Yukon based folk/ blues singer Gordie Tentrees is looking forward to rocking Lethbridge with a full band, Aug. 31.
“The last time I was there, I had more of a mellow trio,” said Tentrees en route to Kamloops.
“It’s going to be nice to bring a rock show to Lethbridge. I haven’t done that for a couple years. We have the full band and I’m pretty excited about it, ” he continued.
The band has been on the road for the past four months and will be winding down their tour in Lethbridge.
“It’s been great. We’ve been to about eight countries,” he said.
His band includes his nephew Aiden Tentrees on upright bass, banjo/ pedal steel/ Telecaster Ken Hermanson and drummer Patrick Hamilton. hamilton and Aiden Tentrees have been performing with Gordie Tenttrees for the past six months while Hermanson has been playing with Tentrees for the past eight years.
“It’s kind of exciting. I’m like a kid again,” Gordie Tentrees said adding he took a lot of time looking for the right players for the band.
“This supports what’s been going on really well,” he said.
“It’s definitely a more agressive roots rock sound. So it‘s nice to do somehting a little more upbeat.
One of the highlights was playing Finland. They enjoyed it so much that they recorded a live album at one of their shows in Helsinki.
“ We do really well in Scandinavia, Sweden and Finland. People speak English there very well. And they love anything Canadian. We sound Candian and we look Canadian. Italy is different because a lot of them don’t speak really good English, so it is really neat to try and connect with audiences there, because I really like to tell stories. That’s what I really do,” he said.
“It’s neat, because we’re exotic over there, it’s like a band from Uganda coming to play Lethbridge.
“It is really a great experience playing over there,” he said adding they have made a lot of friends overseas and always get treated well when they come to play.
The new live CD, came about because they took advantage of a venue with outstanding recording equipment.
“ We played music from the first three albums and some we hadn’t recorded before,” he said.
He has many great memories of Southern Alberta , playing in Lethbridge and at the South Country Fair.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’ll be a lot different. It will be a nice surprise for a lot of people,” he said.
Gordie Tentrees and his band plays at approximately 9:30 p.m. There is a $10 cover.
