Ten of Alberta’s best roots musicians will celebrate The Band’s Last Waltz at a concert in Red Deer next week.
It’s been 40 years since The Band’s legendary Last Waltz concert.
But the group’s songs — including The Weight, Stage Fright, Across the Great Divide, Ophelia, Shape I’m In, When I Paint My Masterpiece, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down — live on to help define the history of American music.
A special all-star edition of the Alberta-based band Front Porch Roots Revue will perform more than two-dozen selections from The Band’s amazing songbook on Friday, April 8, at Red Deer’s Elks Lodge.
The tribute show, Up On Cripple Creek: The Songbook of the Band, A Tribute to the Last Waltz will revisit the sounds of Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson.
“It was a pretty big undertaking when it came to tackling this songbook, but we all love this music. Everybody was really pumped about biting off a big chunk of the best this legendary group gave us,” said bassist and singer Ron Rault, a member of the Front Porch Roots Revue who’s also played with John Lee Hooker and Louisiana Red, and written the Powder Blues hit Jump Up.
He will be joined by other seasoned musicians and vocalists, including rhythm guitarist Doug Andrew of Vancouver’s new-age jug band The Circus in Flames, lead guitarist and mandolin player Gord Matthews, formerly of k.d. lang’s Reclines and Ian Tyson’s acoustic trio, and pianist and singer J.R. Shore, who won two of the last three Calgary Folk Festival songwriting contests.
Thom Moon, Ian Tyson’s studio drummer, is also with the band, as are noted keyboardist Garth Kennedy and harmonica player Crawdad Cantera.
Up Cripple Creek, produced by Peter North, has been a critical and popular success since being created in 2012.
The show has played to sold-out houses in Calgary and Edmonton, and at numerous festivals such as the Big Valley Jamboree, Wild Mountain Music Festival and North Country Fair.
The 7:30 p.m. concert at 6315 Horn St. will include a special appearance by the Charlie Jacobson Band.
Tickets are $39 from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.