Golden Star Staff
Blues musician Jim Byrnes comes to the Golden Civic Centre this Saturday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Described as a gifted and soulful musician and songwriter, Byrnes plays a variety of genres from gospel to rockabilly, and everything in between.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Byrnes was inspired by the music and culture that flows through the city. He began playing guitar and singing at 13 years old, and has become a master musician.
The Jim Byrnes Band became a cornerstone of the local blues scene in Vancouver, after he moved there in the mid 1970s. Byrnes won the Juno Award for blues album of the year three times, for his albums That River in 1996, House of Refuge in 2007, and Everywhere West in 2011. He was also honoured at the 2006 Maple Blues Awards as male vocalist of the year. In 2006 and 2009, the Canadian Folk Music Awards recognized him as contemporary singer of the year.
A Canadian double threat, Byrnes is also an actor as well as a musician. He has acted on numerous television shows since the late 1980s. In his first role, he began appearing on Wiseguy, an American crime drama. From there, he began working on the Highlander series, and has voiced many cartoons including Beast Wars: Transformers, X-Men: Evolution, and more.
Byrnes began creating albums in 1981, and has 10 solo albums. The most recent, St. Louis Times, came out in 2014. It is described as his most personal album, and reminisces about his childhood home.
Byrnes has an “inimitably smoky and instantly recognizable voice,” and has played to audiences all over North America and Europe.
Tickets to see Byrnes are available at the box office at the Art Gallery of Golden, or at the door on the night of the concert at the Civic Centre.
