Armed with friends and accomplished artists like Barney Bentall and Shari Ulrich, Colin Nairne didn’t have to search far to design his bluegrass band.
Bentall, Ulrich, Angela Harris, Wendy Bird Rob Becker, Eric Reed and Nairne cram onto stages together as the High Bar Gang to play “classic bluegrass for modern times.” Appropriately dressed in their “cowboy suits.”
“Traditionally in bluegrass bands you wear a suit. Barney has suits, but I thought there was no way I was getting the other guys to wear one. I phoned up Sheplers western wear in Kansas City and they sent us a box of cheap, polyester cowboy suits that were made in China and don’t fit anybody,” Nairne said. “They don’t know how to make clothes to fit human beings. The thing is you know what everyone will be wearing that night, there is no worrying about if this shirt looks cool.”
Beyond the cheap suits, each member of the High Bar Gang brings substance and depth delivering their interpretation of some of the greatest classic and contemporary gospel, bluegrass, traditional country and Appalachian folk songs.
“We have Angela Harris and Wendy Bird who sound amazing together and then we have Shari Ulrich and the three sound insane together. So we ended up with this unwieldy band, but who do you take out of it? It doesn’t make any sense so we just decided on this huge giant group,” said Nairne, who is a longtime member of Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts.
Unsure of how a crowd would react to them, Nairne said it was in 2010 a very nervous High Bar Gang took the stage at an Eagles Club. It was their first gig and the venue catered mostly to meetings of the Ladies Auxiliary and community award ceremonies. The perfect sized venue, said Nairne, and had a bar where the drinks were priced just right.
“Our good friend Tom Taylor agreed to open the show, giving us the piece of mind that if we failed miserably he could come back onstage and play for the folks while we snuck out the back,” said Nairne.
They made it through unscathed and the songs they chose, with the help of Ry Cooder, ended up on Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion record. It earned a 2014 Juno Award nomination.
“I keep a really tight fist on what we are doing and it is kind of the bluegrass way. You can imagine with seven fairly strong personalities it is going to get all over the map and I have a fairly clear vision of how I want this to go. I am so lucky that the people in the band surrender to my vision,” said Nairne of how he manages to keep sane with that many people involved.
The seven of them hunkered down at Bentall’s Bowen Island house to capture a performance to put on the record. It was recorded live off the floor in his living room.
“There was very few microphones, we were all standing in a semi-circle and we would just start playing. It’s very old-school and I don’t think there is any doubt people are looking to the past to invigorate their ears in terms of listening to music,” said Nairne. “We are about as far away as you can get from Rihanna or Katy Perry, and this is no reflection on their talent, but it is very produced.”
“There is something very spectacular about a group of people playing acoustic instruments and just hearing them like they were in your living room and that is what we captured with that record. Except they are taken right into Barney’s living room,” said Nairne.
Nairne remains steadfast in keeping with his initial vision. This album was designed specifically as a gospel record and he has plans for the next two already. The follow up being a “cheating and hurting” songs album.
“I think the next one will be recorded at Barney’s ranch. It is two old log homes from the 1880s put together and you play in the living room and it sounds absolutely, stupidly good,” said Nairne. “People will hear some of the songs that I have picked for that album on this tour. I added a new song to each singers’ repertoire and they are great.”
The High Bar Gang play two nights at the Dream Café on April 18 and 19. Doors open at 6 p.m. and show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40.
