National steel, banjo, and guitar — readers may recall White as a notable and shining presence on Widow Maker’s sole recording, The Awful Truth.
Born in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains, White’s southern influences permeate his songs, ensuring authenticity.
Self-described as performing ‘Acoustic Americana Fusion,’ White blends mountain sounds with a folksinger’s lyrical acumen. He is a wonderful singer and musician, but making him even more impressive is the depth of his songwriting.
Generously compiled, this hour-long album serves as a survey of the very best elements of modern, acoustic roots music.
Firelight Waltz is a mournful tale thick with the fundamentals of classic ballads — timeless love, anticipated death, and oaths taken to heart. Baby You Put the Hurt on Me swings amidst infidelity and murder while Climbin’ and I Wanna Meet Jesus explore the gospel tradition in unexpected ways.
June Bug and Mournin’ Dove will appeal to those who favour Stanley-style bluegrass with Run Chicken Run proving a lighthearted bluegrass romp.
The album’s central track is the epic Fredericksburg 1862.
With Byron Myhre providing deft fiddle accompaniment, White relates the true tale of a Civil War soldier and humanitarian lending comfort to injured and dying foes on a battlefield of frozen mud.
With cinematic accuracy, White communicates gentle heroics in the midst of a one-sided conflict.
Like the finest of those who choose to explore their art within bluegrass-friendly confines, White bridges the distance between the past and the present and reveals himself as a continually developing artist.
The Will White Trio appears at The Matchbox on Oct. 2.
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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