I have missed the last couple shows featured by the Lethbridge Folk Club. Well, Hills and Lemelin was cancelled owing to illness, however I made a priority of catching Calgary based bluegrass band Go Ask Earl, Jan. 11 at the Moose Hall where the Folk Club 
now has all of their major shows.
I caught the end of a pretty laid back, relatively speaking, set of bluegrass music. They had a good sized crowd of approximately 90 people listening intently to the band as fiddler/ mandolinist Bruce Leinan, guitarist Carolin McBrien, banjo player Brad Lindberg and stand up bassist Keith Uyeno they took turns singing lead vocals, adding harmonies, switching instruments and telling stories. They also had a dobro player adding extra slide.
They had a pretty laid back feel as many bluegrass bands play very fast, but definitely gave their fingers a hot, sweaty work out.
They played a lot of bluegrass classics from folks like Ricky Skaggs and old country swing from bands like Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, which had a couple two-stepping at the back of the room.
They even turned the Allman Brothers Band’s ‘Midnight Rider’ on it’s ear and gave it a hot bluegrass twist which had the crowd clapping enthusiastically along with them.
They also sang a couple enjoyable originals.
Stand-Up bassist Keith Uyeno told a story about moving to North Carolina and knowing nothing about bluegrass music and only knowing how to play a clarinet. He followed that up by playing a song he wrote about living in the Carolinas.
He praised the songwriting of Carolin McBrien, who played one of her own songs as the band added beautiful vocal harmonies.
Her original song ‘Shaky Ground’ was a highlight as well.
They were playing right on up to 11:30 p.m. and looked ready to play into the night.
The next folk club presentation is Feb. 15 at the Moose Hall featuring John Wort Hannam.
