Fort Macleod singer songwriter John Wort Hannam put on an impressive show for a capacity crow
d at the Slice, Thursday, Jan. 14.
He played most of
his new CD, ‘Queens Hotel and impressed the audience with his engaging and self deprecating stage presence and underestimated guitar prowess. His performance proved he chose wisely when he decided to quit teaching to become a songwriter.
His pretty acoustic fingerpicked guitar lines were matched only by his gorgeous vocal melodies and unparalleled story songs. The band, Tyler Bird on stand-up bass and accordion, drummer Brad Brouwer and phenomenal fiddler Scott Duncan, were superb.
Duncan left me in awe, whether he was playing tastefully melodic background lines or sizzling leads, he was impressive.Bird was solid on stand up bass and accordion which completely made ‘Lucky Strikes,’ one of my new favourites off of the new CD.
Some of the highlights included “ ‘Against the Grain,’ off the new CD, which opened the show, and several new cuts including “Church of the Long Grass,’ an almost Celtic sounding ‘Tonight We Strike,’ “When I Drink Too Much,” during which Hannam had the crowd harmonizing along on the line “honey.” Some of the tracks off of Hannam’s previous CD ‘Two Bit Suit,’ including ‘Damn it Gwenivere,’ and ‘National Hotel.
