Dream Café patrons are going to get a look at a different facet of legendary Canadian guitarist Paul Pigat when he arrives for a show June 14.
Last year, Pigat and his band Cousin Harley released a tribute to one of the greats of western music with their album Blues Smoke, the songs of Merle Travis.
“It’s very, very much on the hillbilly, western swing side of stuff we’ve been doing lately,” said Pigat. Alter-ego Cousin Harley started out, he explained, as a way to separate all his different projects, but now they’re all mashed together.
“Cousin Harley doesn’t wear overalls … all day long like he used to,” said Pigat. “Cousin Harley is, for lack of a better term, kind of a hot rod hillbilly. It’s a power trio, as most of my combos are. I don’t like having more than three or four people on stage.
“According to people we are the Motorhead of rockabilly and we’re Canada’s premier rockabilly band. I did not say that, but other people have said that.”
The concert at the Dream Café will be a little softer and quieter, falling under his Boxcar Campfire monicker.
“It will be Cousin Harley’s band, but we will be doing a quieter set. We can’t unleash all the horses at the Dream. It would be way too loud,” said Pigat.
“Every time we play the Dream, we try and keep it a little bit more western swingy, a little bit light. I’m doing another solo record soon and the guys have been gracious enough to learn a bunch of tunes off that record so we’ll be doing acoustic stuff as well.”
Pigat said he’s always played a range of musical styles, growing up in the 80s playing hard rock, then studying classical music at university and later moving west and playing swing and bebop.
“I’ve done everything from backing up yodelers to classical quartets,” said Pigat, who said that range is key to his long career in music.
“First of all, having diversity is important but also keeping yourself interested is important. I think if I only played one style of music, I would be getting pretty bored pretty fast,” said Pigat. Cousin Harley, he added, is just his hillbilly persona.
“There’s a little bit of Johnny Rotten, there’s a little bit of Hank Williams and there’s a little bit Dizzy Gillespie. It doesn’t fit into any one category too well,” said Pigat. “It’s not a run-of-the-mill kind of everyday thing that you hear all the time, and that’s what I like about it. It’s unique and then hopefully it’s adding something to music that’s been around for a very long time.
“It’s by no means the traditional way of playing this music. That’s important because otherwise it just becomes a historical art form and it dies.”
Pigat is by no means a stranger to the Dream Café, having played there many times over the years and being a key participant in the Dream Music Festivals.
“The people are great, the audience is fantastic. I’ve got to know so many people that come out every time I play there, regardless if it’s with Jim Byrnes or with Michael Kaeshammer or the Sojourners or with Cousin Harley,” said Pigat. “I think the more you collaborate, the fresher you are. That’s always the driving force with me, to keep this interesting. A lot of people can stall out when you do this for a living for a long time.
“Having collaborations like that is really important because it just gives you an opportunity to make music and have a conversation with someone else.”
Steve Kidd Senior reporter, Penticton Western News Email me or message me on Facebook Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
