Something truly special happened this week in Winnipeg, and I sure hope you were lucky enough to be part of it. The mighty Stu Reid pulled off quite a feat when he lured the great Jon Dee Graham, Texas songwriting/guitar playing legend, to come to Winnipeg along with his touring partner Mike June, for 3 shows. The first was here at the TTBTGH home office, The Sunset Saloon, and it was incredible. It was a night filled with Jon Dee classics, a terrific introduction to Mike June, and it was topped off with some of Jaine’s finest ice cream to date!
After that, things switched over to a jam-packed StuDome for another amazing show, entirely different from the first. The last night was held at The River City Social Club. The pouring rain chased some people (wimps) away, and those people missed out on one of the most amazing shows ever held in this city. The show featured an all-star Winnipeg band composed of Damon Mitchell, Tom “Twisty” Fodey, and Emmett “Corndog” Van Etten, affectionately dubbed “The Winnipeg Cocks” (Jon Dee’s regular band in Texas is “The Fighting Cocks.”) I’ve been to many, many shows, but it’s been years since I’ve seen anything even remotely close to being as powerful, memorable, and amazing as this one. It will live in my Top 10 shows of all time list for a long time to come, I’m sure.
Somewhere in there, Jon Dee and Mike were kind enough to head on down to UMFM to record an interview and some live performances, and those will air TODAY, June 22 on Tell the Band to Go Home, 2-4 pm CDT (the live bit is at 3:15, but there’s music from both right off the top as well.) Listen live: http://www.umfm.com/listenonline/
Here’s a brief preview of one of Jon Dee’s performances:
Here are some of Stu’s clips from River City Social Club. The night started off with an amazing solo section where Jon Dee played some of his most beautiful songs, and told some astonishingly hilarious stories (I hurt myself laughing so hard!)
And here are some photos from the visit:
Please, friends, check out:
Jon Dee Graham and his amazing music
And make sure you do your best to attend shows at The Sunset Saloon (including Martyn Joseph July 29!), The StuDome (including Leeroy Stagger, June 26) and River-City Social Club (including Rodney Decroo in July.)
Listen to The Twang Trust, Wednesdays, 6-8 pm on CKUW: http://twangtrust.ca/