The Doctor of the Blues, Marshall Lawrence is paying a house call to the Word on The Street In Lethbridge,” Sept. 25.

“I’ll be playing a half hour set,” said Lawrence from Edmonton, where he is working on his latest CD, tentatively to be called “House Call.”

 He is excited about his upcoming fourth CD.

“David Hoerl from the Twisters is playing harmonica on it and Russell Jackson and a few more surprises,” Lawrence enthused.  And while he had originally intended to record with several harmonica players, he said once Hoerl stepped in and started laying down tracks, Lawrence was sold.

“I’m pretty excited about this.  It’s going to be a Marshall Lawrence CD and even more bluesier — neo-Delta blues,” he said adding he hopes it will be ready to go by Spring or early summer.

Lawrence, who has a doctorate in psychology and who used to be a counsellor before quitting to be a bluesman knows the importance of reading and writing.

“Reading is a matter of life. If you want to get along in life, you have to be able to read. If you don’t know how to read, you’re going to get taken advantage of,” he advised.

“People go to Google or Wikipedia for information now, I suggest they go to books,” said Lawrence .
“Books open up your imagination,”  said Lawrence, who has been published in numerous peer reviewed scientific journals as either the author or co-author of scientific papers.

 And while writing songs is different than writing scientific papers, they are both related.

“Most of my songs come from personal experience life as a counsellor. I’m still learning how to do it. But when I write a song, I need to be able to tell a  cohesive narrative so people can relate to it,” he said  praising cats like Guy Clark, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and of course Bob Dylan for  being able to tell a great story in a song.

“Guy Clark is just a great songwriter. Cat Stevens is a killer songwriter too,” he enthused.

He is excited about Word on The Street, though didn’t know when he was scheduled to play. Collette Acheson contacted him about playing the event by sending him a message on Facebook.

“I really like social media. I get a lot of really good gigs from Twitter and Facebook,” he said.
“I’ll probably be playing a lot of my originals, but we’ll see. I don’t think I’ll be playing anything from the new record,” he said he’ll be gauging the audience to see what they are in the mood for.

“It will be a lot of fun. I’m hoping a lot of people who came to see me at the Owl last time I was here, will be there.”
 The free festival takes place from 11a.m. -5 p.m., Sunday.

Look for More Word on the Street including schedule of events in Art beat