A man with a number of Juno awards under his belt and a passion to bring community together with his music will play at Bacchus Books and Café this Saturday.
Bill Bourne says the core of his music is blues, but there is often elements of folk, world-beat, cajun, celtic, folk, flamenco, funk, poetry and more in his songs.
Bourne, who now lives in Edmonton, was raised in a musical family in rural Alberta. When he was 2 years old, he was known to sleep behind the piano at country dances where his parents played dance music in community halls.
Blues, Bourne believes, has deep roots in Alberta and all of North America.
“If you go listen to blues in Europe, something about it is different,” said Bourne, referring to a certain formality to the music. “Blues is so much more natural here in North America.”
This, Bourne believes, is partly due to the fact that the rhythm of blues is directly related to powwow rhythms—“rhythms of the land.”
“If you were born in North America, you’ve been listening to blues, or some form of blues, since you were a baby.”
Bourne is looking forward to his upcoming western tour. He hopes people will dance. He believes music has a power to heal, and he also hopes people leave the show with some sense of that.
“I love to be in the moment with music. I love to be open to the creativity of the moment where very unique and surprising things can occur,” said Bourne. “That’s one of my favourite parts of live music, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Bourne will be selling his new record, Free Radio Dance Band, at the event, which will be re-released in May through Linus Entertainment. The recording is a departure for Bourne, delving into a more intense electric blues sound than any previous recording he has released. The project also marks the first recording session where Bill collaborates with his son, Pat, and the original album artwork was painted by Bourne’s daughter, Emily.
Bourne will be playing at Bacchus Books on Saturday, March 26th. Tickets are $20 and there are only 50 available.
