Howdy folks! This weekend I’m playing at a nice new live music cafe on Saturday afternoon called Cornerstone Music Cafe.  It’s in Deer Run, Southeast Calgary….you just take Deerfoot to Bow Bottom trail, turn left onto Canyon Meadows, and turn into the Sobey’s parking lot.  It’s just a few doors down from the Sobey’s.   I’m playing solo, and it’s a small room, so it’ll be a nice cozy show for sure.  14919 Deer Ridge Drive SE. No cover charge – and you can get a nice break from doing the Saturday afternoon running around.  I start at 3:30 and play until 5:30.

In other news,  I’ve started working with a new guitarist who came over for a first rehearsal last night.   Brad Perrin (who plays occasionally with Allen Christie) is a lead guitar player who also plays mandolin, dobro and pedal steel.  And he can sing too!  The best part is he’s keen to work all the instruments into our upcoming shows.  We’re starting regular rehearsals to get ready for several upcoming shows, and of course a busy Stampede week.

Meanwhile, I’m continuing to take my vocal/performance coaching with Brian Farrell.  Last week he and I talked a lot about repertoire.  He thinks that story songs suit me well…i.e. since I’m a good articulator (most people can make out the words when I sing), that this lends well to the story-song format.  So anyway, he’s suggested a few doozies, such as Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry, which I’ve been working on all week.  It’s a little like learning Harper Valley PTA  because there are just mouthfuls of words to cram into each line, and it’s not all even, so it takes a while to find the fit.  The intriguing story of that song is really cool. I also recently learned American Pie – it’s not in my classic country kind of vein, I know, but I just really like the song, and love the story/metaphors woven into it.    It’s fun to take songs like that and then when you sing them, you get to make them fresh again.   Learning really unique cover tunes like that also inspires me in my own writing.

You know, most of the covers I’ve done (I think almost all of them) have come from people at my shows saying “you should learn this”!  While not all of them are a fit, many, many of them are.  If you have any ideas for me, let me know.  I write, but I also love to learn new tunes.   Hope to see you Saturday!

Jacq