Canadian folk legend Valdy has toured with just about everyone and everything, from a jug band to the punk priestess of classical bassoon, Nadina Mackie Jackson.
Having just wrapped up a tour with Jackson and pianist Karel Roessingh in the Central- Interior, billed as Valdy to Vivaldi, Folk to Baroque, Valdy is about to head south to the Okanagan, this time to embark on his annual tour with his longtime stage mate and friend, Gary Fjellgaard.
The two Gulf Islanders – Valdy lives on Salt Spring while Fjellgaard is on Gabriola – have known each other for like ever, but only started touring together in 1998.
What started as a couple of shows in Alberta has turned into two albums (The Contenders I and II) and an annual tour that has been a part of the Okanagan landscape for the past 13 years.
“We decided to make a career out of it,” laughed Valdy, when reached by The Morning Star.
What started as a fundraiser for the now defunct George Ryga Centre, an artist retreat housed in the late playwright/writers’ former home in Summerland, has continued as a way to keep Ryga’s memory alive, said Valdy.
“He is still a hero of the downtrodden and the disenfranchised. He represented people who didn’t have a voice and is still relevant today when you look at cases of the missing Aboriginal women and the Highway of Tears,” said Valdy, who also credits the tour’s producer Ken Smedley for bringing the men back year after year.
“We have made pals up and down the Valley, so of course we are going to continue. We also have some new material we want to work out.”
Valdy calls Fjellgaard the poster boy for touring.
“He’s 77 years old now and just recently took up the mandolin,” he said. “He does it all and still has some good years ahead of him.”
Valdy is no slouch either.
Besides those recent shows with his classical counterparts, he continues to play folk troubadour all over Canada. This past summer, he teamed up with Fjellgaard to perform at the Canterbury Folk Festival in Ingersoll, Ont., then a series of concerts in Nova Scotia, including the Maritime Acoustic Festival in Kempt Shore.
“Gary flew and I drove,” said Valdy, adding he never draws up his set list until he gets to the gig.
“I like to feel out the ambience of the show before I make the set list.”
Okanagan audiences can be sure that there will be songs from The Contenders I and II as well as some of the boys’ solo works, plus that new material Valdy has been hinting at.
“We are planning to do one more album, with just us, expected to come out in the spring. We are taking our time to do it and I have been making a day trip from Salt Spring to Gabriola to work on the music,” he said.
In the meantime, audiences can hear some of that new material, some old favourites, and the friendly and funny banter that exists between two guys who have more than a few road stories to tell. They hit the dusty trail starting Halloween, with three performances in the North Okanagan as part of their tour.
They are at Lorenzo’s Café in Ashton Creek, Oct. 31. Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and the show is at 8 p.m. Call 250-838-6700 for reservations. They play the Zion United Church Hall in Armstrong, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are at Chocoliro in Armstrong. Call 250-546-2886. They also play the Okanagan College Vernon campus theatre, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are at The BookNook in Vernon. Call 250-558-0668.
