That title is actually a reference to one of my favorite songs, "Rain" by the wonderful Bill Bourne. Bill's history with Voyageur and Six String Nation goes way back. He used the guitar to lead 40 artists and thousands of fans for the traditional finale of the Edmonton Folk Festival in 2006 - a sing-a-long version of Ian & Sylvia's "Four Strong Winds". In 2009 he played his song "Pie & Ice Cream" on Edmonton's CITY TV Breakfast Television show with Voyageur. And some of our favorite portraits of all time are with Bill at the EFF and at the 2007 OCFF Conference in London ON.
So I was delighted when Bill got in touch last week and let me know he was coming to my neighborhood to do a show at Hugh's Room and, well, could Voyageur come out to play? Anything to put it in his talented hands!
It was a great night all around, starting with a brilliant opening set by the Selina Martin Triage but the special bonus was two additional guitarists playing with Bill - both long time friends of the project - Madagascar Slim and Pa Joe. Bill, Slim and Joe are all pictured in the book so a couple of audience members got all of their signatures as well as mine. Incidentally, this time, Bill (pictured, left) played "Voodoo King" with Voyageur and it sounded great supported by super tasty licks from Slim (R).
Thanks to Bill, Slim, Joe, Selina, Kevin Lacroix, Christian Hurst and Colin Puffer.
Posted at 11:47 PM