Vancouver based singer/ songwriter Hannah Georgas’ career has just exploded since she last played Lethbridge in November with Said the Whale at Henotic. She has since released her debut full length CD ‘This is Good,’ and has appeared on the cover of this month’s Exclaim! magazine and had profiles  all over the place. She wrote a jingle for Wal Mart which she expanded into a full song due to fan demand not to mention had songs placed in a variety of TV shows including Flashpoint, Peak Season, Heroes,  Make it or Break it and DeGrassi: The Next Generation and she is currently in the midst of her own tour with her owe band, bassist Rob Driscoll, drummer Nick Spetz,  guitarist Dave Vertesi and keyboardist Andrew Brasan plus herself on electric guitar.

“It’s been really encouraging. It’s really exciting and now I have the full length record out, getting all of the positive feedback on it has been lovely,”  Georgas said from Brandon, en route to a gig in Regina. Hannah Georgas and Colleen Brown will be playing the Slice, Sunday, May 16.

“In high school I was in a pop punk band with a bunch of guy friends,  but I’m a singer-songwriter. I wanted to  see my songs come to life the way I envisioned them. I’ve grown up, I’m more mature,” the 26-year-old said. She expressed herself for a video for  her song ‘Thick Skin,’ by crawling through the mud naked.

“The response I’ve got from that has been great but it isn’t  supposed to be suggestive and it isn’t sexy. It is a crazy thing to do, but the idea of the video is perfect  to express the idea behind the song,” she said.

Vancouver Island/Nashville  based country star  Sean Hogan has a  lot on his mind these days— a new CD, a new hit single and most importantly raising money for Haiti. He wants to make sure people don’t for get about the  quarter of a million people killed in  the devastating earthquake which struck the island in January.
“ That’s Lethbridge times three — dead and another million displaced. And they don’t have the tax base to help them. So they’re counting on richer countries to help,” Hogan said adding the news inspired him to organize and perform in a series of shows  — Country for a Country in Need across Canada, which will raise money for the Red Cross to use to help  the Haitian people. The Lethbridge show, May 21, features Duane Steele, local talent Alyssa McQuaid plus Trevor Panczac and Rough Stock and of course Hogan.
“I was running on Vancouver Island when I keep seeing  messages to text to send $10  to Haiti, and  I thought there’s got to be more I can do than that,” he said emphasizing he isn’t getting paid for his performances. All of the money raised from these concerts goes directly  to the Red Cross.
Hogan  feels blessed with the success he has experienced in Canada, which has included  a 1997  CCMA Independent  Male Artist of the Year Award,  and two West Coast  Music Awards for best Country  Album of the year.
“They also had floods in Nashville, but I don’t want Haiti to fly beneath the radar. They are going to need help for a long time. I’ve had a lot of favourable accolades in Canada, so I feel it’s my responsibility  to help out those who need help, any way I can,” he said.
The series has started with shows in Timmins (which featured Kim Mitchell) and in Sudbury, which he hoped would have been more successful.
“So far they haven’t been bad, though I  would have thought there would have been more support. I don’t know what to expect out west,” he continued adding in addition to Lethbridge, the tour is also going to Olds on May 18, Cranbrook on May 20 and Summerland on May 26.

Mike Spencer wound up his season at the Geomatic Attic, May 7, with an evening of country music courtesy of Steve Coffey and the Lokels.' A decent crowd enjoyed Coffey and the Lokels including Lance Loree, Russ Baker and David Bauer switching through a variety of  different instruments to back Coffey’s original country/folk flavoured music.
 Coffey told stories and sang about small towns and small town people as well as many tracks off the band’s latest CD ‘Twirlin’ Girl Boogie,’ including the title track and a very cool version of Johnny Cash’s ‘Get Rhythm.’ One of my favourites  included the line ‘It’s the artist’s job to contradict, not  the politicians.’

He told stories about being part of the artist in residence program in local schools and asking the students if they knew what a caboose was, which inspired them to play a song about a caboose crew after they said they had never heard of  a caboose.
He also performed a touching version of his song ‘Two Brothers.’

The Slice had one of the coolest roots - rock shows of the year, Thursday, May 6.
 A good sized crowd enjoyed Ottawa roots rock band the John Henrys who brought back the spirit of early Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers mixed with a touch of the Byrds. They had cool down to earth vocal melodies, some harmonized guitars and catchy songs. There was superb organ playing behind it all.
Despite suffering from colds, headliners Madison Violet displayed superb vocal harmonies and impressive musicianship on a variety of  instruments.

Some of my favourites from their new CD  ‘No Fool For trying’ including ‘Baby in the Black and White’ were highlights of the show. ‘I Ran’ was another highlight as was a moving version of “The Woodshop’ which was inspired by the murder of  Brenley MacEachern’s brother in Toronto.
 Lisa MacIsaac played a variety of instruments including some mandolin and alot of cool fiddle.
And they brought the John Henrys back on stages  for an encore of ‘Small of my Heart,’ which sounded fantastic with a backing band.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

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