>>PREVIEW
SHARI ULRICH, LENNIE GALLANT, WIL, TOM WILSON, JIMMY RANKIN and DIVINE BROWN
Saturday, January 28
Ironwood Stage and Grill
Juno Award-winning songwriter Shari Ulrich never knows exactly how Bluebird North, the cross-Canadian songwriters’ tour, is going to turn out. But when artists like Ulrich and co-host Lennie Gallant are onstage with a diverse selection of songwriters, Ulrich does know there will be marvellous music, magic and memories. The concept of Bluebird North is modelled on the legendary songwriters’ circles of Nashville’s Bluebird Café.
"The audience members might have one or two people they are familiar with that they would go see, and then they get exposed to the other people who are on the tour. Plus there is the chemistry between people onstage that develops. I just never know if it’s going to work; however, it always does," Ulrich says of her fourth Bluebird North tour, speaking from her home on Bowen Island. "It’s never something I could explain or predict, the magic of creativity in this whole other forum."
Although the musicians vary during the dozen shows in 11 cities on this year’s tour, Ulrich says that intimacy and spontaneity have been staples in the past. In addition to the hosts, Tom Wilson of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings will join Calgary’s own Wil, who was a darling of the Calgary Folk Music Festival a few years back.
Rhythm and blues singer Divine Brown will throw in a twist of styles, as will Jimmy Rankin, as he enjoys his post-Rankin Family career. Even Ulrich’s 15-year-old daughter Julia has joined the tour in the past, throwing in her talents on violin, and she may turn up again.
"There are so many great writers in Canada that it’s nice to be able to spread the talent around," Ulrich says. |
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