You might remember Kevin Kane from hit 1980’s Canadian band the Grapes of Wrath, but more recently he’s been in the Lethbridge area a lot playing and recording with Leeroy Stagger.
 He is performing a solo show at Henotic, Feb. 19 with the Necessities.
“Lately I feel like I’m being lead through life. I show up and play and see what happens,” said Kane from Calgary where he is about to see country rock band Wilco, before returning to Lethbridge to finish work on Leeroy Stagger’s next CD.
The Kelowna based songwriter is looking forward to a busy year with several solo shows booked as well as a tour with Leeroy Stagger in May through July and a quick tour with the Grapes of Wrath in July. The Grapes of Wrath has a handful of late ’80’s, early ’90s hits including ‘All The Things I Wasn’t,’ ‘Peace of Mind,’ ‘I Am Here,’ and ‘You May Be Right.’
“ Tom (Hooper, Grapes of Wrath bassist) and I decided to start playing together again a few years ago. It takes quite a bit of organization. He has a regular gig in Victoria and has a regular gig with 54-40 as their keyboardist and percussionist. We were going to do five or six Alberta shows in November, but I don’t know if that will happen,” he said.
In the meantime, he has his solo set at Henotic.
“I don’t really plan these things,” he said.

Austin songwriter Gurf Morlix has an impressive musical résumé. Morlix, who plays the Geomatic Attic, Feb. 17, has played on and/or produced  CDs for people like Ray Bonneville, Scott Nolan, Spirit of the West’s Linda McRae, Romi Mayes Ray Wylie Hubbard, Lucinda Williams (who he played guitar for in her band for many years), Slaid Cleaves, Mary Gauthier and Robert Earl Keen. And that’s just a few of them.
For now he’s looking forward to being back in Canada for several shows with Sam Baker, including a show, Feb. 17 at the Geomatic Attic.
“I’m looking forward to  being there because of the people there,” said the Buffalo born musician from his home in Austin, where he was looking forward to escaping from freezing 45 degree Fahrenheit weather.
“I love playing up there. The audiences there remind me of Texas audiences, they appreciate all kinds of music as long as it is organic and real” said Morlix who was  playing Alberta last summer at a couple folk festivals and working with a lot of canadian musicians.
“I spend my summers in Canada. I spend so much time in Canada I consider myself to be  part Canadian. I love it there,” he said.
“I’m interested in working with anyone who’s music is real and organic,” he said adding word of mouth helps him contact all of the great musicians he’s worked with.
“I’ve been really fortunate to work with a lot of really great musicians like Ray Wylie Hubbard and Mary Gauthier. It’s been really good,” he said.
“Ray Wylie Hubbard  is the greatest. You can tell what kind of guy he is  by his lyrics. He is friendly and smart . And he’s fun to be around,” Morlix enthused adding, Hubbard has a new CD out, though he wasn’t asked to play on it.
Morlix’s sedate slide guitar work  stands out  on all of the recording he plays on.
“I use  a standard tuning which some people find limiting so it forces me to play simpler. Most people use open tunings,” he observed.
“So I guess it does have a signature sound based on it’s limitations,” he said.
“I think a producer is there to work with the artist and get the best recording possible from them. But the song has to be there already and the voice has to be there to deliver it,” he observed.
“I never liked the idea of the omnipotent producer,” he said, adding he found out about Romi Mayes through a phone call from Dan Walsh.
“He suggested I listen to her and I ended up going up to Winnipeg to record her CD ‘Sweet Something Steady,’ then  I ended up going back again for “Achin’ in Her Bones.’”

The Zolas, with their organ powered ’60s rock sound were excellent, Feb. 3 at Henotic.

They reflected  the sounds of the Who and  the Kinks while touching on a few modern influences like Incubus.

They had a lot of energy and  excellent vocal melodies as well as catchy hooks.

Openers We Are the City , who dominated both levels of Henotic with waves of shrieking ambiance and feedback during their set, joined the Zolas on stage during their last number, adding additional vocals, percussion and a lot of drums.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat editor

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Singer songwriter Mike Grabow was back in Lethbridge for a packed show at Mood with the Ben Brown Trio, Feb. 6. Grabow, back in Lethbridge after a few months in Mexico,  joined the Ben Brown Trio on stage for a version of Collective Soul’s ‘Shine.’ 

Then did a solo set of own material backed by a band.

Ben Brown did a pretty cool version of ‘Careless Whisper’ and Collective Soul’s ‘Gell’ as well as a couple slower originals.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

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