Tag Archive for 'Edmonton Folk Festival'

Luke Doucet: A champion storyteller

Luke Doucet performing the song “Broken One” at the Indie studios.

The year is 1973 - the last model year for “vintage” White Falcons. CSNY have reunited for the Human Highway tour. Shortly after the release of Randy Newman’s “Sail Away”, Luke Doucet is born in Halifax, NS.

They say a good writer writes what he knows. Some people spend years on the road collecting tales and trading licks enough to give their words weight and their music depth, but Luke need not look further than to his own family for inspiration and for all the notes to tell the tales.

More on Luke Doucet including upcoming show dates

Serena Ryder

Serena Ryder is just 24. But her voice, a deep, bluesy, soulful instrument that has drawn comparisons to Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, makes her sound much older. She also appears wise beyond her years, blessed with an intelligence and confidence that came across in her songs on Unlikely Emergency, her critically acclaimed independent album. She’s definitely an old soul. Ryder’s extraordinary major-label debut, If Your Memory Serves You Well, involves no time-traveling or reincarnation. But it does feature the native of Millbrook, Ontario covering vintage Canadian songs-some of them written more than 70 years before she was born-with remarkable authority. From Shelton Brooks’ “Some of These Days,” recorded by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday,” to Percy Faiths’ “My Heart Cries for You,” previously recorded by Ray Charles and Ben E. King, Ryder sings with enough passion and conviction to make them her own. She delivers a stunning rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy” and a scorching version of “This Wheel’s on Fire,” which Bob Dylan co-wrote with The Band’s Rick Danko. Continue reading ‘Serena Ryder’




Close
Powered by ShareThis