The Blues That Howse Built

This past weekend has certainly been a busy one. I've took in an array of live music, the best that St. John's can offer. From Legends to up and coming locals who are blazing their way through to becoming legends. It probably can't ever be beaten to see so much great music in one weekend again and probably shouldn't be. It had good times where my face was hurting from smiling so much at what I considered to be an privilege to be able to sit and listen to music that built this land and gives me goosebumps. To sit back and listen to amazing acoustic blues one night to down home traditional newfie music the next to deep in the woods folk the next. I can't be thankful enough to Harv Templeman enough for bringing me to these shows which I probably wouldn't have otherwise. The next few days on the blog I will post the music I took in each night, starting with Thursday. So here we begin.
We rolled into St. John's around 9pm Thursday night. Pushing in through to catch a legendary Newfoundland blues musician who now resides in Nova Scotia named Roger Howse. It was his new cd release party and there was no way Harv wanted to miss this guy play. He knew I would be blown away by this guy being a huge blues fan and oh boy was I ever. We went our separate ways and planed on meeting at The Ship pub where the show was being held later. I got talking to friends and had a few beer primers so unfortunately I ended up missing a bit of the show. As I broke away from the gathering I took the corner of ally where The Ship is neatly tucked away and outside low and behold Harv is outside having a smoke with Howse. I was introduced to the blues singer even before I had the chance to listen to him play. So I go in and order my beer and anticipate the next set having missed the first. The pub was packed with St. John's finest from actors and musicians. Older folk who appreciate great music so after scanning the place I knew that I was in for a great show. Roger makes his way up on stage with his new duet group Stonehowse with Brenda Stone. The moment I heard and felt the pick of the strings I was floored. Roger and Brenda played old blues and new tunes that sounded like old blues. It was a great show and the great thing about it all was everyone was in awe of it. They were the perfect crowd to watch a great show. They knew great music and came to listen to it and not to pay 10 bucks for a ticket and then sit at the bar and talk all night over the live performance. Unfortunately I missed out on the first set where Roger put on a great solo show but I got the album and have listened to it alot in the past few days. After that show I could have went back to Bonavista a happy man, pleased and thrilled at what I just saw. But low and behold it was only the beginning.