By Jim Hagarty
As I have mentioned, my city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada, has been both the hometown of amazing musicians such as Justin Bieber, Richard Manuel of The Band, Ken Kalmusky who played bass for Ian and Sylvia’s Great Speckled Bird and John Till, a lead guitarist for Janis Joplin. It has also been a mecca for great musicians from far and wide, both from Canada and other countries such as the United States. Since the 1950s, Stratford has been a theatre town, and now attracts a million tourists a year. We also have summer music festival that attracts the best talent in every genre of music from around the world.
Stratford has a vibrant downtown pub culture but also concert halls where wonderful talent can be seen many nights and most weekends.
A couple of years ago, I went to one of those halls on a Saturday night to see a variety of local musicians and the night was spectacular. A highlight was a performance by blues artist and songwriter Steve T.
Featured here is a song from an album of original music Stevie released this summer entitled Wood, Wire, Glass and Steel. The CD is addictive, the blues licks enthralling. Along with providing vocals for the CD, Stevie also plays rhythm, lead and slide guitars, bass and mandolin. He also co-produced the recording.
The CD is available in the Corner Store on this blog.
Here is a cut from the CD called How Kool Is That.
How Kool is That by Stevie T.
