The last years have obviously not been great for live music and I for one am itching to go to a live show again and have a good time. So it’s welcome news for fans of live music, good times and fans of Canada’s legendary roots-rock group Blackie and The Rodeo Kings.
The band is taking a 25th-anniversary tour, and they’re making a stop here in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom on February 10th, 2022 with guests Digging Roots.
The supergroup consists of members Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson, and what I think is cool about this band is that they started in 1996, with each of the band members already being a solo artist, they initially only planned to release a one-off tribute album to Canadian singer-songwriter Willie P. Bennett, called” High or Hurtin’”.
The album ended up being very well received by both fans of the individual artists and fans of Bennett, and in 1999 they released their Juno winning follow-up album Kings of Love.
The group have continued making music since then and 8 albums and several more Juno Nominations later they’re celebrating their 25th-year milestone.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CVx922nvZRf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
It’s cool to see how a group can come together for a one-off and end up being so good that they can stick around for 20+ years and I also like that each of the band members has also continued pursuing their own solo work and exploring their own styles during that time.
I also think it’s really cool to see how Linden, Fearing and Wilson are all highly esteemed musicians and artists not just in Canada but also in the US.
Linden not only being an accomplished musician but also as a producer, arranger and engineer for a multitude of artists in Canada and the US. He even worked on shows like Nashville. Stephen Fearing has worked with artists like Emmy Lou Harris, Nick Lowe, City and Colour Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn and touring globally while doing it. Tom Wilson was the founder of rock group Junkhouse before BARK and he’s also the brain behind the psychedelic folk group Lee Harvey Osmond. He’s also a best-selling author and painter. My point is the trio are all TITANS of folk and when you get them together it’s magic.
Their guest performers sound really cool as well, Digging Roots are a Juno Award-winning Canadian group made up of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish. Their music is a blend of genres like folk-rock, blues, hip hop and pop and I think this is probably going to be a really cool concert to kick off 2022 with.
You can find ticket info here.