Young folk singers Jonathan Byrd from North Carolina and Corin Raymond from Ontario will perform Thursday at a house concert in Merville.
House concerts are warm and intimate and with a limited audience you will have ample opportunity to meet the musicians or chat with a neighbour. All proceeds go to the performers.
Byrd, from Chapel Hill, N.C., is heavily connected to musicians and songwriters in the American South.
His most recent release (Cackalack) has been in the top 25 on the Americana charts in the U.S. for five weeks running and his next album is already in the can.
This album features Grant Siemens (Corb Lund’s guitar player), Alexa Dirks and Andrina Turenne (members of twice-nominated Juno winners Chic Gamine), the impeccable Joanna Miller on drums (who plays most often with Scott Nolan), and Rej Rejean of Winnipeg band the Windups on electric bass.
The Chicago Tribune named Jonathan in a list of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years, sharing the list with Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, John Prine, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell and Townes Van Zandt.
Grammy Award winner Tim O’Brien cut a song that he and Byrd wrote together last year. It’s the first track on O’Brien’s new album and he performed it at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville last July.
Says Raymond of his travelling partner, “Jonathan Byrd is the single best singer/songwriter I’ve met. Period.”
Raymond is a Toronto-based singer/songwriter whose new record is atop the European Americana charts.
His new record There Will Always Be A Small Time is personal and charming and he has pulled in a stellar group of bandmates into the studio. His influences include Tom Waits, Kris Kristofferson and Bruce Springsteen, and his presentation on stage shows it.
They have played sold-out concerts in Winnipeg and in Saskatoon. Together, they have toured east of the Rockies and in the U.S. six times. This is their first foray into B.C.
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. after doors open at 7. Seating is limited and a recent Shari Ulrich concert sold out quite quickly. Tickets are $15 (youth $12) and you can get all the information from Craig at 250-339-4249 or seabankmars@shaw.ca.
— Merville house concerts
