Ry Cooder Live in Edmonton Aug.11th 2018

Last Saturday my buddy Buzzard and I attended the Ry Cooder concert at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. We had intended on going down to the show in the late afternoon, as Ry Cooder was scheduled to hit the stage at 9:30 so we thought we would go down checkout some of the other acts and some of the side stage performances and work shops. But as we had a few beers before the show downtown, it started to rain, go fucking figure, my luck with outdoor shows this summer isn't exactly very good. Well we weren't about to stand in the rain for four hours before Ry Cooder as there were no other acts that we really wanted to see. So we hung at the bar waiting for the rain to stop. Well that wasn't happening very quickly. We ended up sitting in the bar until 8:30 when the rain subsided enough and the act we wanted to see was to start in an hour, so that is when we made our way down to Gallagher Park. By the time we got there, the place was starting to thin out quite a bit, as I am sure most people had been there for the better part of the day and were getting tired of the rain. We got there in time to have a beer in the beer tent as there was no line up, which was a bonus. After our beer it was off to the hill to catch Ry Cooder. Because the crowd had thinned out so much due to the shitty weather, we were able to get within ten feet of the stage.

This would be my first time seeing the slide guitarist blues legend in concert, I have wanted to see him for many years and now I was going to get my chance. It was going to take longer then anticipated as his set was delayed by about 45 minutes, luckily it was only drizzling and not a down pour.

The show started with Ry Cooder sitting on a stool playing his slide guitar and belting out an unbelievable version of the Blind Willie Johnson song "Nobody's Fault But Mine" which was followed by two more songs from his latest release The Prodigal Son "Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right" and "Straight Street". After the new songs it was time for a song from his 1970 debut album a song called "Alimony" which had a lot of people singing along. Sharing the stage with Ry Cooder were The Hamiltones whom are three musicians from North Carolina. They added some soul and gospel sound to Ry Cooder's music, they were good but I myself found then to be a bit overbearing and taking away from Ry Cooder. I would much rather have seen just Ry Cooder play with his own band, but that's a minor complaint. The Hamiltones also did two songs without Ry.

Ry also played a couple older songs from the Bop Till You Drop album "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" and "Little Sister". I was so impressed with Cooder's voice and his slide guitar playing was excellent. At times he reminded me a bit of Joe Walsh just with his facial expressions and the way he moved about the stage and of course his sense of humour. A great show and I really hope I get the chance to see Ry Cooder perform again in the near future.

After Ry Cooder's set there was still Michael Franti & Spearhead to play to close out the Saturday night of the Folk Fest, but we didn't bother staying for him as the weather sucked, it was wet and cold and I wasn't dressed properly for the elements as I had left home early in the day and wasn't prepared for the fall like conditions. All and all though it was a great hour long set and I got to see who I really wanted. Good times!!!

Ry Cooder at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

Amy Helm Live in Edmonton July 26th 2018

Well it's been over two weeks since this show, so it's about time I got around to writing a little something about it.

My buddy Buzzard and I went to this show at the Aviary, which is a small intimate room in downtown Edmonton with a capacity of 140 people. The show we went to was a great double bill of Amy Helm and local singer/songwriter Mike Plume. The last time Amy Helm played here I had to miss her as I already at tickets for another show. So I wasn't going to miss this one, especially when I saw that one of my favourite artists was opening.

The sold out show started with Mike Plume who has brand new album out called Born By The Radio which is amazing by the way. This would be my 14th time seeing Mike in concert, so as you can tell I am a huge fan. The venue was packed well before Mike hit the stage.

Mike opened his set with the song "Straight Back Home" from his 1997 album Simplify. A great opening song that had the crowd in the palm of his hand from the get go. He told some great stories, maybe a bit long winded, but the way he tells a story you can't help but be entertained.

Plume did some new songs from his most recent release Born By The Radio. Those songs were "My Old Friend", "Mama's Rolling Stone", "Long Long Line Of Fools" and "Western Wind" in which he told a story but him and the band back some 20 years ago getting to hang out with Levon Helm the drummer of The Band. Getting to rehearse at his place and sharing a smoke with Levon, when Levon said to Mike "I sure can hear that Western wind in your voice". Hence the song title Western Wind. I was surprised at how many people were singing along to the new tunes, obviously people had already heard the album lots. Nice to see the new songs go over so well.

Also played during his hour long set was a couple older ones like the Stompin' Tom Connors tribute song "So Long Stompin' Tom", where Mike told another great story about being invited to sing at Stompin' Tom's funeral.
Mike also played the great sing along song from his Red and White Blues album "Hey Hey What D'Ya Say (Coming Home Again).Another stellar show from Mike Plume. Looking forward to seeing Mike again on November 24th at The Station On Jasper (formerly the Needle Vinyl Tavern). Checkout Mike Plume's bandcamp page to purchase his new album plus many other titles.

Mike Plume at The Aviary.

Headlining the show was Amy Helm from Woodstock, New York who is the daughter of the late great Levon Helm who played drums in The Band. I had seen Amy once before back in 2010 at the Edmonton Folk Fest when she was playing in Levon Helm's band. This time around it was Amy fronting her own four piece band. Amy not only sings but also is damn good on the mandolin. Her back up band was quite good. Amy and her band performed a few new songs from her upcoming album This Too Shall Light!. She also did a few covers during the course of her set, including a couple by Ronnie Hawkins aka The Hawk whom Amy's Dad Levon played in back in the early 60's.

All and all I thought Amy's set was good, she sang with a lot of soul and was dancing and really feeling the music through out her set. The crowd thinned out quite a bit after Mike's set, but still a decent crowd for her. I just wish I knew her solo stuff a bit better. A great night out of live music. Good times!!!

Amy Helm at The Aviary.

Mike Plume t-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

The new Mike Plume CD I picked up at the show. Watch for the new album Born By The Radio on vinyl coming soon.

Interstellar Rodeo Edmonton July 22nd 2018

On Sunday I made my way down to Hawrelak Park for the last day of the Interstellar Rodeo Festival. This was the first time in five years that I haven't gone all three days. A variety of reasons for that, wasn't all that keen on the line up this year, though that usually doesn't hold me up, but the cost and personal reasons. But of all days that I really did want to go was Sunday because of Alejandro Escovedo and Courtney Barnett were playing. But as of Saturday I wasn't going. But lucky for me, my sweetheart Janis and her friend Erin went on the Saturday. While they were there having a bite to eat at one of the picnic tables, the couple next to them asked if they were coming on Sunday for the show. They said that they weren't, that was when the couple asked if they were interested in buying their tickets for 20 dollars a piece as they were not able to make it. Thanks to Janis she picked up a ticket for me for Sunday. So, I was now going, and the price was right too!

Because I didn't pay full price and the weather was touch n' go, I didn't head to the festival grounds until mid afternoon, that and there was really no bands that interested me til later in the day. Well the weather ended up cooperating, no rain after the lunch hour, so that was perfect. I got to down to the Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre in time to catch the band out of Regina, Saskatchewan called The Dead South who are now signed with Six Shooter Records, the label that puts on this festival. There music is described as a mix of folk and bluegrass, they were good at what they do, but not my jam.

The Dead South.

Next up was the Interstellar all Stars, this has been a tradition of the Interstellar Festival in which they put together a group of musicians for a jam. This year the group consisted of Jason Plumb from Regina whom fronted the Waltons, Tim Baker from St. Johns, Newfoundland the lead singer and songwriter of the band Hey Rosetta!i> and Rose Cousins from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their set was good with the highlight being when they did the Tragically Hip song "Ahead By A Century" that had the crowd singing along. It actually gave me chills hearing it. Pretty damn cool.

The Interstellar All Stars.

Now it was time for Alejandro Escovedo, one of the artists that I really wanted to see. This would be my second time seeing Alejandro in concert. Escovedo who is from Texas is a veteran of the music scene having recorded and toured since the late 70's. The man has played punk, roots rock and alt country and good old rock n' roll. As Ford Pier the MC of the festival mentioned in the introduction of the band, that Escovedo played in the punk band The Nuns who opened for the Sex Pistols in San Francisco their final concert. So ya, Alejandro has been around for a while.

Escovedo's hour long set was rocking through out playing a Rank & File song, Rank & File being an old punk band he was once in. Of course he also played his solo stuff including the songs "Sally Was A Cop", "Chelsea Hotel 78", "Sensitive Boys" and "Five Hearts Breaking", those were the songs I knew at least. Escovedo gave me a Keith Richards kind of vibe. I really enjoyed his set and was a great way to warm up the crowd for the final artist of the weekend.

Alejandro Escovedo.

Closing out the festival was Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett. She was the artist that most excited me about this years line-up. Her latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel is one of my favourites of this year, so I was really looking forward to hearing her play live. And she did not disappoint at all. She rocked that stage right from the get go opening with the song "Hopefulessness" from her new album. This lady writes some amazing lyrics and with so much wit, like these words in the opening song "you know what they say, no one is born to hate, we learn it somewhere along the way, take your broken heart, turn it into art", and that's just the first verse. Another great song she performed was "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch".

Another great line of lyrics again from her new album in a song called "Nameless Faceless" "he said "I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup, and spit out better words than you". Courtney certainly has a way with words.

At the start of her set I was standing up by the soundboard having a few beers, as last call was coming and I didn't want to waste any beer tickets, so I had a few lined up, as I was watching and listening to her music all I could think was this would be even better if I was up close. So I wasted no time and downed my last two beers and made my way up to the front of the stage. And yup, it was even better up close. Courtney brought her "A" game and rocked the hell out, she brought the punk to Interstellar. Very impressed!

Kind of sad that I didn't go all three days to this years Interstellar as this is a very fun laid back festival even if you don't know all the bands, it is always a really good time. Great job by Six Shooter Records putting on this festival and to all the awesome volunteers. Good times!!!

Courtney Barnett.

Courtney Barnett setlist I got from the show.