Steve's Blog
Spring Season's Stunning Finale - and our AGM Notice
Tuesday June 7, 2016

Frank Solivan is a wonderful mandolinist who hails from Alaska and who relocated to Washington to form this very hot bluegrass combo. Frank is also a fine tenor singer, and the band's 2014 Cold Spell CD was nominated for a Grammy last year. He brings the band to The Rogue hot on the heels of his newest recording, which was just released on Compass Records.

Here's a snippet from a recent review in Raleigh-Durham's Indy Weekly:
It should come as little surprise that Family, Friends & Heroes opens with a blistering rendition of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" before winding through takes on standards and hit singles alike. Surrounded by collaborators including Sam Bush and his own mother, the spirited mandolin player chases "Leaving on a Jet Plane" with "Wayfaring Stranger." With his hotshot quartet Dirty Kitchen, Solivan has consistently tested the dividing lines between bluegrass and newgrass. The band packs dazzling solos into dizzyingly small spaces, funnelling bluegrass's love of dexterity into pop's love of brevity. There are occasional psychedelic flourishes and dips into smouldering ballads, but, at its best, Dirty Kitchen harnesses the most urgent aspects of the four-minute rock song format and bluegrass's technicality at once. It doesn't hurt that Solivan keeps Mike Munford, one of the sharpest banjo players in the business, and fresh-faced guitarist Chris Luquette for company.



As an extra treat there will be an opening set from Annalisa Tornfelt - last seen in town with Black Prairie at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 2014. Annalisa is a fine fiddler who also plays the Swedish keyed-fiddle, the nyckelharpa. And what a voice she has! Like liquid honey, sweet and seductive. She released two CDs last year, one of original songs and one of covers. They are both gorgeous collections of songs.

For tickets and information click here

We are delighted to be able to present one of Canada's most celebrated singer songwriters, Danny Michel, at The Rogue for the first time. Danny has just released a new album, Matadora (Six Shooter Records). It contains a gorgeous song he wrote for Italian cosmonaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who was aboard the International Space Station when he sent her the song by email, hoping she would like it. She did! She sent him an instant reply, which is probably mounted in a frame on his wall by now; after all, how many of us receive email sent from outer space? Amongst his previous albums is Loving The Alien - a remarkable collection of David Bowie songs. When Bowie passed away earlier this year I was trying to find folk-friendly versions of his songs. This is it! Apparently Danny is one of Bowie's biggest fans. A couple of years ago Danny spent several months in Belize, writing and recording with the Garifuna Collective - some of you may have seen some of them, including Aurelio Martinez, at The Rogue earlier this year. Blackbirds Are Dancing Over Me is a stunning CD that came from his time in Belize. We saw Danny performing with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield at the Folk Alliance in Kansas City last year. His performance at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival last August was incredible, too. I especially enjoyed his workshop with Tuvan folk-rockers, Hanggai, when Danny was so stunned by their heavier numbers that he hopped off the stage to film them on his smart phone. As you can tell, Danny Michel is one of the most adventurous and eclectic songwriters around! Don't miss his concert this Friday!! Get there early; it will be a full house - oh, and there will be a special beer-tasting too!

Click here for more info and to buy tickets - while there are still some left!

Described as “a songwriting treasure”, Brian Robertson is perhaps best known for his well crafted songs about the Canadian west coast, and some fine songs about love, travel and the blues. His working life has been varied - as commercial fisherman, mill worker, cabbie, engineer, economist and historical consultant to First Nations - and from that springs the range and depth of his subject matter.

Brian’s new CD Times and Places is an eclectic compilation of tuneful music and imagery, bare emotion and story-telling that all will enjoy. Joining him at St. James Hall are some fabulous backing musicians: Amy Stephen, late of the folk super group Mad Pudding and well known choir conductor; Jeremy Holmes, the great all-rounder bassist; young fiddle sensation Michael Burnyeat and the wonderful multi-instrumentalist Victor Smith.

We have just added this concert to help Brian launch his new CD. Tickets will be on sale on our website later this week.