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Saint Blues guitarist Live at Studio 64
By Mike Redfern
This fall’s Live at Studio 64 jazz & blues concert series kicks off Saturday, September 30, with blues singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tim Williams.
A native of California, where he used to perform in coffeehouses during the mid-60s, Williams is now based in Calgary. I say ‘based’ because, since arriving in Canada in 1970, he has spent as much time on the road as at home. He has played in folk, blues, and jazz concert halls, clubs, and festivals as far afield as Morocco, Australia, Texas, and the Yukon. This September alone he is appearing in Port Credit and Peterborough, Ontario, Victoria, BC, Calgary, Okotoks and Coleman, Alberta, before heading through the Crowsnest Pass for performances in Fernie and Kimberley.
Tim Williams’ style of playing has been compared to Ry Cooder’s. He’s a 40-year veteran of the North American ‘roots’ music scene, drawing inspiration initially from the rhythm & blues and rock n’ roll of the 50s and the folk and bluegrass of the early 60s before developing his passion for the traditional blues styles of the mid- to late-60s.
Such is his skill that Williams won first place in the solo-duo blues category at the 2014 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, the largest gathering of blues performers in the world, at which he also received the Saint Blues Guitarist Award. He has also been nominated for a number of Maple Blues and Juno awards over the years and received many other honours.
Williams’ solo blues concert in Studio 64 on September 30 will be the usual cabaret-style seating, no-host bar event with which patrons are now familiar, enhanced by the recently added portable stage that makes the performer so much more visible. Tickets are $22 for Kimberley Arts Council members, $24 non-members in advance, or $26 at the door. Season passes are also available ($60 KAC members, $66 non-members) for the three concert fall series which includes the Melody Diachun jazz quartet on October 28 and the Rooster Blues Band on November 17.
An additional musical treat this fall will be a concert, now confirmed, on Tuesday, October 17, in the Centre 64 theatre, by the British touring art rock/folk/pop band, the Moulettes, led by the incredible cellist/guitarist/vocalist Hannah Miller.
Tickets for all the above are available at Centre 64 (250-427-4919 or [email protected]).
