Birds chirp, strings are strummed and gently picked. “Love grows older, then love grows colder,” croons a melancholy Ryan Boldt to open his debut solo record, Broadside Ballads. Continue reading “Ryan Boldt – Broadside Ballads”
A voice is calling from… The Deep Dark Woods
by Sheldon Birnie
Deep in the heart of the Canadian prairies, thousands of miles from the Mississippi River Delta or the Appalachian mountains, Ryan Boldt answers phone call from Stylus on a windy spring day. On a short break between tours, the principal singer and songwriter behind the Deep Dark Woods is enjoying the Stanley Cup Playoffs before heading deep into the States for another string of gigs. Continue reading “A voice is calling from… The Deep Dark Woods”
Hillbilly Highway – Couple big releases rocking the road
by Sheldon Birnie
Sometimes life has a way of flying by out here on the Highway at what seems like a thousand miles an hour. There’s no time to smell the roses from the passing lane, friends. But luckily, there are some good tunes dropping out here to keep the gas pedal pinned. Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – Couple big releases rocking the road”
Hillbilly Highway – Prairie Roots Revue rolls into Winnipeg
by Sheldon Birnie
On Monday, December 12, four prairie songwriters will descend on the Park Theatre to pick some tunes for all of y’all. The Prairie Roots Revue is cruising the Highway from Saskatoon to Winnipeg, then back across Saskatchewan, hitting smaller towns like Dauphin, Gravelbourg, and Swift Current along side larger centers like the ‘Peg. Continue reading “Hillbilly Highway – Prairie Roots Revue rolls into Winnipeg”
Hillbilly Highway – Back on the Nowhere Road
There is a road that stretches back in time, back beyond the interweb, beyond compact discs, cassette tapes, vinyl records and gramophones. It winds between hills and hollers, follows riverbanks and lakeshores deep into the woods and across tall grass prairie. It picks up from quays and travels back across seas, crossing itself time and again in backwater voids, where wind whips dead branches against nothing and scavenger birds craw out in vain.
This is the same road Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam sang about in the 80s, same road the Boss, and Dylan before him. Before them all, Hank Williams sang about this Lost Highway. The sands of time have largely obscured the names of those who sang about it before ol’ Hank, but their numbers are legion and their ghosts walk the road still.
This is the Lost Highway, the Thunder Road, Highway 51, Route 23. The Hillbilly Highway, the Nowhere Road. The low road. Maybe you’re walking it now, following your dreams up and down Pembina Highway or Portage Avenue, Highway One or 17.
I been on many of these roads, myself. I just cruised down a gooder: west on provincial Highway 2, with a south turn at Holland onto 34. 34 hits a stop at 3, then heads west again to 3A. Now you’re in country country.
The tiny village of Clearwater, MB has hosted the perennial Harvest Moon Festival for the past ten years. Formed as “a celebration of the harvest season, local food production, the area’s rich cultural heritage, and the bond between rural and urban folks,” the festival is like no other in Manitoba. A strong community dedicated to surviving against the economic and political forces that are draining people and money from the prairies, Clearwater is itself a beacon of potential for any community struggling to remain viable in the 21st century.
And the music is fucking good too. Highlights, for me, this year were the Deep Dark Woods, CKUW favourite Greg MacPherson and Ridley Bent’s Good Looking Country Band. Each delivered to-notch performances in weather bordering on frigid. Many other acts performed throughout the days, including Bog River and the Reverend Rambler, names to look for on the hillbilly highway in the months and years to come.
Keep your eyes on the road. It has a way of winding somewhere strange.
– Sheldon Birnie