Allen Dobb and John Gogo are excited to be on the road again when they visit the Lethbridge Folk Club to close off the season at the Moose Hall, Saturday, May 25.
It has been a while since the two B.C based musicians have played together, so they are excited.
Both have new long awaited new albums out this year.
Allen Dobb released his first album, “ Alone Together” in eight years in February.
While John Gogo has a new album out in July. The second single “Tom Three Persons (Indian Cowboy)” The single is already picking up steam and momentum.
“I recorded a live interview with CKUA this morning. And I got invited to playing at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame on Friday,” Gogo said, navigating traffic in Edmonton en route to a show.
“ So we kind of built the tour around that. It was a serendipitous excuse to play seven shows in seven days,” he said.
“ Tom was really interesting. He died in 1948, but I reached out to his grandson. He has a really interesting story. He was the first Canadian cowboy to win at the inaugural Calgary Stampede in 1912,” Gogo said.
Dobb noted he will be playing the grain elevator in Nanton, while Gogo is playing the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame for Tom Three Persons’ induction ceremony on Friday, May 24.
“His grandson Sheldon will be there,” Gogo said.
“It’s a little bit out of my jurisdiction, being from Alberta. I usually write about stories and people in western Canada and B.C. ,” said Gogo who lives on Promise Island, off the coast of Nanaimo.
Dobb is excited about his first album in eight years. He put music on the back-burner to focus on his career as a land and resource manager consulting with farmers and First Nations about how to make the most out of their land.
“ I never stopped writing. I’m always recording melodies into my phone I just started to write songs and record them. I was excited to work with my brother David to record it. A lot of people were pushing me to record them,” said Dobb, who live in the Victoria area.
“ I was one of those people,” Gogo chuckled, noting they haven’t played together very often.
“Maybe a handful of gigs together in 20 years. But we work well together and we get along,” Gogo said adding They will be playing individual sets.
“We‘re flipping a coin to see who goes first . But we’re deciding on a song to play together,” he said adding it may be an Ian Tyson song, one of his influences.
“Ian Tyson has influenced every body whether they know it or not. He was from Vancouver Island too,” he said.
“It’s just good to be back playing shows again. An we‘re on time, which can be challenging to get in in time to do a sound check and eat,” Dobb said.
“ And shower,” Gogo added, noting their musical styles mesh well together.
“ We both tell stories, so if you check your cell phone, you’ll probably miss them,” he said.
Allen Dobb and John Gogo play the Lethbridge Moose Hall for the Lethbridge Folk club, Saturday, may 25. Dusty Dee Litchfield will be opening the show at 7:30p.m.
Tickets are $35 members, $40 non members.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor
