Alberta roots musician Tim Hus, possibly on his way to a gig at the much-missed A Bar Named Sue

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The Sue is Dead! Long Live the Sue! with The United Steel Workers of Montreal, Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir & Ramblin' Ambassadors
Marquee Room
Sunday, March 29 - Sunday, March 29

More in: Folk / Country

Like a splinter from the authentic grain-bin boards screwed to its walls, Calgary’s A Bar Named Sue worked its way into the hearts of music fans Canada-wide from its opening in May 2005 to its demise in April 2008. Alberta country musician Tim Hus, who suggested the bar’s name and played the first and last songs ever on Sue’s stage, as well all three anniversary shows and uncountable gigs between, remembers goading his college friend Brad Bianchin into opening the Sue. Hus moved to Calgary to play in real country bars, only to find places with names like Cowboys and Coyote’s were glorified Top 40 clichés. “It didn’t take long to figure out that since Brad was a fan of Clint Eastwood and Johnny Cash and was looking to open a bar, he should just move to Calgary, fill a niche, and open one. That way, Brad could fulfil his dream of owning a bar, the two of us could hang out and I would have a ‘real’ country bar to play in,” Hus recalls.

Bianchin put his Nanaimo house up for sale and was sleeping on Hus’s couch while the two looked for a suitable bar space, growing discouraged at the lack of affordable venues. A year earlier, late bluesman Back Alley John turned up at one of Hus’s gigs just after being released from the hospital. He complimented Hus on how great the music made him feel. When Bianchin and Hus saw that Back Alley John was playing at a Calgary bar called The Duke, they decided to go see him. Once inside, Bianchin recognized the bar from a real estate listing he had seen online and bought it the next day. Hus and Bianchin then drove to an old homestead south of Calgary to pry boards from its silos to screw into the floors and walls at the Sue, and built the stage and bar together. “We used to work on [the Sue] in the daytime and then sweep up all of the sawdust and put away the tools just in time for Brad to open at 5 p.m.,” he recalls.

Matt Masters is another musician with fond memories of the Sue, from his half-dozen gigs there to many nights hearing roots acts like New Brunswick’s The Divorcees, whom he and Hus agree were the best band ever to play the bar. His fondest memories, however, were of moments not for public consumption. “After watching Corb Lund and Hayes Carll at the Whiskey, I brought Hayes over to the Sue,” he says. “Greg Cockerill and Tom Phillips were hosting the night. Just as last call sounded, Corb came in. The door was locked, the drinks were served up and each of us did a couple of songs. It was pretty great.”

For Masters, the Sue’s legacy reached beyond music. “Calgarians are used to having a lot of space,” he says. “The Sue forced people into closer quarters than they were comfortable with, and in turn taught them to get comfortable with their neighbours, and quick. Those neighbours became friends, and the Sue, for its short run, contributed mightily towards making our community a better place.”

Pat MacEachern lived next door to the Sue. When he first laid eyes on the place, he thought: “Great! A shitty, small, slow neighbourhood pub that I can hang out at and not deal with crowds!” He became a regular there until Bianchin asked him if he wanted to bartend, gave him 10 minutes worth of training and turned him loose on a Saturday night. He worked there for two-and-a-half years.

MacEachern was tending bar when Masters, Carll and Lund played their after-hours party. It was the same day that the bar received notice it was being shut down. “A sad but great moment,” he says. “End of February 2008, I come in to open, and find our eviction letter. The landlord would not re-sign our lease, because we played live music and he lived upstairs, and it was too loud for him.” It was partly due to the eviction notice that MacEachern bent the rules and encouraged the after-hours jam.

He still sees regulars all over the place, and although he is a movie and television actor, most people recognize him as the Sue’s bartender. “Half the time, I don’t recognize them. Anyone who went to the Sue once considered themselves a regular.

“The Sue showed us that a bar does not stand on its design or décor, but on the people that own, run and perform at the place,” he continues. “The Sue was good people, good vibe, good music. One of the only places I knew of that you could go in by yourself and know that you would meet nice, friendly people and have a new friend by the end of the night.”

On Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, The Marquee Room will pay tribute to the bar with The Sue is Dead, Long Live The Sue!, featuring performances by Hus, Masters, The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir and plenty of other roots favourites.