Edmonton born/ Gulf Island based bluesman Lester Quitzau is looking forward to playing a laid back blues/folk gig at the Lethbridge Folk Club, Feb. 6.
He will be playing with acoustic bassist Farley Scott and several different guitars.
“I’ll be playing some acoustic, some electric, some dobro and some electric slide,” Quitzau said from a tour stop in Red Deer. He is touring in support of his latest CD “ The Same Light.”
“Response has been good. It’s got lots of good reviews. It’s definitely very mellow and peaceful, but it reflects where I’m at in my life. It grows on you,” he said noting most of the show will consist of material off the new CD.
“Then we’ll be digging into some older material and a few covers and traditional material. It’s folk, blues and rock with a different approach to all of them,” he continued adding there is a lot of improvising and interplay between the musicians on stage.
“We let the music take us where it wants to,” Quitzau continued.
Quitzau was last in Lethbridge last year with Tricontinental (Madagascar Slim and Bill Bourne).
“Playing with Tricontinental is different because we all have such different influences. We all bring a few songs to the plate and we all play on each others’ songs. But in solo shows I have a bit more freedom to be myself while Tricontinental is more of a collaboration,” he said adding he grew up on British blues influenced rock and roll which attracted him to blues music.
“Being in Tricontinental has been a huge catalyst to opening up my influences in regards to the possibilities of world music, but I listen to everything,” he said noting playing with Tricontinental has added a new dimension to his own songwriting.
“Quite a bit actually. Madagascar Slim’s African music and Bill’s material is all really well structured and influential and the vocal harmonies has definitely made me better. When you surround yourself with geniuses, it has its effect.”
He is also helped record Moore’s Western Canadian Music Award nominated CD “Oh My!” with Vancouver based singer/songwriter Mae Moore.
“It’s still in the beginning stages. But for sure. If she wants me to play on it, I’m there,” he continued adding there is no new Tricontinental CD in the works either, or a solo CD.
“When you do a CD, you pretty much are committing yourself for a year long tour.”
For now, in addition to this Western Canadian tour, which started in Jasper and will hit several stops in Alberta and B.C, he is concentrating on subsistence farming at his Gulf Island home, where he has been living for the past eight years.
“It’s been a lot of work growing food and being self sufficient. It’s interesting how close nature is connected. It must affect my songwriting because everything we experience affects the art. It’s like looking at the life cycle of a seed. The seed just wants to grow, it’s affected by its surroundings,” he said.
The show begins at 8 p.m. at the Wolf’s Den (325 5 St. S.,) at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $25 for non-members, $20 for members.
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