I am really enjoying my travels with Doc...we are truly kindred spirits and dig the blues highway in many of the same ways. Naturally, our musical tastes are very similar, having studied the old-time stuff for so many years...there is a wonderful connection through the music that forges a strong bond.
We also both enjoy seeking out the remnants of an earlier time, when signmakers perched on scaffolds to paint huge ads on the sides of buildings.
We pass many tiny communities with businesses abandoned - hotels boarded up, restaurants long gone, maybe one gas station hanging on. Cruising around the downtown areas of Brandon and Moose Jaw, the evidence of boom days and the importance of the railway is reflected in the grand hotels and cafes.
The residential areas also retain some of the grand mansions built with money from the newly-emerging wealth of the prairies. Grain and a flood of immigrants built this immense, open, big-sky landscape. These days, in Saskatchewan, potash is the source of new wealth. No matter what keeps folks here, they are rooted firmly in the land, and family ties are evident everywhere we go.
Our music came from a very stark landscape. Anyone who has driven through the Mississippi delta has seen the wide, flat, dusty country where the blues grew up. In many ways, the prairies remind me of that southern scene.
Just heard on the news that the first big snowstorm has hit southern Alberta...we are in St. Albert tonight, then off to Red Deer, then points south and west....the adventure continues......
This tour is a true to heart blues show that pays homage to the building block's of the blues past. Have to mention our appreciation towards Docs diligent efforts with this tour yearly whilst bringing very high stature blues respect to our great Canadian music stages.St. Albert Alberta loves it.
ReplyDeleteMark Ammar
Tuesday Moosehead/Barsnbands Open Stage(EST March 2004)