It is always a pleasure seeing local musicians coming together to help out their own as well as their biggest fans.
So a variety of local musicians got together at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, to wind down August, Aug. 31 and raise over $2,000 for Derek Hoyle, a scenester who has always been a big supporter of local music, who had a serious workplace accident.
I missed opening sets by George Arsene and Steve Foord, but arrived just in time for a solo acoustic set from Jon Martin of the New Weather Machine, who has been keeping a low profile on local stages while earning his masters degree and recording other artists.
He played his usual solid set of original folk rock. His strong impassioned voice rang through the room for approximately 50 people as he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar on a variety of heart-wrought originals, including one of my favourites “Sinking Like a Stone.”
He tapped into the spirits of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury and ended his set with a cover of Queen’s “Under Pressure.”
The Crooked Creek Warblers aka Gabriel Thaine and Cris Drew added a bit of blues to the proceedings during their long set which featured Gabriel Thaine and Chris Drew taking turns singing their songs and accompanying the other. Gabriel Thaine’s songs were more blues influenced while Chris Drew added more of a country/ folk sound. They added excellent vocal harmonies to each other’s songs.
For a special surprise, Dave McCann made a surprises visit to the stage to play the crowd favourite “Standing in the River.”
Don Cassell and Dil Jopp finished the night with an original set of laid back folk rock featuring Dil Jopp on upright bass and Cassell seated and strumming guitar while singing.
