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Matchbox keeps a tight calendar

There is no shortage of roots music events planned in the near future — blues, folk, bluegrass and world music. If you can, go out and support the artists and local promoters.
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There is no shortage of roots music events planned in the near future — blues, folk, bluegrass and world music. If you can, go out and support the artists and local promoters.

One of the most interesting recent folk pairings — Ontario’s Stephen Fearing and Ireland’s Andy White — get together for a return visit to the Elks Lodge on March 25, presented by the Central Music Festival.

Also on March 25, The Vat hosts Bill Bourne with his Free Radio Dance Band. Call 403-346-5636 for ticket information

On March 26, Mark Sterling appears with Mike Lent at The Matchbox for an evening of blues and guitar. Drop by the box office for tickets or call 403-341-6500.

Over the next several weeks, The Matchbox has numerous concerts scheduled, including

• The Yukon Roots Music World Tour featuring songwriter Gordie Tentrees and the very impressive Sarah MacDougall on March 30.

• Alberta songwriter Jake Ian and his Haymakers team up with Donna Durand and Jake Matthews for a double bill on April 3.

• James Keelaghan makes a rare local appearance on April 8.

• Alpha Yaya Diallo brings his fluid blending of African and western sounds to town on April 18.

• Finally, Ben Sures has a CD release concert on May 6.

For all these shows, contact the Matchbox for information and tickets.

Waskasoo Bluegrass is bringing back The Special Consensus for a concert on March 26 at the Elks Lodge. The Special C is one of the finest bluegrass bands going. Tickets are available at 53rd Street Music, Red Deer Book Exchange, The Key Hole, Parkland Mall Service Desk, Innisfail’s Jackson’s Pharmasave, and Lacombe’s Popow’s Autobody.

Jeans Off House Concerts present trilingual (English, French, and Spanish) singer and songwriter Cindy Doire on April 14 with JP Riemens and Dan Walsh dropping by on April 23. Call 403-357-4728 for tickets and information.

This week’s disc reviews:

Woodland Telegraph

From the Fields

Northern Folklore

A labour of love for Matthew Lovegrove and friends, From the Fields is the second volume of the Canadian Landscape trilogy, following 2009’s beautiful, mountain-inspired Sings Revival Hymns. That album topped year-end lists as well as CBC Galaxie’s folk/roots annual chart, ahead of folks named Cockburn and Tyson.

Using the Western prairies as a backdrop, Lovegrove and his cohort have crafted a brilliant tribute to those who have forged a life within a harsh landscape, and give fair measure to the land itself.

The title track features a vocal trio capturing the expansive majesty and loneliness of the prairies.

Other songs take us to the Oldman River and rural churches — with a side trip to the Niagara Escarpment — while select pieces take a more political turn as farmers and ranchers face arrogant corporate authority.

With a funky interlude ripped from Earth, Wind & Fire, the lyrics of White Pelicans provide some of the album’s most vivid images: “I remember sun-bleached bones on the coulee” pulls the listener into knee-deep grasses rippled by fragrant summer winds.

Most of the instrumentation is of an acoustic and gentle-electric nature with banjo, guitar, and strings conveying the melodies. When Move to Town fades, the journey concludes as naturally as it began.

Mendelson Joe

Original

Old Bold Records

Mendelson Joe, the Ontario songwriter-singer-artist-philosopher best known for his odd-ball late-1980s Much Music hit Dance with Joe, collects here 21 tracks recorded intermittently over 40 years (largely 1984-1991) with familiar friends including Bob Wiseman, Willie P. Bennett, Gwen Swick and Ben Mink.

Things are kept humble throughout. No high-minded melodrama here. Unassuming lyrics provide perspective at every turn, including in You and Me: “I woke up today — well, isn’t that good news.”

Joe’s conversational — and observational-bluesy folk — is backed-up with a bite, drifting toward the sardonic only on the most recent tunes including Deemo Crassy; given our political climate, who can blame the guy?

Twisted love songs (Shepherd’s Pie) are mixed with commentaries (Canary in the Coalmine) and social hypotheses (Women are the Only Hope). Joe contributes some beautiful guitar sounds throughout the collection, providing evidence that there is much more to him than clever and challenging lyrical dogma.

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.