All Pictures by Paul Fitzgerald

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All you Blues Fans  out there, there is a new Joint to see your favorite Blues artists. The Electric Owl, a new club in the old American Hotel is featuring a  Blues icon every last Sunday of the month. This first show was a sell out to 160 happy guests. Tables can reserved but the menu is limited to sharing plates or appetizers. The Owl Poutine is the most popular dish and the staff were great. They worked hard to keep up to the demands of a very thirsty crowd. All around a great experience.

Colin was in His Element at The Electric Owl .

Blues Artist Steve Dawson

To warm up the audience Steve with his Hen House Band played six songs. Some from his new CD Night Shade, and some old Blues classics. Steve is an astounding artist and 7 time Juno winner. The Hen House’s Bass player, the barefoot Keith Lowe kept everyone amused with his facial expressions and wild Bass playing. Geoff Hicks was on drums and kazoo and Chris Gestrin on keyboards and organ were fabulous. Blues Baby !

It was a night to play homage to all the great blues artists. Hits by Sam Cooke, Irma Thomas, Johnny Otis, John Hiatt, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan were played . Ry Cooder’s Billy The Kid was a favorite of Colin’s. Another hit , Sneaking Sally by Robert Palmer was mentioned as a favorite of Steve’s. Even a more recent hit by Patty Griffin, Up To the Mountain was belted out by Colin and Steve and the Hen House band. It was a Blues party. The Finale, Johnny Otis’s Hand Jive had people up dancing where ever they could. The Encore was Sam Cooke’s Having a Party. They joked it was from Sam’s Cook Book.

Colin jammed on acoustic guitar as well as mandolin, banjo and electric. Man this guy is Talented !

Instrument changes were for every song. Colin had two different acoustic guitars, a mandolin, harmonica and four separate electric guitars which included his famous Black SilverTone given to him by  Canadian Blues legend Don Freed with the promise to never sell it for any amount of money. By the end of the night Colin’s fingers were almost bleeding and guitar strings were breaking. It was a Blues jam the likes I will never get to experience again. Steve Dawson was jaw dropping on the Sliding Hawaiian Steel guitar and had as many instrument changes as Colin including a banjo and mandolin and the acoustic guitars. I was just in total astonishment at their combined talent.

If you’re a Blues fan, The Electric Owl is the place to see your favorite Blues artists. Rock has it’s roots in the Blues man! Next Blues show Sun. April 29, with Alvin Youngblood Hart. Enjoy!

Setlist of Blues favorites played by Colin James and Steve Dawson with The Hen House Band

Last Fair Deal Goin’ Down  (Robert Johnson)
Rattle Snakin’ Daddy        (Blind Boy Fuller)
Up To The Mountain          ( Patty Griffin  )
Aint Nothing You Can Do    ( Van Morrison)
Watching The River Flow    ( Bob Dylan  )
Take it Down                    ( John Hiatt  )
HooDoo man Blues           ( Junior Wells  )
It Aint No Lie                    ( Elizabeth Cotten )
Tried and Tempted            (Wood Brothers )
Billy The Kid                     ( Ry Cooder )
Sneaking Sally                 ( Robert Palmer)
Pressure Drop                   ( The Maytels  )
Devils in The Jukebox        ( Ray Lamontagne )
Cypress Avenue                 ( Van Morrison )
Ruler of My Heart               ( Irma Thomas  )
Hand   Jive                        ( Johnny Otis )
Having a Party                   ( Sam Cooke, Sam’s Cook Book )