It has only been a  few months since the Zolas played Lethbridge in October, so they have something new planned for their opening slot with the Dudes at Bo Diddly’s, April 9.

“ This one is going to be interesting. It will be a different  format and a different dynamic,” said guitarist/ vocalist Zach Gray or the Vancouver based keyboard powered indie rock band.
“There's going to be a lot more electronic music but it’s also going to be more intimate. It will be very cool, he continued.

The set will mostly focus on their latest CD “Ancient Mars,” which was released last October.

“The last tour was the official CD release tour. This two week tour will give us a chance to experiment,” he said adding band mate keyboardist/ vocalist Tom Dobrzanski has been busy in his new studio as a producer and working on projects like the new Said the Whale album, so  the Zolas have been on a bit of a break.

Calgary’s Bow Djangos like to swing. They will be doing just that at the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den, April 6.

“ We do play a lot of gypsy jazz music,” said Bow Djangos Countess Tess Bassie, who plays , well, bass in the Calgary sextet.

She became interested in gypsy swing thanks to movies like Chocolat, Swing and Moonlight in Paris. She started attending gypsy swing  and Django festivals around North America in B.C., Seattle and Massachusetts, especially after meeting  guitarist and luthier Michael Dunn.

“ I was blown away by that style of music. It’s very guitar driven” she said.

 It is always a good time when Daryll Düus plays the blues as it was March 22 at the Slice. He had a crack band behind him including Taylor Ackerman on guitar, Evan Eushenko on bass and Tyler Bird on drums.

 They played a variety of energetic blues classics and several  tracks from his latest CD Oilite including the title track and one of my favourites “Eyes in the Back of My Head.”

It’s always great to hear Ackerman playing the blues again as lately he is usually seen playing country music. He switched to bass midway through their first set and sang lead on a couple songs.

But most of the time he added tasteful solos, seamlessly trading licks with Düus who was hiding in the shadows on the side of the stage, emerging into the light to growl the blues and nail a solo.

One of the highlights was an excellent cover of Hound Dog Taylor’s “Give Me Back my Wig.”

 They ended their set with a scorching slide powered version of “Boot Hill,” then ended their first set with  “Oilite,” one of the funkier numbers from his CD.

 Tom Dooley opened  the show with a solo set of Celtic tinged folk music.

A  sold out Geomatic Attic heard Canadian musician Harry Manx blend the blues with East Indian music, March 24.

 While I only caught the last half hour of his set, he covered the bases from covering old Willie Dixon blues classics on the Mohan Veena, a  20 string guitar/ sitar hybrid.

Most of his set was marked with sighing slide powered and the  beautiful melodies he played on various instruments.

He added a nice harp solo on “Can’t Be Satisfied,” and joked about tuning  his Mohan Veena. Always the affable host, he chatted with the crowd in his laid back manner  and  sang  in  the blues in velvet tones. He alternated between several  guitars, a six string banjo and, of course the Mohan Veena, an instrument he has helped popularized.

 One of many highlights was “Goodtime Charlie Sings the Blues.”
 He wound down his  mellow show on a slow, sweet note — “ Love, Crazy Love,” then joked about  the sitting ovations.
 He returned for one last song as the crowd stood up and applauded.