Local bluesman Papa King Cole is ready to remember beloved bluesman Harpdog Brown in song with a special memorial fundraise at the owl acoustic lounge, April 30.

King was crushed when good friend and amazing blues musician  Harpdog Brown died of  a heart attack on Jan. 7, so he  and his family decided to help out Harpdog’s family.

 

“Harpdog passed away from a heart attack on Jan, 7 I got a call the next day,” Cole said.

 

“He’s part of my heart and soul. I was blown away  that he he expired when he did,” Cole continued.

“He was a huge  part of a project I’ve been working on and hope to have that out pretty soon. And he’s also a good friend. We met about about approximately five years ago and online prior to that. But he’s always part of my heart and in my soul and I really was blown away by the fact that he just  expired when he did of a heart attack,” he continued.

“And my first thought was to have a tribute and then I thought maybe I could make this tribute into a fundraiser for his loved ones — his significant other and his son. So I called them  and told them about it and they were pretty upset already and the conversation  took a couple of weeks until we finally agreed this could happen,” he said.

 The concert features Papa King and the Boogiemen and  talented guitarist Charlie Jacobson who played with  Harpdog Brown during his last Lethbridge show at the owl acoustic lounge , Nov. 12. It also includes Vancouver based blues/roots band the Cole Harbour boys, featuring Cole]s two eldest sons, his youngest song plays ing a solo set and  s many special guests.

“ I contacted Charlie Jacobson. He’s a great player. I had the pleasure of playing with him at the Badlands Boogie festival up in in Drumheller last year. And played he with me and Harpdog and my bass player Doug Freeman. While Harpdog played his show of the night and  the next night i played mine and Harpdog just absorbed that,” he said.

 

“He’s a talented young player. He grew up with music. He’s a great player. He played with the Russell Jackson band, who was the bassist for BB King, he played with Kenny Blues Boss Wayne, Sherman Doucette and played  the Calgary blues festival,” Cole enthused.

“It’s a family affair for sure,” he said.

 

 “My youngest son is going to open the show with a couple of tunes to warm up the atmosphere, then Charlie Jacobson get up and of his set of 45 minutes or so . The Cole Harbour Boys from Vancouver are going to come up and do their set. They do a bluesy original almost roots rock rootsy thing and include my two oldest sons.

The drummer from the Cole Harbour boys will come up As the evening goes on, we’ll keep bringing up band members. The whole idea is to have a lot of fun and play some good music and remember Harpdog Brown raise some money,” Cole said.

“In addition to the music, there will be a silent auction for a painting (acrylic on canvas 11X13) by Terry Ganz and a photo of Harpdog .

“ We asked Steven Foord from the Owl how long we can go and he said  as long as there are people there, keep playing,” King said.

 Tickets are $20. The music begin at 8 p.m.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor