Bill Bourne takes a break from touring with Tri-Continental to play a solo show at theLethbridge College Cave Folk Club, on Saturday, Feb. 23.
“ I’ve been playing a lot with Tri-Continental a lot. This will be a one off show because we’re in between tours. We were just in Montreal for the Folk Alliance Conference because Tri-Continental’s last album was nominated for an award. Then we’re going on tour again,” said Bourne from his home in Edmonton, noting the last time he played a solo show in Lethbridge was back in 2011.
Since then he has released four albums, plus re-released two earlier albums from 1980 and 1998. He is also getting ready to release another new album “Learn To Love” which he expects to be out in October. He also hosts a weekly Thursday jam night at Brick and Whiskey in Edmonton with talented friends like Joe nolan and Scott Cook, which is very popular. But mostly, he has been continuing his love affair with flamenco music.
“That’s the wonderful thing about music is there is always new stuff to learn,” he said.
“I’m not Spanish,but I love playing flamenco music. I’ve been paying with a young guy from Lebanon and Syria. He’s 23 years old and he’s a very serious guitarist and he’d really into Flamenco music too,” he said.
“In flamenco there’s 12 beats per measure and it’s a lot of fun to play. You can divide it into 4-4 or 3-4 time. It’s very rhythmic and it feels very beautiful to play. It’s very deeply mystical, ” enthused Bourne.
“ When Lester and I asked Slim what he was doing we were both floored,” he said.
“Not that blues and roots music aren’t legitimate music but when you’ve been playing professionally for 30 -40 years like I have, it’s easy to do the same thing over and over again with different songs. I like being able to play something different,” he said,” adding there is always something new to learn which keeps things fresh,” he said adding his show will be pretty eclectic.
“ I like to play songs from all of my albums, like ‘Dance and Celebrate’ from Bourne and Macleod. And I got an old 1930s tenor banjo, that is tuned open,” he enthused.
“You’ll definitely be hearing some of the new music,” he said.
“There are a lot of different styles of music on it. There’s a lot of blues. I play everything on it except Keith Rempel who plays bass. The new album has a lot slide guitar on it. Ray Lemelin gave me an old 1969 Tiesco electric guitar from Japan that I’ve been playing a lot. People like David Lindley look for pickups like these ones,” he said.
He has digitally re-released two early albums, his 1982 self titled debut and his 1998 release “Sally‘s Dream.
“ Tom Coxworth from CKUA suggested Ii re-release my debut , but I never thought of it. And ‘Sallys Dream was with a record available and after 15 years, I got the rights to release it. I’m glad it came back to me,” he said adding he still likes the older music and has been playing some of it in his shows.
“Some songs are better than others,” he said.
Reid Seibert and Bruce MacKay open the show at 8 p.m. sharp at the Lethbridge Folk Club Cave Saturday, Feb. 23. Tickets are $25 for Lethbridge Folk Club members, $30 for invited guests.
