Approximately 20 people enjoyed an upbeat folk/ country show at the Slice with Calgary based musician Wil and Ryan McMahon, Dec. 5.
Wil was in high spirits. The last time I saw him at the Geomatic Attic, he was losing his voice, but he was in fine form.

He had a lot of energy on stage, jumping around with his acoustic guitar while his drummer kept time. He thanked the audience for coming out to the show and sang a request for his song “Roam,” noting he was planning on working his way up to it.

 He leaped around the stage, face scrunched up in concentration as he played numerous songs from throughout his career, dancing on foot pedals and jumping between two microphones. His wedding dress song was a highlight.

 He did a great job of ‘Roam’ despite not having warmed up for it. His wedding dress song was one of many highlights, featuring some very pretty fingerpicking. He sang in a strong tenor voice blending elements of a more folky Bee Gees with Danny Michel and Paul Simon with just a touch of Blues Traveler’s John Popper.

“Cooter Mountain” was also a highlight as Wil joked it was named after Cooter, the tow truck driver from the Dukes of Hazzard.
 I only caught the end of McMahon’s set of uptempo folk. He ended with a Tom Waits song.