David Essig looking forward to returning to South Country Fair

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David Essig is looking forward to bringing his new trio — Rick Scott and stand-up bassist Shelley Brown to the South Country Fair this summer, where he will be performing on the main stage at 6:20 p.m., Saturday night. He is also playing in a Saturday morning workshop while Scott is in a Sunday morning workshop.

David Essig and Rick Scott play the South Country Fair this week. photo submitted
“We’re playing a couple festivals this summer, one big one on Vancouver Island with Roberta Flack and Little Feat, so that’s pretty big for us,” Essig observed.


“ I really like the South Country Fair. Maureen Chambers is  an ideal artistic director for a festival. She’s always  on the grounds, lending a hand where ever it’s needed and the audiences are great. People in Alberta really get it. Get all the nuances. People really know how to listen, but they know how to boogie too,” he enthused adding he is delighted to return with the trio.


“Rick and I are neighbours on Protection Island. (off the coast of Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo). He usually sings children’s songs, but we’ve been wanting to work together for awhile,” he said they released their CD ‘Double Vision,’ in 2008. Their hour long set will feature most of that CD as well as a couple solo numbers, but will most prominently feature Shelley Brown.


“The biggest change is featuring Shelley more. She doesn’t sing on the CD, but we took her out on tour and she started to sing and we were blown away. Plus she’s very beautiful, so it’s really become the Shelley show,” Essig laughed adding the Cobble Hill based bassist works a lot with Rick Scott, so when they were working on the CD and needed a bassist, Scott immediately knew who to get.


“It’s going to be a good mix of all the stuff we do,” he said adding  playing as a trio has taken some getting used to.


“I’ve been playing solo for 35 years. But playing in the trio gives me a chance to stretch out and Rick and Shelley to stretch out a bit too. My solo stuff is a lot more esoteric. There are a lot of deep themes and some bright moments. I can tell stories, but as a trio we have to be a lot more organized. Rick and Shelley are the bedrock of the music and I’m very grateful for it,” he continued adding the CD sold well, so he expects a lot of people will know the material, so he will be throwing in some brand new material into the set. Because all three musicians have such busy solo careers, there are no plans for a follow up to Double Vision.


“We want to tour again together but that might not be until 2011.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 July 2010 11:14 )