Music Notes

In the midst of a hectic, month-long cross country tour that has taken him from Victoria to Halifax and more than two dozen dates in between, his two-night stand at the newly renovated Danforth Music Hall next Friday and Saturday (Nov. 24, 25) is about as close to home as it can get for longtime Riverdale resident Jim Cuddy.

Cuddy has called Riverdale home, well … for even longer than his OTHER group has been around that he and old Toronto high school buddy Greg Keelor formed and still co-lead – Blue Rodeo.

“Since Greg and I came back from New York in 1984 – I’ve lived in Riverdale ever since then,” said Cuddy in an interview last Thursday from Edmonton where he was slated to play that night with the Jim Cuddy Band in support of his new hit solo CD, called: the light that guides you home. “We’re just pulling into Edmonton,” said Cuddy, who had played Banff the previous night.

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The Riverdale-based Bebop Cowboys, generally regarded as one of Canada’s finest western swing orchestras and in the running this year for a Canadian Folk Music Award for best ensemble, are swinging into action for a very busy late-fall.

It kicks off this Sunday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m. at Toronto’s Lula Lounge in Toronto’s west end where they will host their semi-regular Hometown Country Jubilee featuring former Riverdale resident Russell DeCarle of Prairie Oyster as well as Caitlin Hanford of Canadian country and folk music supergroup Quartette, backed by Chris Whiteley.

Then the Bebop Cowboys, which released their new CD Canadian Dance Hall this past spring, will be the musical guest of Stuart Maclean’s Vinyl Cafe Christmas Tour.

That tour has at least 20 dates throughout Ontario in late November and December, including December 15, 16 and 17 at Convocation Hall in Toronto.

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Western swing music is very much alive and well, thanks in no small part to longtime Riverdale resident Steve Briggs (far right in photo), the guiding force behind the Bebop Cowboys.

The Withrow Avenue musician is the leader of this all-star cast of busy Toronto area musicians who regularly get rounded up under the Bebop Cowboys banner for both live shows and to record CDs.

Besides Briggs, the group’s guitarist, other band members include Howard Willett (lead singer and harp player), Dennis Pendrith (stand-up bass), John Adames (drums), Drew Jurecka (fiddle, alto sax) and Burke Carroll (lap and pedal steel). The latter, originally a Yukon native, is a longtime resident of the Danforth and Coxwell avenues area and was on hand for this interview.

As well, the extended band features even more regular “guests”.

For their third CD, released May 2006 titled Canadian Dance Hall and featuring a pleasing mix of originals and old standards, the band also rounded themselves up some special guests. Canadian singer Sarah Harmer leads the way with a show stealing-version of Stardust.

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