>>PREVIEW
HIGHWATER JUG BAND
February 16 and 17
Ironwood Stage
If the February blahs make you feel like you’ve forgotten how to smile, then let the Highwater Jug Band be your umbrella. Hmm, that didn’t come out just right, but that’s what the band’s self-titled first album does for people – it makes you feel a little goofy, and before you know it, you’re smiling.
The band may be an Alberta supergroup with Tim Williams, John Rutherford, Mark Sadlier-Brown, Suitcase James, Dan Tapanila and Cedric Blary joining forces with various clarinets, banjos, washboards, jugs, ukuleles, guitars and squeaky-toys, but there is nothing thunderous or pretentious about their music. It doesn’t matter if a black-ice blizzard lines your roadway all the way to your soon-to-be-ex-lover’s house on the day after you got fired, when you hear these 12 tracks, you will smile. Titles like "Laundromat Blues" and "My Ukulele Helps Me Beat the Blues" hint at the band’s fun musical approach.
Blame the disc’s creation on a couple of beers at the famed Alberta Sessions in Ottawa two years ago, where the musicians re-connected amidst their usually separate and busy touring schedules. "We came to a point where we were offered some festivals and people began asking us if we had any CDs and so we went into the studio and cut two tracks. We enjoyed it so much and they were so easy to do and ended up sounding so good and people had such a great response that we went in the studio to do some more at our earliest convenience," explains Williams. "When you record the way this was recorded, live in a room with a minimum of overdubs, there is not a lot of mixing and production that has to happen."
Jug is a form of music that began during Derby week in Kentucky, with bands of roving musicians entertaining by making music on just about anything they could carry. Williams first heard the genre on his old 78 records, and the other Highwater boys had encountered it on their numerous musical journeys. The band demonstrated its mastery of the tradition last year while playing a central Alberta festival when the power went out. "We just kept playing, and the audience got it right away and quieted down so they could still hear everything. We did (three songs) before the power went back on, and everyone was cheering."
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