Fort Macleod  singer songwriter  John Wort Hannam put on an impressive show for a capacity crowd at the Slice, Thursday, Jan. 14.
 He played most of his new CD, ‘Queens Hotel and impressed the audience with his engaging and self deprecating stage presence and  underestimated guitar prowess. His performance proved  he chose wisely when he decided to  quit teaching to become a songwriter.

His  pretty acoustic fingerpicked guitar lines  were matched only by his gorgeous vocal  melodies and unparalleled story songs. The band, Tyler Bird  on stand-up bass and accordion, drummer Brad Brouwer and phenomenal fiddler Scott Duncan, were superb. 

Like the legendary outlaw, Vancouver based  singer/songwriter  Billy the Kid plays by her own rules.

She has “Lost’ and Give Back’ tattooed all over her, runs her own record label and tours  relentlessly.  She even just finished her  first acting gig where she played a bespectacled  mother minding a  daughter who looked just like her. And she will be playing the Slice, Jan. 25, in the beginning of a new tour which will take her across  Canada to Toronto then down to Austin, Texas for South By Southwest, hitting a plethora of tiny towns along the way as well.

“A lot of people would consider me the definition of a lost cause. I quit two jobs to tour, then get another two jobs, then quit them to tour again. But this is my life and I’m completely happy with it,” she said. She has been performing and touring since she was 14 almost since she first learned piano.

 The stalwart indie musician finally hired a manager this year.

“There is just no time to effectively balance things. You don’t really need a manager  until there’s something to manage,”  said Billy Pettinger, aka Billy the Kid, whose next tour begins in Calgary, Jan. 21.

“It was getting to the point where I was getting burned out. I’d rather be playing than booking and there’s only so much you can do from the road,”  continued the bespectacled singer who has the words “Lost” and Give Back” among her many tattoos.

Through the magic of MyspaceShe not only connected with Our Lady Peace’s Raine Maida to produce her latest five song EP, “The Lost Cause,” which was released on her own record label “Lost Records,” but connected with the Band’s Garth Hudson to play piano on a  track ‘The Drugs.’

“Today it would be through Facebook,” she laughed.

“Raine  Maida (from Our Lady Peace)  heard my demos through Myspace and I guess he liked them, the next thing I knew I was on a plane to Los Angeles. I don’t think I could have asked for anything more incredible,” she continued.

There are a couple of really cool shows this week beginning tonight with an open mic at the Slice with Planet Telex.
The Slice is going jazz on Wednesday with the Karl Schwonik Jazz Quartet. The Calgary sextet is in the middle of a tour taking them all over  Alberta, B.C. Then the  East Coast of the United States.
 Local alt-country favourites Dave McCann and the Firehearts have a  Jan. 22 gig at the Slice. Tod Robinson is back in Lethbridge too with a  Saturday night show at the Slice
Also on Jan. 23, Dean Selena (aka the Richard Doerksen Band) officially releases their new CD  ‘What is unchanged’ at the Wooden Kilt.
 At Henotic on Jan. 22, Rum Runner with  Audio Rocketry and Chief Mountain will be performing. The next night features what is sure to be a cool show with the Necessities.

The Richard Doerksen Band unveils their new CD and their new name — Dean Selena— at a  CD release party, Jan. 23.
Dean  Selena (deanselena.com and  www.myspace.com/deanselena  ) is named after the first names of Doerksen’s great grandma and great grandpa, Doerksen decided to change the band  name to something shorter and something that couldn’t be mis-pronounced. The new CD is called ‘ What is Unchanged.’
“It’s all my music.  They (the band, bassist Daniel Ens and drummer  Daniel Puurveen) just helped me perform it,” Doerksen said adding the music isn’t quite as ambient and laid back as his previous CD.
“There’s definitely more of a rock feel to it, well more Pink Floyd style rock, except less ambient and less weird,” he said  adding he wrote some of the new during  work on the last CD, and have been performing several of the songs live ever since. Already  songs like ‘I’ve Been Accused’ is getting radio play on CKUA and local radio station CKXU has just added it to their playlist. Dean Selena will also be featured on CTV in the coming weeks.