{"id":12496,"date":"2023-06-30T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12496"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:10:30","slug":"concert-review-winnipeg-folk-fest-richard-inman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/06\/30\/concert-review-winnipeg-folk-fest-richard-inman\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert Review :: Winnipeg Folk Fest :: Richard Inman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

*as we gear up for this years Winnipeg Folk Festival we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our highlights from last year!*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Myles Tiessen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday afternoon, nestled in the far back reaches of the Winnipeg Folk Festival grounds, Richard Inman performed a set as thoughtful and pensive as his reflective songwriting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The decision to open the set with \u201cCut Fences (Let God Sort Em Out),\u201d one of his most dismal songs about a rancher saving his horses during a forest fire, instantly threw you into Inman\u2019s world of cowpokes, trucks, sin, and ultimately, redemption. \u201cGood luck, godspeed to all you fine mounts\/ Better than burn in here with me,\u201d sang Inman to a mid-sized crowd already in tears.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inman\u2019s performance was casual and meditative. Joined only by Ryan Funk on pedal steel, the small band led kindly to slower renditions of his higher tempo tracks. Without its full-throttle zip, \u201cRed River Racer\u201d displayed Inman\u2019s eagle-eyed lyrics and unique vocal croon. The song\u2019s affection still got some of the crowd on their feet, but instead for a raucous barn burner, it became a wistful couple\u2019s slow dance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the audience paid heed to Inman\u2019s outlaw country songs, he, in turn, made humorous small talk and mostly provided insights into his lyrics and ad-libs on booze and gambling. Inman joked about slipping on the Indigenous Music Countdown chart and between songs, got audience members to check the live updates on the charts, and was surprised when he was still near the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While his mournful vocals would have been enough on their own to hold the crowd\u2019s attention through the entire hour-long set, Inman created space for Amber Nielsen of Sweet Alibi to join him for duets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together they cycled through some Inman originals and mixed in a few tracks from their collaborative project, Fortune Block. Their rendition of \u201cHotdogs (In Heaven)\u201d off the 2022 album Might As Well Stay Home<\/em> was an exquisite display of both songwriters\u2019 capabilities. \u201cI sure hope there\u2019s hotdogs in heaven\/ Ballpark franks and Kurt Cobain,\u201d they sing in glorious harmony. The John Prine indebted songwriting showed the duo\u2019s ability to mix the bitter experiences of life with a gleeful, playful tone. \u201cIf there ain\u2019t hotdogs in heaven\/ Guess I\u2019m just shit outta luck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The set came to an end with \u201cClean.\u201d As someone who seems to have taken up residency at the fateful crossroads, Inman\u2019s songs about addictions, broken love, and the consequences of a rambling life strike a sensitive chord in the soul of anyone searching and longing for something greater than themselves. \u201cFalling in love is like going insane\/ This must be the devil\u2019s dream\/ Standing out here in the pouring rain\/It\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve been clean,\u201d sang Inman and Nielsen before the crowd departed in profound, contemplative silence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*as we gear up for this years Winnipeg Folk Festival we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our highlights from last year!* by Myles Tiessen On Saturday afternoon, nestled in the far back reaches of the Winnipeg Folk Festival grounds, Richard Inman performed a set as thoughtful and pensive as his reflective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1461,1470,1106],"class_list":["post-12496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-concert-review","tag-richard-inman","tag-winnipeg-folk-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12498,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12496\/revisions\/12498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}