COLIN LINDEN
'BIG MOUTH'

Colin Linden is a man of many talents. Colin is an accomplished singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. He has played on over 150 albums and produced more than 30 CDs. Colin has worked with artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Colin James, Leon Redbone, T-Bone Burnett, and The Band, just to name a few.

Colin began playing acoustic guitar before he turned eight, buying his first guitar from his older brother for $5. Developing a love for the blues at an early age, Colin met his hero, the legendary blues man Howlin' Wolf, a.k.a. Chester Arthur Burnett, at a Younge Street tavern when Colin was only eleven years old. After begging his mother to take him to the matinee performance, they arrived three hours early at the Colonial Tavern to get a good seat on the balcony. As luck would have it, Howlin' Wolf was having lunch at the side of the stage and Colin walked right up and introduced himself. They spent three hours talking about the blues that afternoon. From that day on, the two developed a friendship that lasted until Wolf died in 1976, and to this day Howlin' Wolf remains Colin's biggest inspiration. A very similar experience presented itself to Colin when he was touring through Regina at the age of seventeen. He met an extremely talented eleven year-old guitarist who shared his love of the blues and immediately latched on to him. Today, we know this young man as Colin James and their friendship and collaboration has lasted for over two decades.

Colin received a Grammy nomination for his contributions to the Nashville based 'Tribute To Howlin' Wolf' CD. Colin is slowly getting the recognition that he deserves. One of Toronto's most prized musicians, Colin recorded his first album with the legendary blues man Sam Chatmon in 1979, followed by the release of his first solo album a year later, 'Colin Linden Live'. In 1988, Colin released his first disc on Sony Music Canada's Columbia label entitled, 'When The Sprit Comes'. Since that time, Colin has kept himself quite busy. He has played in Bruce Cockburn's band and produced a number of Cockburn's albums. As a session guitarist, he has played on recordings by Dwayne Steele, The Band, Amy Sky, he wrote the hit 'Guitar Talk' for Michelle Wright, and produced Sue Foley's multiple Maple Blues Award and Juno winning album 'Love Comin' Down'. Colin also co-wrote and produced many of Colin James' albums, including the Juno Award winning 'National Steel'.

Though much of his time is spent working behind the scenes with fellow artists, Colin fully enjoys focusing on making his own music. He has released six of his own albums and has received much critical acclaim over the years. His fourth release in 1994, 'South At Eight North At Nine', won the Blues / Gospel Juno Award. In 1996 Colin won another Juno Award in the 'Blues & Gospel' category for his production work on Lennie Gallant's 'The Open Window'. Colin released 'Raised By Wolves' in 1997 to extremely high praise and excellent reviews. In February 1998, Colin shared the Maple Blues "Producer of the Year" award with Colin James for his work on James' 'National Steel' CD. Colin received a Grammy nomination in 1999 for his contribution to the Nashville-based 'Tribute To Howlin' Wolf' disc.

In 1996 Colin divulged himself into what he called a "Side Project", the super-group Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. The group consisted of Colin, Stephen Fearing and Junkhouse frontman Tom Wilson. Formed because of a mutual love and appreciation for the music of William P. Bennett, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings received a Juno nomination for their tribute album to Bennett, titled 'High and Hurtin'. In 1999, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings issued their second album, the 2000 Juno Award winning two-CD set 'Kings of Love', a collection of original tunes and covers of songs by Bruce Cockburn and Murray McLauchlan, to name a few. In 1999, at the prestigious Toronto Arts Awards Colin was presented with the Music Award for his contribution to Music by The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Hillary Weston.

At Canada's 2000 Juno Awards, Colin was repeatedly acknowledge and recognized by the music industry. He won three awards. He won a Juno in the 'Blues' category as producer for Ray Bonneville's 'Gust of Wind'. Another Juno in the 'Roots and Traditional: Solo Artist' category as the producer of Bruce Cockburn's 'Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu'. Another Juno Award in the 'Roots and Traditional: Group' category as a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

Although Colin was born and mostly lives in Canada, he and his wife now spend part of the year in Nashville where Colin's profile is rising considerably. It was there that he received a call from his good friend T-Bone Burnett, who asked him to come to a film set and to teach a young man how to play the blues guitar. Not only did Colin teach the actor how to play, but he also ended up playing a version of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" that was used in the film! That film is titled 'O Brother Where Art Thou?'

Colin performs a version of this song as a bonus track on his latest release titled 'Big Mouth' which will be released in Canada on May 15th, 2001. Big Mouth is Colin's best recording to date! On this new release Colin returns to an old raw-blues style of music, with a few touches of roots-rock. Special guests who join Colin on this album are: Keb' Mo', Lucinda Williams, Jonell Mosser, Bruce Cockburn, Jessie Alexander and Lee Roy Parnell.

Colin thinks it will be at least 20 years before people recognize him as a "cool, old, blues guy". However, with his countless contributions, and endless devotion to creating music, Colin is and will always be at the heart of the Canadian music scene.

(Above courtesy of http://colinlinden.com/about_colin)

2nd Annual WINTER MELTDOWN BLUES FESTIVAL

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th

Kick Off Party with Nigel Mack & Double D

and 

The Double Dare Devils 

at 

Bud's on Broadway

(10:00 p.m.)

$3.00 Admission

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tickets for the following events are $7.00 each and are available at Bud's On Broadway, H.E.L., and Tramp's (8th St. and Downtown locations)

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH

Steve Slade with No Restraint

and

Manitoba Hal

at 

The Bassment

(8:00 p.m.)

Tracy K

and

Rag Doll Blues

at 

Bud's on Broadway

(10:00 p.m.)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST

The Delta Dukes

and

Del Ryan

at 

The Bassment

(8:00 p.m.)

Mocking Shadows

DVD Release Party

at

Buds on Broadway

(10:00 p.m)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd

Windup Party at Winston's Pub in the Senator Hotel

B.C. Read and Friends

(Free Admission)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST

FREE WORKSHOPS 

"Slide Guitar" at H.E.L. with B.C. Read

"Blues Harmonica" at the Bassment with Sherman Doucette and Ernie Kurz

AFTERNOON JAM at BUDS ON BROADWAY

Hosted by Ed Dagenais

(3:00 p.m.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2ND ANNUAL WINTER MELTDOWN BLUES FESTIVAL IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS

BIG ROCK BREWERIES

BLUE INSURANCE LTD.

BLUE LINE TAXI

ELEPHANT & CASTLE

HAMILTON PHOTOGRAPHICS
H.E.L. MUSIC SUPPLIES LTD.

MARK'S AUTO BODY

PAGE ONE DIGITAL

SASKATCHEWAN LOTTERIES

THE STAR PHOENIX

SENATOR HOTEL

Another Successful Saskatoon Blues Society Event

ANDERS OSBORNE

Your directors were pleased to have presented

ANDERS OSBORNE  

from New Orleans in a solo acoustic performance at 

The Bassment 

on 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th

Who's Anders Osborne?

Originally from Sweden, Anders has lived in New Orleans for the past 13 years and has become one of that city's leading musicians.  He has recorded seven albums for Sony and Shanachie.  Often compared to Van Morrison and Jackson Browne vocally, he is an evocative guitarist, especially when he's playing slide.  As a songwriter, the multi-Grammy nominated artist has written hits or award winning songs for blues artists such as Keb'Mo, Jonny Lang, and Tab Benoit.  Anders holds a position as one of Universal's top staff writers in Nashville.

You won't want to miss this very special performer. ANDERS has never played in Saskatoon before and is on a Western Canadian tour between Chicago and New York dates. 

B.C. Read and Anders Osborne Performing a few tunes

MORE ON ANDERS:

 From the All-Music Guide:
"Young and up-and-coming is the best way to describe guitarist, singer and songwriter  Anders Osborne. Osborne's fame has spread beyond the borders of New Orleans, a  city where he first cut his teeth and developed a reputation for incendiary live shows."   "Osborne artfully blends blues, funk, soul and classic R&B to create his own distinctive synthesis of styles. Osborne's most widely available album is 1995's "Which Way To  Here", recorded for the Okey/Sony label; two other
independent-label releases may  still be around in record shops. "Live at Tipitina's" appeared on Shanachie in 1998,  followed by "Living Room" the next year. The

 introspective "Ash Wednesday Blues" was  issued in early 2001.

"

Anders Osborne serving up some blues from the bayou at The Bassment

 From a review of Living Room by George Graham:
"Anders Osborne absorbed the rich musical scene of New Orleans, incorporating it into  his music, which is basically blues, but is actually rather wide-ranging. He's a great  slide guitarist, but also a
very good singer-songwriter, capable of penning some great  lyrics and creating songs that would stand up well in an acoustic folk setting. He also  draws on influences including second-line brass bands,
Professor-Longhair style  rumbas and even Memphis soul."

From a review of a show when Anders opened for Robben Ford:
"Osborne is a top-notch performer whose sweaty slide licks whisk listeners to the swamps of Louisiana and who sings with all the soul of a southern blues legend."

 From Blues Access magazine:
"{Osborne] cooks up a blues based gumbo like you have never heard before"

Anders Osborne in a sizzling performance recently at The Bassment

Check out the following website for more information on Anders Osborne

http://www.shanachie.com/

Another Successful Saskatoon Blues Society Event

The Twisters 

Another Successful Saskatoon Blues Society Event

David "Honeyboy" Edwards at The Bassment 

One of the last living links to Robert Johnson (his autobiography, "The World Don't Owe Me Nothing" is a collection of great stories about Johnson, Big Joe Williams, and Little Walter as well as his own youthful escapades, coinciding with a critically-acclaimed album by the same name), Chicago blues guitarist David "Honeyboy" Edwards has finally gotten a bit of the due that should be his right. He has toured worldwide, and recorded for over a dozen labels, both solo (Rolling Stone: "(Edwards) shows that you don't always need a band to move people's feet") and with bands, and though he's lived in Chicago for more than 40 years, his music is still firmly rooted in the Mississippi delta.

Born in Shaw, Mississippi in 1915, Edwards learned guitar from his father, Henry Edwards, and friends Tommy McClennan (who "Honeyboy" would long play with) and Robert Petway. At the age of 14, Edwards left for the road under guitarist Big Joe Williams. During the next few years he played on street corners, in river boats, brothels, house parties, and delta juke joints with folks like McClennan, Homesick James, Big Walter Horton, Yank Rachell, Charley Patton, Son House, Tommy Johnson, Robert Petway, and Robert Johnson. Edwards was with Johnson the night he died, and his statement that Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband is considered most credible by historians...

During the 1930s, "Honeyboy" moved to Memphis, where he played regularly with the Memphis Jug Band, Will Shade, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Walter Horton, and Little Walter Jacobs. In 1942, Edwards began his recording career, cutting fifteen tracks for Library of Congress' Alan Lomax at Stovall's Plantation, as well as several Texas labels, and Sam Phillips' Sun Records in Memphis.

In 1953, Edwards moved to Chicago, building a reputation as one of the city's best slide guitarists. He recorded for Chess records, and performed -- both in clubs and on street corners -- with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim, and Howlin' Wolf.

"Mr. Edwards," says the New York Times, "is among the last authentic performers in the blues... everything he does is infused with the rocking drive and hypnotic modal flavor of depression-era blues at its most intense."

"Despite his advanced age," says the Chicago Reader's David Whiteis, "Edwards can still attain an almost frightening intensity, delivering lyrics in a dark, throaty shout and ripping single-note phrases from his fretboard as if he were tearing them out of the Delta soil itself."
[....quoted from 'Center Stage', Chicago review]

Check out his listings in www.allmusic.com. www.folkways.si.edu, www.earwigmusic.com

 and other sites...

It was a distinct honour and privilege for The Saskatoon Blues Society to host/present Honeyboy
Edwards on Sunday, March 30th and Monday, March 31st.

On Sunday, the film "Honeyboy" was shown to an appreciative audience. It's a powerful telling of his life and the history of the blues. Honeyboy was there for the entire evening and answered questions at the end. The video projector provided by The Sony Store at Midtown worked
beautifully - very sharp image on the screen.

Monday night was a very special evening.  Les Copeland opened and was very positively received. Honeyboy played and sang the blues - as real as you'll ever going to find them.  Off stage he was warm and gracious to autograph seekers and well wishers.

We would be pleased to receive your comments and reviews on the two nights - either reply to this and send to our society's e-mail.

Some memorable moments in time...

David "Honeyboy" Edwards performing at The Bassment on Monday, March 31, 2003

Saskatoon Blues fans listening to Honeyboy at The Bassment

Les Copeland and Honeyboy performing at The Bassment on Monday, March 31, 2003.

The Saskatoon Blues Society presented the Saskatoon premiere of “HONEYBOY”, a music documentary film from Free Range Pictures (2002, 82mins, colour). Director Scott Taradash documented the life and times of 87 year old David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and interwoven among Honeyboy's colorful storytelling and raw guitar and vocal performances are appearances by B. B. King, Willie Foster and Waymon Meeks, who lend personal insights on the Deep South and the significance of the Blues. [check details of film at www.honeyboyfilm.com ]

Honeyboy was present and commented on the film and answered questions following the movie:

Blues in the School

Silverspring School visit on Monday, March 31st - the plan was to have Honeyboy play and talk with elementary students. Unfortunately, he wasn't up to it, but Les Copeland filled in and played some blues tunes and talked about blues music origins. Prior to the visit the children watched some of the "Honeyboy" documentary. By the end of the hour, they had a better sense of the roots of the blues.

1st Annual WINTER MELTDOWN BLUES FESTIVAL WAS AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS!  The Saskatoon Blues Society reports that it’s first annual “Winter Meltdown Blues Festival” has been an enormous success.  Close to a thousand blues fan attended events over 8 venues. Three shows were complete sellouts.

Audiences were treated to super performances from Tim Williams, Jerry Doucette, Mike Clark, Amos Garrett, and Jack Semple. Local artists, such as B.C. Read, Don Griffith, Ernie Kurz, and Megan Lane demonstrated that Saskatoon continues to develop talented musicians. Fans had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of blues from traditional delta blues to rockin’ blues, with some jazz thrown in by the Peter Dyksman sextet from Regina. The Festival closed with an Acoustic Blues Jam party at Winston’s which included a surprise appearance by Big Dave McLean.

There were many outstanding performances as the musicians responded to the appreciative audiences. Vancouver blues rocker Jerry Doucette, making his first appearance in Saskatoon in many years, was impressed by the response and pleasantly surprised with the audience quickly singing along to his hit “Momma Let Him Play” that he used to close the show with at Buds On Broadway.  The interplay between legendary guitarist Amos Garrett and saxophonist Mike Clark at The Bassment was wonderful. With the support of music stores (H E L Music, Mother’s Music, and Long & McQuade) fans and musicians were able to get tips and insights from the visiting artists at workshops. The Winter Meltdown Blues Festival attracted people from all over the province -  from Melfort to Gull Lake.

 

Megan Lane and Deep Set Soul tore into a sizzling opening set for Jerry Doucette at Bud's on Broadway on Friday, February 28th.

 

 

 

Jerry Doucette took the stage at Bud's on Broadway and impressed the crowd at the sold out venue on Friday, February 28th.

 

 

 

 

Mike Clark Band with Amos Garrett performing to a full house at The Bassment on Saturday, March1st.

Jack Semple wowed the audience with his guitar mastery at Bud's. Jack was on fire on Saturday, March 1st.

B.C. Read performing at the Winter Meltdown Blues Festival Windup at Winston's in the Senator Hotel.

George Tennant performing at the Winter Meltdown Blues Festival Windup at Winston's in the Senator Hotel.

Ernie Kurz performing at the Winter Meltdown Blues Festival Windup at Winston's in the Senator Hotel.

Big Dave McLean, George Tennant, and Ernie Kurz perform at Winter Meltdown Blues Festival Windup at Winston's in the Senator Hotel.

Big Dave McLean's surprise performance at Winter Meltdown Blues Festival Windup at Winston's in the Senator Hotel.

Blues Karaoke

Glenn Coulter "lowering the bar"       "Laura" aspiring blues songstress                            

"Small Change" from the Manitoba Bisons hockey team singing the blues at our Windup Blues Karaoke

Manitoba Bisons taking in some of the blues entertainment..."Small Change"

                                                                                                                            (All photos by Reg Wihak)

Volunteers

In addition to the Directors who worked hard before and during the event, a number of members and blues fans volunteered their time and made the event a success.

 They were:

        Allison Blair                                            Rylan Bolt             

        Joe Dixon                                                Diane Deminchuk                 

        Tom Lemky                                             Delmar Friesen         

        Derrick Hahn                                          Jonathan Hunt         

        Tim Hatcher                                            Kim Lonsdale
        Gord Macaulay                                       Jeff Tkachuk

         'Bear'  & Betty Millar                           Jon Tkachuk
        Jake & Wendy Dreidger                                                          

        Bob & Betty-Ann Whittaker

Sponsors

SBS Directors were pleased with the public response to the Festival, given the short time they had to organize it . The decision was made in January to take advantage of the Blues Festival in Regina happening the same weekend. Ron Hagan, SBS sponsorship director, says he was pleased with the sponsor response: “The immediate commitment of organizations such  Northern Lights Casino, Labatt’s, Investors Group, and Blue Insurance is very encouraging for future festivals” The Festival was only able to happen through the participation and partnership of The
Senator Hotel, Buds On Broadway and the Saskatoon Jazz Society.  SBS President, B. C. Read, stated “The fantastic response to our first Festival guarantees that next year’s event will be bigger and better.”

  Bud's on Broadway

The Roxy on Broadway 

December 17th & 18th - Sam Cockrell and the Groove

December 21st and 22nd - Amos Garrett

February 10th - Johnny Winter