2008 Cameco Blues in the Schools Program

The Saskatoon Blues Society (SBS) and its Blues in the School (BITS) program are happy to welcome Rick Fines back to Saskatoon for the 2008 Saskatoon Blues Festival and schools visits. It was two years ago during heavy snowfall that Rick was last in Saskatoon for the 2006 Saskatoon Blues Festival and Blues in the School program. We are equally happy to welcome Saskatoon-born and raised Suzie Vinnick who will join Rick for a show at the festival and will also be doing Blues in the School presentations at area schools.

Of course, Suzie is no stranger to Saskatoon audiences. "Bud's On Broadway" gave Suzie her first taste of stage performance and the thrill of working live with other musicians. Then, Bud's was well known as an incubator for young blues talent and provided the venue for a teenaged Suzie to get involved in afternoon jam sessions. After meeting Tony D. in 1991, Suzie made a career decision and moved to Ottawa joining Tony's "Cool Band". After two years of musical adventures with Tony D., Suzie was feeling the need to spread her wings and develop her own project. Although Suzie and the blues had been good to one another, she'd never seen herself primarily as a blues artist. As well as wanting to grow stylistically, Suzie aspired to write more of her own material. The result was Angel in the Sidelines, which included nine original tracks. The success of Angel made Suzie an artist in demand.

Thanks to Ottawa’s Chopper McKinnon, host of CKCU radio’s Canadian Spaces, who thought that the Rick should meet Suzie and pointed him in the direction of a club where she was playing. That was more than twelve years ago. As they say, the rest is history.
Rick remembers, “I was so impressed with her bass playing, then she stepped up to the mike to sing! As soon as the set was over I was there asking ‘How do I get to play music with you?!’”

Rick was a member of the much-lauded Jackson Delta acoustic blues band at the time and Suzie was the talk of the town in Ottawa, having recently moved Saskatoon. They started playing a few gigs together and talking about making a recording - each one played on the other’s solo release and they continued to perform together while building their solo careers.

Rick is a veteran of the folk and blues circuits in North America. He just returned from Alabama where he took first place in the Sweetgum Bottom Acoustic Blues Competition. His song "Riley Wants His Life Back" won first place in the blues category of 2003 International Songwriting Competition, with B.B. King one of the judges! He won the MapleBlues Award for Acoustic Act Of The Year twice (98, 99) and was nominated three times for the MapleBlues Songwriter of the Year award. In 2004 Rick was nominated for the third time for MapleBlues Songwriter of the Year, as well as the Best Male Vocalist award. His 15 years with Jackson Delta won recognition from both the Juno and the Handy Awards. In addition to a busy touring schedule, Rick conducts classes and workshops. For several years he has taught fingerstyle guitar at the Haliburton School of the Arts in Ontario and instructed at the Hornby Island Blues Workshop in British Columbia. He has also worked with kids as part of the Blues In The Schools programs in Ottawa, Toronto, Fredericton, and Saskatoon. As well, Rick has developed a song-writing program that takes place in his native Peterborough.

In her own right, Suzie Vinnick is an award-winning singer, songwriter and musician. She was the recipient of 2006 Canadian Maple Blues Awards for Female Vocalist, bassist and shared Songwriter of the Year with Rick Fines for their 2006 release, Nothing Halfway. In 2006 she won 3rd place in the Blues Category of the Unisong International Songwriting Contest for her co-write entitled "The Honey I Want". Recently, Suzie was nominated for two 2007 Mapleblues Awards, one for Female Vocalist of the Year and one for Bassist of the Year. (This could change to winner)
Suzie has been featured nationally on CBC Radio on Holger Petersen's show Saturday Night Blues, on Stuart McLean's Vinyl Café, and has performed across Canada and the US, and for Canadian Peacekeepers in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf. She performs powerfully as a solo act or with her tasteful side players; with Rick Fines in a duo or a band, and is also a member of the groups Betty & the Bobs, the Marigolds (with Gwen Swick and Caitlin Hanford of Quartette), and the folk-pop trio, Vinnick Sheppard Harte (VSH). She is also busy with commercial jingle work most notably Tim Horton’s ["Always Fresh, Always Tim Horton's"], and Interac’s [It’s just another day.] advertising campaigns.

For our purposes, both artists bring credibility, experience, insight, and the chops have to offer Blues in the School programs for a number of years. Undoubtedly, each has their own approach to the delivery of the Blues 101 presentation, but the message is the same. Blues music is the wellspring from which other popular music has sprung.

Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines at the Maple Blues Awards
http://www.rickandsuzie.com/