A Review - BTU @ The Calgary Folk Club

The Saturday Morning "Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway" Entertainment Review:

BTU, at The Calgary Folk Club

(Barney Bentall, Tom Taylor, Shari Ulrich)

Well, for my introduction to the Calgary Folk Club (my bad, not theirs - they are currently celebrating the launch of their 41st season!!), I had the great pleasure of seeing old favourites in concert again, and discovering amazing new talent. 

And now I'm on a soapbox I want to shout from - hardly alone though as the house was packed and appreciative during the show last night, which incidentally ran late into the evening. Who knew? Well, obviously the folk club members - for me it felt like I was the last person on earth to discover truffles...

First off, opening act Headwater out of Vancouver presented a short set (and rousing encore) that showcased old and new music in their repertoire, and easily won over some new fans I'm sure. A great sense of humour in the between-song patter never hurts with me either. I'm reluctant to quote some of their commentary in case you do get a chance to check them out, and lose out on the element of surprise. These two young gentlemen are on a launch pad, are about to release a new album - and you can find out more by clicking on the highlighted link above...

Harmonious headlining trio BTU showcased individual and collaborative songs that reminded me of why I've been a fan of at least two of them for so long. And now that I'm familiar with Tom Taylor, I can't wait to pop in the CD of his I picked up after the first set was done. 

BTU is Barney Bentall , Tom Taylor , and Shari Ulrich . Amazing enough each on their own, but there were moments last night when they harmonized that you thought they were auditioning for a gig (way down the road hopefully) as the house band in Heaven. Stunning - I hope at least one of those tracks are on the live CD I snagged.

What more can I say - you can try and compare Ms. Ulrich to other vocalists, but last night she still had that unmistakeable crystal-clear "Shari Ulrich" sound that added "Talk Of The Town" to my vinyl record collection.  Barney Bentall has (after seeing him perform live three times before) become an even more engaging artist over the years, and his encore with the trio of "Something To Live For" was just about the coolest thing I've seen on stage - and I've seen a lot.

Finally, so happy to have discovered the talents of Tom Taylor. An instant favourite with his vocal range and writing, can't wait to pick up the new album he has coming out in November. As a matter of fact, all three have albums in the pipeline, and now I have to track them down as they are released. That should buy me some time to listen to what I bought last night :-)

All in all, a wonderful evening of entertainment, in a club I should have discovered long ago. And shall help others discover now...

Some Random Thoughts:

* I hope to interview Ms. Ulrich for my audio podcast series (click on the photo montage above to see other interviews), and chat about not only her own career, but BTU as well.

* As soon as I entered the club last night, I was having flashbacks - of coffee houses in Winnipeg with up-and-coming singers; of The Winnipeg Folk Fest scene; and of all the events I used to play recorded music for as a DJ in Winnipeg - most especially the Manitoba NDP party that had a strong connection to the folk music scene there.

* I think Bentall Taylor Ulrich (BTU) was a prudent choice of initials for the name of the band. Thank God they didn't go with Bentall Ulrich Tom Taylor...

Chow for now!!