Bluegrass Band Blends the Boundaries Between Traditional and Modern

John Reischman & the Jaybirds perform at Horizon Stage on Saturday, April 14, 2012

John Reischman & the Jaybirds know that the best new Bluegrass grows from classic roots. With five critically-acclaimed albums, two Juno nominations, and two Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, this Vancouver-based quintet produces music that is simultaneously traditional and contemporary. Fronted by one of the world’s top-ranked acoustic mandolin players, they perform original songs, instrumentals, vintage gems, and newly-arranged traditional material. Tap your toes with John Reischman & the Jaybirds at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Saturday, April 14th at 7:30 p.m.

Veteran artist John Reischman is renowned for his exquisite taste, tone and impeccable musicianship. Born in Ukiah, California in 1955, he first played guitar at age 12, exploring fingerpicking and blues styles before discovering the mandolin at age 17. Drawing inspiration from bluegrass patriarch, Bill Monroe, and acoustic mandolin pioneers, Frank Wakefield, Sam Bush, Andy Statman, and David Grisman, John has also been influenced by the hot swing of guitarist Django Reinhardt and the jazz mandolin of pioneers, Jethro Burns and Tiny Moore. Continually honing his skills for the past three decades, John fuses genres and mixes new sounds with old.

Jaybirds Jim Nunally (guitar), Trisha Gagnon (bass), Nick Hornbuckle (banjo) and Greg Spatz (fiddle), are all highly-acclaimed, top-notch, musicians in their own right. Jim is a San Francisco Bay-area veteran guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer. Chilliwack-based Trisha is one of the most versatile and irresistible vocalists and songwriters in bluegrass, whose strong and distinctive style ranges from “mournful and plaintive” to “hopeful and yearning.” Nanaimo-based Nick has developed his own voice on the five-string banjo, a unique sound with a two-finger roll unlike other contemporary banjo players. Hailing from Spokane, Greg’s wide-ranging chops have made him a popular West Coast player who has done stints with the legendary Frank Wakefield and resophonic guitarist Rob Ickes.

Together, John Reischman & the Jaybirds’ seamless ensemble work makes for one of the freshest, most tasteful sounds on the folk and bluegrass circuit today. Their tunes range from upbeat and twangy, to bluesy, hard-edge and haunting. In concert, their heartfelt music and vocals are interspersed with a friendly blend of story-telling and humor that provides audiences with a fantastic, unforgettable live performance experience. Last seen at Horizon Stage in 2006, they are excited to be returning and the theatre is very happy to have them back.

Don’t miss John Reischman & the Jaybirds Up Close & Personal at Horizon Stage at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. Tickets are just $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors. Purchase your tickets by calling the Spruce Grove City Hall Ticket Centre at 780-962-8995, come in person to 315 Jespersen Avenue, or go online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Horizon Stage is located at 1001 Calahoo Road, attached to Spruce Grove Composite High School.

“… Jaybirds’ musicianship is first-rate … best bluegrass and old-time music you’ll find anywhere"
Penguin Eggs

“Top notch musicians and singers deliver an unusual repertoire of originals, bluegrass classics and old-time music."
Acoustic Guitar Magazine

“(a) thoroughly professional ensemble with (the) rare ability to produce music that is simultaneously traditional and contemporary . . . the Jaybirds are a band that continues to hit on all cylinders.”
SingOut! Magazine

Juno Award-Winning Singer Songwriter Performs a Rare Family Matinee Concert

Connie Kaldor will Sing Children’s Songs and Read Her Stories at Horizon Stage on Saturday, April 7

Connie Kaldor is a Juno award-winner and member of the Order of Canada who has sung for royalty. With fourteen albums, including three award-winning children’s CDs and a musical, she has toured across North America and around the world. Having previously performed in Spruce Grove for “grown-up” audiences, she is delighted to be returning to sing specifically for “little people” as a part of Horizon Stage’s Family Matinee Series. So bring your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, the neighbor kids, or just yourself, if you’re feeling young at heart, to hear the incredible Connie Kaldor perform at Horizon Stage on Saturday, April 7th at 2 p.m.

A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Connie Kaldor has been performing for most of her life. Born into a musical family, she grew up singing in the choir. Her love of the arts led her to a theatre degree from the University of Alberta and then to alternative theatre companies such as the Mummers in Newfoundland and Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, influences still very much in evidence at her concerts. Although she left theatre to pursue her songwriting career, Connie’s engaging character and storytelling skills are hallmarks of her live performances.

In 1981 Connie established her independent record label, Coyote Entertainment. By the mid nineteen-eighties, she was headlining folk festivals across Canada and the U.S.A. and she has since toured extensively in North America, India, China and Europe. Connie has shared the stage with countless artists, including Shawn Colvin, Tracy Chapman, Sylvia Tyson, the Chieftains, and Daniel Lanois. In 1984 she received a Most Promising Female Vocalist Juno-nomination for her album Moonlight Grocery and her 2000 album, Love is a Truck, was nominated for a Juno in the Folk Roots category.

Although Connie Kaldor does not often perform concerts exclusively for young people, she has written great quantities of material for them. With two sons and many nieces and nephews of her own, she originally started writing songs to amuse them or put them to sleep. Her 1998 album, Lullaby Berceuse, won a Juno and a Parents’ Choice Award for Best Children’s Album. In 2003 Connie released A Duck in New York City, the story of a little prairie duck with the big idea of making it on Broadway, and her 2006 CD/book, A Poodle in Paris, is the charming story of cabaret singer, Fifi, and her many Parisian friends. Connie’s songs have been recorded by other children’s artists, including Heather Bishop and Quebec performer, Carmen Campagne. Her music has been heard in films, on television shows (Fred Penner’s Place and Teletoon’s For Better or For Worse), and has appeared in children’s songbooks.

Experience the amazing music and story-telling skills of Connie Kaldor Up Close and Personal at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Saturday, April 7th. Tickets for her one-hour Family Matinee at 2 p.m. are $15 for all ages and include an hour of pre-show activities for children in the theatre lobby. Purchase your tickets by calling the Spruce Grove City Hall Ticket Centre at 780-962-8995, come in person to 315 Jespersen Avenue, or go online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Horizon Stage is located at 1001 Calahoo Road, attached to Spruce Grove Composite High School.

Multiple Award-Winning, Harmonica-Wielding, Blues Man Coming to Spruce Grove

Carlos del Junco and the Blues Mongrels perform at Horizon Stage on Friday, March 23, 2012

Carlos del Junco is a Juno-nominated, multiple Maple Blues Award-winner, who wields a harmonica like Jimmy Hendrix wielded a guitar. This double gold-medal winner at the Hohner World Harmonica Championship in Germany has a command of the mouth organ that is absolute. He “blows his blues harp through a prism and suddenly it seems he's holding every color in the musical rainbow right there in his hands”. Experience Carlos del Junco’s incredible energy, musicianship, and style Up Close and Personal at Horizon Stage when he and his band, The Blues Mongrels, perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23rd.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Carlos del Junco (loosely translated "of the reeds") immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of one. He bent his first note on a harmonica when he was fourteen, making his debut at a student talent night. Since 1997 he has won an astounding eight Harmonica Player of the Year Maple Blues Awards. He has recorded with Bruce Cockburn, Kim Mitchell, Cassandra Vassick, Oliver Schroer and Zappacosta, worked with Dutch Mason, Hoc Walsh (Downchild Blues Band) and Holly Cole, and opened for legendary musician, Ray Charles.

Simultaneously sophisticated and raw, Carlos’s playing blurs the boundaries between blues and jazz - hence the name for his band. The Blues Mongrels’ emphasis is on blues, but they are not afraid to merrily traipse off in other directions, delivering a seamless fusion of New Orleans second line grooves, swing, Latin, hip-hop or ska melodies, to swampy roots rock. With a total of 6 recordings together, Carlos del Junco and the Blues Mongrels’ 2005 CD was favorably called “a kaleidoscopic of musical ideas and shapes (that) blends numerous genres (Blues, Latin, Bluegrass, Jazz, Bebop, Country, Classical, R&B) into a coherent whole” by one critic. Their 2011 CD, Mongrel Mash, continues that tradition with similar highly-acclaimed musical “mashes”.

Prepare to be blown away - no pun intended - by Carlos del Junco and The Blues Mongrels at Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove on Friday, March 23rd. Concert start time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are just $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors. Purchase your tickets by calling the Spruce Grove City Hall Ticket Centre at 780-962-8995, come in person to 315 Jespersen Avenue, or go online at www.ticketmaster.ca. Horizon Stage is located at 1001 Calahoo Road, attached to Spruce Grove Composite High School.

“Blues fans hold on to your hats! Harp players lock your gear in the closet. This is the caliber of player who plays so well that I have wanted to throw my gear in the river…he is THAT good.”
Bill Wilson (Billtown blues.org)