I have a new lineup for my live trio and quartet, and we just completed a couple shows in Alberta.
The new lineup features Chris Quesnel on electric bass, Bob Blair on Pedal Steel and Lindsay Elizabeth Pratt on vocals. All of the new members are actively playing shows with numerous projects and have lengthy resumes. I’m tickled to be playing music with them!
The first show with a new lineup can be a bit daunting, as everyone gets familiar with song arrangements and works out their parts. It can be refreshing to listen to new members exploring musical ideas in songs that I’m accustomed to hearing slightly differently. I love that part of the process, as people always surprise me with new approaches. That said, there’s usually some point where I wonder if we’re ready to play or not. The key I’ve found is to just get a show in the rear view mirror. Playing that first gig typically helps solidify parts and tighten things up. Preferably, I like to do that at a venue where there isn’t too much pressure.
The venue I chose for this first gig was the River City Revival House. The venue is a friendly vintage “dive bar” underneath the historic Starlite Room in the heart of downtown Edmonton. The Starlite has been around for decades and, in years past I have played there with different bands. Of particular note, a record executive saw my band Idyl Tea play there back in the late 1980s and subsequently signed us to a major recording contract with Attic/A&M Records in 1990.
The concert was part of the ongoing “Big Tent” Concert Series at River City Revival House, which is curated by another veteran Edmonton musician, Sean Brewer. Sean heads up both The Brigadiers and The Uncas (among other bands) but also is a founding member of Edmonton’s emerging Tear in Your Beer Productions, who run a performance space at Edmonton’s Down By The River Festival.
Long story short, the show went off extremely well and mostly without a hitch. Plenty of friends and musician buddies were in the crowd and, at one point I invited my oldest friend, and former bandmate, Hank Engel onstage to sing a couple songs with me. I hate to admit it, but it was heart warming when a bunch of people immediately whipped out their phones to capture the moment on video.
With that first show behind us, we headed to Southern Alberta for an ELR Trio performance as part of the “Music in the Badlands” concert series at Unesco site Dinosaur Provincial Park. The landscape of this park is simply beyond compare and it is downright breathtaking when you suddenly descend from the picturesque green farmland of Alberta into amazing rock formations and hoodoos.
It was supposed to be an outdoor show but the clouds of mosquitoes convinced our promoter to move things to the indoor soft seat theatre. To continue with the car analogy, if the first gig was starting the engine and blowing out the carbon the second show definitely saw us firing on all cylinders. Chris was tight (as usual) but Bob Blair was on fire with a particularly inspired couple sets on Pedal Steel.
For my part, I played my first show to include nylon string guitar on a few songs, which was really satisfying. I’ve been wanting to integrate nylon string guitar into the live set for ages but the pickup system I had never really sounded up to snuff. Luckily, my friends at Acoustic Music Shop in Edmonton were able to install the recently released nylon string variant of the L.R. Baggs Anthem hybrid mic/transducer pick up system onto my guitar just prior to the gig. It sounded amazing especially . when paired with Bob’s pedal steel lines.
All in all a really great couple of shows. I’m looking forward to playing another show with this new lineup in Edmonton on August 27 where I will be performing a free show at Paul Kane Park.
Finally, I have recently set up a mailing list. If you want to receive occasional emails with behind the scenes videos, show announcements and early access to upcoming music and videos I highly recommend signing up! I will leave a link below. Emails are only occasional and I will never ever share your email.