Outstanding Array of Talent
Scheduled for Rogue Folk Club
By STEVE EDGE
VANCOUVER - It's a busy time of year for the Rogue Folk Club, with concerts of many different musical styles and genres coming thick and fast to the St. James Hall in Kitsilano.
With three former members of the Knocknagow Ceili band, Tipperary's Rattle the Boards will live up to their name on October 8. Led by Danu's accordion wizard Benny McCarthy, this quartet plays Irish music in the old style, yet with exhilarating freshness and vitality.
Opening for them is Vermont fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger, a protegee of Alasdair Fraser, whose latest work seeks to bring the traditional music of the N.E. States to the fore.
Old ballads and fiddle tunes from Scotland and Ireland have been adopted and localized over the past 300 years and Lissa will sing and play some of them, accompanied by Bethany Waickman on guitar.
The following night a California troubadour with a growing reputation in Europe as well as North America as one of the most expressive new voices and trad-based songwriting on the folk scene returns to the Rogue after a two year absence.
Corinne West has just released her third CD, produced by legendary BC dobro/guitar master Doug Cox, who will accompany her on October 9. Daniel Lapp plays fiddle and trumpet on the record, and John Reischman is another B.C. musician prominently featured on Corinne's new CD, The Promise. Perhaps they will step in and join her as well.
Garnet Rogers, brother of the late Stan Rogers, is one of Canada's most popular singers. His rich baritone voice and impressive guitar style, coupled with his hilarious road stories and powerful songs about the extraordinary lives of ordinary folks, make his concerts very special occasions.
His music is heavily influenced by Celtic traditions, and his family comes from Irish and Nova Scotia stock. Garnet plays at The Rogue on October 16.
James Keelaghan hails from Calgary, but his father was an Irishman and James, too, is a Canadian folk music icon with strong Celtic roots in his music and stories in song.
He has a great new CD, House Of Cards (Borealis Records) and makes a welcome return to our series on October 31. "I've always had the urge to write," says the Calgary native who has been calling Winnipeg home for the past few years.
Not only does Keelaghan lay claim to a deep catalogue of timeless originals like Kiri's Piano, Fires of Calais, Cold Missouri Waters, Jenny Bryce, and Hillcrest Mine, he is also a possessive interpreter of outside material, a fine example being his gripping take on Gordon Lightfoot's epic Canadian Railroad Trilogy from the Lighfoot tribute disc Beautiful.
There are also a number of illustrations of his interpretive skills on his 2006 recording A Few Simple Verses, an homage to his roots in traditional music.
The closing tune on that spellbinding set, My Blood, written with Jez Lowe, is one of many examples from Keelaghan's career of his inviting collaboration into his creative process.
Terry Wickham, the producer of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, is one of many longtime admirers of Keelaghan's music, and he sums up the artist's appeal by saying, "James has become the complete artist. A brilliant tunesmith who has become one of the most engaging performers of our time.
"You always know the journey with James is going to be great, you just never know what all the destinations are. That is why the curve on his career continues to rise."
It was Dave Marsh, the award-winning American music critic and historian who not so long ago stated that James Keelaghan is "Canada's finest songwriter."
Those few but powerful words of praise say it all about an artist who continues to set the bar at a lofty height. His strong vocals and strident guitar work will be augmented by a trio including Spirit of the West's Hugh McMillan and Saltspring fiddler Zavallennahh (Zav) Rokerby-Thomas - or Jaime RT as she used to be known.
Eliza Carthy is the daughter of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and is rightly hailed as a stalwart member of England's "First Family of Folk."
Yet Eliza has forged her own career, demonstrating a versatility that's as unique as it is impressive.
She has recorded albums of traditional songs, original pop songs, original songs and tunes in traditional style, traditional songs zapped through a blender of the most contemporary arrangements and instrumentation, led a fine Ceilidh band, and collaborated with such esteemed musicians as Billy Bragg, Van Dyke Parks, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and many more.
She is married to a B.C. lad, Aidan Curran, whose parents moved to Victoria from Newcastle Upon Tyne many years ago.
Earlier this year Eliza had her first baby, and she's bringing the granddaughter to see her B.C. family in November.
She'll make a rare concert appearance at the Rogue on Bonfire Night, November 5.
Since her last visit she's released an impressive CD combining all the elements of her musical versatility - Dreams Of Breathing Underwater.
Details of all these shows - and much more - can be found on the Rogue Folk website www.roguefolk.bc.ca.
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