From Corin Raymond: ...urges anyone whos been THINKING about coming to Hughs Room for Jonathan Byrds show in Toronto this Thursday to do it. Cease all internal dialogue, call (416) 531-6604, and book it. Tickets are $20 in advance and the evening youll get for your $20 will keep you inspired the rest of this year and beyond. Youll likely get in by showing up on Thursday (Hughs Room allows for standing room well after its sold out) but its safer to call. (A reminder that Jonathans new record, You Cant Outrun the Radio, which wont be released until the fall and is available only on this tour, will love you long after Thursday is gone.) I especially urge you to make this happen because last Thursday I saw his band The Pickup Cowboys. Not only that, I got to play with them. I feel at a loss to describe The Pickup Cowboys - who Jonathans been playing/touring with in the States for four years but has never brought to Canada till now - despite the fact that they accompanied me last week in Owen Sound. Paul Ford (originally from California) and Johnny Waken (originally from Pennsylvania - theses days they both live near Jonathan in North Carolina) are a magic combination. Meeting them, playing with them, I felt the same thing I did when I first met the Byrd: that my life had changed. That knowing these fellas was gonna have a benevolent impact on my adventures for years to come. Its the first time Paul Ford (who alternately bows and uses the cello as an upright bass) or Johnny Waken (a secret-weapon of a player who moves from electric guitar to mandolin, harmonica, washboard, or saw, depending on the moment, and who provides textures as much as parts) have even been IN Canada. Ive heard Jonathan talk about them many times but until now, they were just an idea. I think of the difference between hearing about Jonathan Byrd and SEEING Jonathan Byrd, and its the same difference. Johnny Waken will be accompanying myself and Brian Kobayakawa for our opening set this Thursday. Chris Bartos, who produced and plays every instrument on The Law and the Lonesome (another mercurial, other-worldly creature of music) will join the boys for Jonathans show. Ive seen over a hundred Jonathan Byrd shows. Weve written 6 songs and clocked roughly fifty thousand miles together. Weve become friends. Ive been a friend and a fan of Jonathan Byrd for 8 years - and he STILL has the power to rewrite what I think about him. To dismantle my admiration and put it back together bigger than it was before. His new show did that: it just gets better every time I see him. His band did that: Paul Ford and Johnny Waken have been playing together for twenty years - add four years of J Byrd and you get what youll see Thursday night. His new album did that: You Cant Outrun the Radio eclipses everything hes done. Its gonna live forever. This is not a short status. To hell with short statuses. This is the post this band, and this show, deserve. This Thursday, April 10th. Scott Cook is flying in to take my usual roost at The Cameron House from 6-8 pm, where hell be accompanied by Brian MacMillan and Scott Galloway. I know those boysll be heading straight over to Hughs Room where theyll likely catch most of my 830 pm set. No reason someone who wasnt playing the gig couldnt easily catch all of both shows. 830 at Hughs Room. Ill do half an hour. Jonathanll do an hour and a half. Jonathan wont be back to Ontario for about a year. For a taste of this band Ive been paragraphing about, heres a twenty-minute set they did in Overton County, Tennessee, at Hippie Jacks. Just listen to the first song, Pickup Cowboy. (I say this the same way I might say, Let me just read you the prologue of Something Wicked This Way Comes... just let me tell you how it starts... Pickup Cowboy begins at the thirty-second mark. What a song. What a band. What a show this is gonna be.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 20:38:27 +0000
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