You know you’re doing something right when none other than Burton Cummings calls you a Canadian icon and a treasure. So Tom Wilson was pleasantly surprised and a little shocked that Cummings expressed how much o
f a fan he was.
“He called me at 7 in the morning, which is like 4 a.m. in Los Angeles where he lives, to tell me he’s been a fan of mine for years,” recalled Tom Wilson, who just opened for Cummings at Massey hall in Toronto, on Sept 19. Wilson first made it big as a member of ’90s rockers Junkhouse and lately as one third of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, plus as a member of Lee Harvey Osmond, who play the Geomatic Attic, Sept. 30
“I‘ve been a fan of his since I was a kid. There were three voices of God coming from my transistor radio in my baseball glove — John Fogerty, Gordon Lightfoot and Burton Cummings. So for him to tell me things like I’m a Canadian icon, that’s just fucking crazy— it’s madness. And he did the same thing at my show last night. I was playing as Lee Harvey Osmond, but it was just me and he came out on stage while I’m playing in front of 3,000 people, well I was kind of blown away,” he related. He always enjoys playing Massey Hall and has shared that stage with the likes of Bruce Cockburn and Jeff Beck.
“I even sold it out with Lee Harvey Osmond. That stage is hallowed. It’s where people like Charlie Parker and Bob Dylan have stood,” he said.
“I used to get stoned and go see concerts there,” Wilson reminisced, sober now for the past 14 years.
He has always enjoyed Lethbridge. he brought Lee harvey Osmond to the Geomatic Attic about four years ago.
“Junkhouse used to get our stage outfits in Lethbridge at an independent work warehouse place there. I remember we toured Europe, we looked like we were from Hamilton. We were wearing workboots and I was wearing a poncho I got at a Rita MacNeil concert. I remember were were being interviewed by the Rolling Stone in about ’94 and they asked us where we get our stage clothes. We said ‘L.A’ they said Los Angeles, we said ‘no, no Lethbridge, Alberta,’ so Lethbridge has been mentioned in the Rolling Stone, ” he chuckled.
“We’ve taken it to New York and New England and Toronto and Europe, we’ve taken it everywhere except Western Canada, so we’re excited about it,” he said.
“We’ll be playing cosmic acid folk, but I’ll also be playing some Junkhouse songs and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings songs. And I’ve written songs from a lot of people like Colin James, Lucinda Williams and even Billy Ray Cyrus ( he wrote his song ‘When I Leave This House I Ain‘t Coming Back,’) so I’ll be playing a few of them too,” he said.
When he comes to Lethbridge, he will be playing with bassist John Diamond who plays with KD Lang and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings as well as Junkhouse drummer Ray Farrujia.
He has a new Blackie and the Rodeo Kings CD ready for release Jan. 22 called South, which he is pleased with.
“You’re asking me about my music. I don’t listen to my albums a lot, but I love them. I enjoy the creative process the most,” he said.
“ Since I was the age of our, being a musician was what I wanted to be, so if I was to step outside and d get hit by a car, I’d die content.Though hopefully I won’t get hit by a car,” he said.
He is focussed on Lee Harvey Osmond. He will concentrate on Blackie and the Rodeo Kings in January, when they release the new Blackie and the Rodeo J Kings CD “South”.
“Don’ ask me to focus on more than one thing at a time,” he rumbled.
“In Lee Harvey Osmond, we’re a slave to the the bottom end and a slave to the groove and we go to where that takes us,” he described.
“Our music is really steeped in the folk and roots tradition, though I don’t say ‘diddy die diddle do. We don’t really fit into the folk world. We really focus on the bass and the kick drum,” he said.
“ Canadian folk music stands out. We’ve got Willie P Bennett, Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot. But down south in New Orleans, they’ve got the blues and jazz.. They’ve got people banging drums in the street. The further north you go, the bass disappears. By the time you get to Canada, the bass is non-existent,” he observed.
Tickets for the show at the Geomatic Attic, which begins at 8 p.m. sharp, Sept. 30 cost $37.50.
