The Owl Acoustic Lounge featured upbeat, energetic folk music with Johnny Good and Colin Rink, Oct. 15.

Rink was up first with upbeat original folk music which with touches of Bob Dylan and Corb Lund and even included an acoustic version of a Tom Morello song in his set. Then he broke a string, stopped to change it and returned for one more.

Johnny Good was aptly named. His music included a fleet fingerd classical influence as he started his set with an instrumental Flamenco tinged classical number.

 The underlying classical influence provided an interesting counterpoint to his R and B flavored vocals which accompanied it.

 He exhibited excellent vocal range and the goosebumps  which the attentive audience must have felt may have come from his voice or the chilly Owl or a combination of the two.
Just to show his range, he even knocked off a pretty impressive, more folky version of the Dolly Parton hit “Jolene.”

He followed that by launching into his own epic original which featured some classical composition and a classical style solo.

As always it was an incredibly busy week in Lethbridge which started with a sparsely attended show at the Slice, Oct. 11 with former Fred Eaglesmith guitarist Dan Walsh and singer-songwriter J.P Riemens who were playing old school mostly original outlaw country music.

The set I saw featured Riemens doing most of the singing, Steve Earle meets Tom Waits style, while Walsh was content to stand back and provide tasteful guitar solos.
Riemens told stories and sang appealing melodies.

There is music for everyone this week, especially on Saturday night.

One of the biggest  shows this week is with mindbending Vancouver/ Victoria, punk jazz pioneers Nomeansno who are in Lethbridge to play the Slice with Ford Pier and Lustre Creame, Oct. 23. Tickets cost $20.

For something a little more “deadly” check out the annual Lethbridge Zombie walk, so look for zombies of all shapes, sizes, colours and wounds to be wandering around downtown.

 They will be congregating at Average Joes afterwards with Sleeping with Tuesday, the Living Luca and Smokestack Jacks performing.

There will be prizes for best zombie.  If you can’t  do your own makeup, Jennifer Bailey will be on hand to turn you into a zombie, for a nominal fee. The walk takes place at 6 p.m.in Galt Gardens.

For something slightly different on Saturday, The Deathbridge Derby Dames roller derby team have their first home match this weekend.

They will be playing the Central Alberta Roller Derby Association Missfits of Mayhem at the Lethbridge Exhibition Park North Pavillion.

 Doors open for this licensed event at 6:30 p.m. with the game starting at 7:30 p.m. There will be an after party after the game at Bo Diddlys. Get tickets from Steel Sass or any derby girl for $10.

Also on Saturday, the Darryl Düus blues band are back to tear the roof off the Owl Acoustic lounge.

Calgary folk/ pop singer Erin Ross also returns to Lethbridge this week to play the Owl Acoustic Lounge on Friday, Oct. 22. If you missed local burlesque duo  the Brazen Hussies’ performance at Average Joes a few weeks ago, catch them at Jimmy’s Pub and Brasserie where they will be performing with the Cheap Thrill Billies, Saturday night.

Jessica Heine, Kelly Tschritter and bassist Sir Touby are blending a mesh of different musical styles during their Prairie  to Oceans Tour, which stops by the Mocha Cabana on Thursday, Oct. 21.

“It’s two completely different styles of music. I’m more story based. I basically tell people really interesting stories about people. And Kelly creates soundscapes,” said Jessica Heine, from Pincher Creek, en route to a  show in Twin Butte.

“I feel like my songs are a lot more literal.There’s a lot more going on beneath the surface of her songs,” continued Heine adding the tour together has gone well.

“It’s gone really great.  The  three of us have never done a tour this extensive. We’ve learned a lot about touring,” Heine continued adding  audience response has been fantastic.

“(Playing together) has really elevated our performances. It gives us motivation to continue,”  continued the Edmonton based singer/songwriter, adding the musicians have toured  before and have hit  several familiar places as well as some new ones.