This is Valdy’s third time playing in Port Alberni and he’s changing everything up.
The first time the folk musician came here in 1967 and played a coffee shop.
Last year, he upgraded his venue choice to Char’s Landing and played to a packed audience on a Sunday afternoon.
This time, he’s doing an evening show at Char’s Landing on Friday, Dec. 5. Having had a great experience last time, he’s excited to be back.
“There was a wonderful house of people,” he said of his first performance at Char’s Landing.
He’s also looking forward to his first official Christmas show of the season, although he’s already been sneaking Christmas songs into his performances, he said.
Apart from Christmas tunes, show goers will get a sneak peek at what Valdy’s got in the works.
“Most people want to come and hear what I have done, songs that I have on the radio…but I like to put in some variety with newer things that I’ve written.”
Variety is the key to Valdy’s long career. He started touring in the 1970s with Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.
“They did the same show seven times in a row…identical shows, the only thing that change were their clothes. Same jokes, same moves, same songs, same order.”
Seeing how bored the band got from repeating an identical act, Valdy swore he’d change it up.
“Why would I pursue a career where I’m going to bore myself? So I’ve never done the same set and therefore it’s always new for me each gig.”
While he decides before each show what songs he’ll play, even going so far as to stick a list onto his guitar, it’s the mood of the room that dictates what he’ll play.
“Generally, I wing it.”
Clearly, that approach is working for Valdy, who still plays 140-160 shows every year along with having released 14 albums since 1972. Four of those albums have gone gold and he’s sold nearly half a million copies.
Varying the way he records his songs has kept the recording process just as fresh as touring.
“Sometimes a sparse recording for a song, sometimes getting really thick and either getting in an orchestra or getting heavy on synthesizers. That variety of application and music for the song is a challenge, because you don’t want to weigh it down so it doesn’t have life to it but you want to give it the best shot it has.”
He comes into the studio with a pretty specific idea of what he wants the song to sound like but once he’s there, he lets the players work their magic.
“I don’t tell players what to do, I ask them what they’d like to do. That way, I get their best ideas.”
Contrasting his busy tour schedule and recording schedule is his life on Saltspring Island. The Ottawa native moved out there in 1966. His family has had property on Saltspring Island since 1941, after his photographer father came out to the west coast to shoot for the Department on National Defence.
“Saltspring is a good spot, it’s a really good, inclusive community. People are allowed to live the life they want to, the way they want to.”
While Valdy makes his home on Saltspring, he’s in love with the whole west coast. “It’s just such a magical place…there’s a different attitude.”
Port Alberni has a bit of that attitude as well, he says.
“The town seems to be holding its own. It’s got a spirit of survival going on, with the mill going through its troubles and the real estate market doing what it was doing you’d expect a whole lot of people to bail, but they haven’t. They seem to like it and they’re going to hang in for the long haul.
“That spirit, I like that spirit about Port Alberni.”
Valdy plays at Char’s Landing on Friday, Dec. 5 from 8-10 p.m. Tickets are $30 at the door or $25 in advance at Gayle’s Fashions and the Rollin Art Centre. Ten per cent of proceeds will be donated to a Port Alberni charity of the ticket buyers’s choice. For more information, call 250-730-1636.
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