Canadian folk artist Zachary Lucky is playing at the Arts Station on Sept. 20 as part of his current cross-Canada tour.
Lucky is known for his songwriting skills and his distinct old school folk style.
“I would call the style Americana. I’ve been called Canadiana, which is sort of a Canadian take on that. When you get down to the core of it, it’s probably the folk side of country music,” said Lucky. “Some of the stuff I’ve been doing feels like country music and then – not new country music, but what country music used to be, what it was conceived as. It’s still largely to me feels like folk music.”
Lucky added that he likes to wear a cowboy hat, which automatically associates him with country music. “I would say its cowboy hat folk music.”
The tour originally included many stops in the United States, but due to technical errors, those shows had to be cancelled. “It’s unfortunate, but sometimes things are beyond your control and you just got to go with it,” said Lucky. Although he took the necessary steps to earn the required work visas, the US government didn’t grant them in time for the tour dates. “Instead of cancelling the whole thing, we decided we would do the Canadian shows, even though it’s a bit of a hike to get out there.”
On Sept. 4, Lucky released a limited edition vinyl record with two songs, “ Copper Kettle” and “Dublin Blues”. The two songs were recorded last November after a show in Kelowna, and the record is aptly named Zachary Lucky Sings Copper Kettle and Dublin Blues.
“We got the chance to record the two songs. We had no intention of releasing them or anything of that sort. We did them live off of the floor, kind of very old school, recorded to tape and completely analog – it ended up sounding pretty cool so we decided to out them out on a little seven inch record,” Lucky said. The tour isn’t specifically in honour of the new album, as Lucky will be playing new material as well as older songs.
As for what to expect from the Fernie show, Lucky says that every show is different and he likes to appeal to the crowd and the venue atmosphere. “Every night is different. It kind of depends on the venue and the audience and how things are going,” said Lucky. “I kind of like to play the audience, and see how it’s feeling. Some nights you just want to keep playing and some nights I’ll do that, if we’re all on the same page.”
Lucky will take the stage next Sunday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets to Lucky’s show are $20 and can be purchased at the Arts Station, Freshies, or online at www.eventbrite.ca.
