Blog Archive
Holiday in Canadadia
December 22nd, 2005
Seasons greets all! Our annual fundraiser for the Salvation Army was last night at the Grad Club in Kingston and if I remember correctly it was a grand success. Mr Chris Brown opened the night with a few charming christmas numbers and Dan Whiteley joined him to ease the crowd into mood for a excellent night of music. LW & the Wrongs careened through a set of new songs before giving up the stage to Jacksy and there three piece rock-pop grooves. Then benefit alumni Sarah Harmer belted out a heartfelt version of John Prines seasonal, prison town hit, "Christmas in Prison" with Chris on piano. I seem to recall the dulcet sounds and lyrical lilt of "Winter Wonderland" before she launched into "The Ring" from her new cd. The crowd was loving it and it all went through the roof with Buck Jones blasting through an awesome set of their barrelhouse country originals (topped off with a smoking rendition of Roger Millers, "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died"). After that glory Chris Brown took the guitar in hand and wowed 'em with a few of his potent, lovely killer songs while Slaves of Spanky prepared for the final onslaught. Them boys outta Tamworth and their band of genius' funked the shit outta that ole building and the dance party kicked in hard. I found a copy of their new cd in my coat this morning courtesy of Captain Footbags and Chuck Badminton. You have to see S.O.S. they are amazing.
Well I'll just go round up the gang and get our stuff from the bar before it gets locked in until next year, not that I'm playing any gigs until Heffley Creek, B.C. on jan 6th and 7th. That's where it's going down next with Carolyn Mark, Tolan and Diona and who else, who knows?
merry mary!!
Buy our Cds online!!
December 12th, 2005
Hey there folks. So sorry we haven't got the online store open and running yet. For the meantime please go to
www.maplemusic.com to buy all your Luther Wright & the Wrongs cds. They have a fine selection of Canadian talent available.
December 8th, 2005
The 10th annual Salvation Army benefit is on dec 21st At the Queens Grad Club in Kingston and features LW & the Wrongs, Jacksy (former weeping tile bassist Stickys indie pop band), Buck Jones (bar room country heroes), and Slaves Of Spanky (hip hop brilliance). Sarah is coming to sing too and rumour has it Chris Brown will be there as well as some other friends. It should be a riot. tickets online at
www.rockcrew.ca, at the grad club, or at Zap Records on Princess St. All proceeds go to the Winter Relief Fund. Starts at 9pm. Yee to the muther-fuggin ha!
Luther's Got the Blues
December 2nd, 2005
On her latest cd "I'm a Mountain", ms. Sarah Harmer has included a cover "Luther's Got the Blues" in with her fine compositions. She assembled a band of old and new friends to play roots music on her "I Love the Escarpment" tour back in the spring and the magic in the music lead them into the studio for a few days to record this gem of an album. Go out and buy one for yourself and one for a Christmas present!
And in other news Luther Wright & the Wrongs are part of the annual Salvation Army Winter Reief Fund Benefit show. It takes place this year at the Queens Grad Club on December 21st. Details to come re: other bands and advance ticket info.
backporchin'
November 16th, 2005
For a listen and look at Guitar Pickin' Martyrs and more you can check out:
September 9th, 2005
Summer is really fine in September. No bugs that bite and school buses are rumbling again. In celebration I went out and bought another cheap-o camera to reload the photos in our images section. I'll try and document the fall into winter season and see if it looks true on the screen.
August 30th, 2005
Well the fall Hootenanny tour is booked and the ducks are lining up to be blown to pieces. "What is this Hootenanny", you say? Well Ms Carolyn has summed it up for us all. THE HISTORY: Born out of a bottle and necessity during the summer of the Commonwealth Games, The Hootenanny began as a weekly open stage in Victoria hostessed by Miss Carolyn Mark. The concept was stolen from a man named Mike McDonald (lead singer of Jr. Gone Wild) who hosted his weekly Rosebowl Jam every Sunday night at a pizza place in Edmonton. For ten years it stayed as it was, save for a venue change when the old place got new owners, expanding and shrinking with the seasons and adjusting to accommodate the ebb and flow of migrant musicians, student exam schedules, and televised sports events. Then one day long time pal Luther Wright (The Mayor of Kingston and lead singer of Luther Wright and The Wrongs) emerged from behind his trademark fog of green time travelling mist after a particularly heady session of springtime scheming with the notion that The Hootenanny should be put on that summer in Kingston at a sumptuous Irish bar. He sewed the curtains, alerted the press and assembled the cast which included Sarah Harmer, Oh! Susanna, Jenny Whiteley, NQ Arbuckle, Ford Pier, and himself. Miss Carolyn hostessed and played with her band. The event sold out and was magical. Many extended curtain calls and air kisses were shared by the cast after the We Are The World style finale and the night ended with many post-show toasts and pats on the back around the campfire after everything was packed up. The next year Luther called with an even grander idea. He would charter a boat and The Hootenanny would be performed at sea! A three hour cruise on The Island Princess around Kingston Harbour. Miss Harmer fronted the money and Luther patched the sails, organized the sound equipment, and re-assembled the original cast. Another sold-out success with the boat riding low in the water and some teary eyed fans left behind on the dock. Jenny Whiteley booked the cute hall just up the road from her place in Mayberly so the act could be broken in the night before and it was beautiful and there was much collaboration and it all felt like it was a hundred years ago. This spring, the original cast reformed for a touring-in-earnest version with Carolyn, Luther, Jenny and Oh! Susanna (not coming this time- just had a baby) performing eleven shows around Ontario and Quebec. Local acts rounded out the bill and were signed up at the beginning of each night on the red glitter chalk board unphased by the sound of invisible vampire handcuffs clicking around their willing wrists with everyone playing two sets of three songs each in front of the quilted Hootenanny banner and riding off into the sunset together grinning and patting their wallets and looking forward to the next time. Which brings us to the present and the all new plan: THE WESTERN HOOTENANNY REVUE! THE CAST: Your Hostess: MISS CAROLYN MARK (B.C.) featuring: Tolan McNeil, Diona Davies and Gregory "Goose" Macdonald Songs about food, wine and people you don't know. Come for the music, stay for the mental illness! Twice Juno Awarded: Pretty Miss JENNY WHITELEY (ONT) featuring: Joey Wright and Brother Dan Whiteley Songs about prison, cars, redemption, hairdos and don'ts. The Pride of Kingston: MR. LUTHER WRIGHT (ONT) featuring: all of the above and more Songs of heartache, despair, and glory. with HANK PINE AND LILY FAWN (B.C) Costumed duo sensations sing macabre cabaret creepy feel-good songs. and SHUYLER JANSEN (AB) One quarter of Albertan super group Old Reliable sings love songs for the working class. Well how the hell does that sound? Pretty great, eh? The dates and places are listed in ye ole Tour Dates section there on the side of this page. Alert your western relatives!!
August 23rd, 2005
hey! so we're just in the middle of a short Hootenanny tour that has been an amazing time. New York city tonight and we have a gang of wonderful musicos coming out. I've been so caught up in world events as of late that I have to share this little tidbit I read today on truthout.org. Seems religious leaders are partying like is 1399! Hey, I was raised Scottish Presbytarian and I thought we were hard-assed but this a whole other league! Robertson Called for the Assassination of Venezuela's President Media Matters for America Monday 22 August 2005 Pat Robertson, host of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and founder of the Christian Coalition of America, called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. From the August 22 broadcast of The 700 Club: "Robertson: There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." Well there you have it. I mean, shit, I'm scared ain't you boys scared? What to do today? Music and art are always a very good start. And be sure vote in every election you can: municipal, regional and federal. Join a political party and participate in the dialogue. For a little more insight to our mighty friends in the U.S. of A. read "The Peoples History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. And "The Autobiography Of Malcom X", by Alex Haley, if you haven't already. Think about how you would explain the concept of love to a child and elaborate out loud until you cry. xo, lw
June 12th, 2005
greetings pilgrims! I'm working on what looks to be a new cd. Out in the sticks by myself with a pile of junky, yet precious instruments that we've had kicking around for years including: a drum machine Grant lent me, a bass that was given to the Mugworts by our friend Byron before he married a movie star and moved to L.A., the keyboard Weeping Tile used for one song way back when, and my trusty $300 imitation Martin guitar donated by brother Gord Tough when he decided I needed a real country guit-fiddle if I was going to play hurtin' muic. Well I sure like the drum machine! Looks like this ain't gonna be no country record pops. he he he. Heading west to be with those mysterious people for a bit. They always welcome me even though I don't understand anything they do or say. Carolyn is again leading me around the province at least for a week before I go un-supervised into the Koots. Hopefully Phil Wisor form the Shiftless Rounders is making good on his threat to join me for a boys road trip into the mountains. We speak the same sort of delusional vernacular and have pretty similar concerns in life I figure -music & songwriting, lovin' & learnin', money concerns, and an unbridled passion for the unexpected. What kind of trouble can we possibly get in? My travels eventually lead me to California where I meet up with Chicago-based, talent -heavy hombres, JT & the Clouds. They are kindly having me open for a few shows, and who doesn't want to play "The Makeout Room"? Yeah baby. Summer has alot to offer the wanderers and I'll be hanging around and playing at some of Ontarios fine festivals this year and look to enjoy the music and company of my musical compadres from all over hells half acre. Maybe see you out there?! p.s. for unrestricted laughter you gotta read Carolyn Marks tour journals. The Hootenanny is only the tip of a literary iceberg that you want to sail your ocean liner into... visit:
http://www.mintrecs.com/tour/index2.html buena suerte con toda, mis amigos
April 29th, 2005
Just back from New York City after an 8 day sojourn that saw a bit of a 'Wrongs reunion between Jason Mercer, Megan Palmer and I to play a show and also to contribute two songs to the Steve Goodman tribute cd. It is being produced by his daughter Rosanna who chose to use bands that she felt were as good as the greats but not as well known (yet). Steve Goodman is known as a songwriters songwriter and wrote many gems including, "The City of New Orleans", (which was one of the tunes we were chosen to do). He was a great friend of John Prine who I always point to as my biggest influence as a songwriter. Steve battled leukemia for years before he passed away in 1984 after blessing the world with his music and charm. It's been so enriching to be part of the project and learn about this man and his music. Rosanna is very generous with her encouragement and our mutual friend Chris Brown has been leading the charge with captain Lurch at the Brooklyn studio they call home. So far I've just heard Crescent & Frosts killer version of, "If She Were You", and Kate Fenner and her bands beautiful rendition of, "I Just Keep Falling In Love". We also are doing a version of "Jesse's Jig", a fun instrumental that we blasted off around the kitchen table at Chris's. Dan Marcus from Crescent & Frost lent a hand on the guitar for that one. The whole project promises to be an amazing listen, featuring Steves excellent songs interpreted by a new generation of songwriters with active, creative, musical careers of there own. Thanks to Rosie and Chris!!
February 20th, 2005
Howdy! As you can see by the show listings on the right we have a Hootenanny Tour planned for Ontario. Something that started as a one-off in Kingston has blossomed into a full on tour concept. Sharing the stage with other songwriter/bandleaders makes for a rich night for everyone. We are looking at taking this baby out west in the fall, so stay tuned.
February 1st, 2005
Looking back I see a flaw in my system of crediting people for their artistic efforts. Namely, if anyone uses the pictures of me with the banjo from our images section, please be sure to credit BERNARD CLARK as the photgrapher. He did me a good turn in letting us use the pics for the site.
January 31st, 2005
I found this from a tour we did with Jim Bryson and the Occassionls, down east in 2001. On to St. John, N.B. October 24 As we drive over the Confederation Bridge that connects P.E.I. to the mainland ( the -fill in number here- longest bridge in the world ), it's hard to believe that in two weeks waves will be washing over it during a wild, fall storm that is brewing up and getting set to pound the east coast. This is a big bridge that rises high above the Northumberland Straight, no small feat for a storm to shut this engineering marvel down. By the time this calamity decends we'll be safely tucked away in the belly of the flat lands playing C & W for people who actually live in the country, out west. Our show in St. John is being put on by some fellows from the university radio station at a bar/restaurant in the hilly, downtown area of this port city. We played here in Weeping Tile a few times back a piece but not at this roadhouse. At first there seems to be the booker/bar staff dichotomy that slows down the soundcheck drill to a veritable standstill. Also the P.A. rental guy has set up the system (sort of) and is leaving right away but admits that it doesn't seem to be working and tells our vastly experienced and wonderful soundman that he can't put the kick drum in the mix. (I think, "that's okay, Cam only uses it every half of a second for the whole show who's gonna miss it anyways?). Sean goes immediately into interference mode and distracts our well-meaning promoters long enough so that Grant can rebuild the system properly and we can put on a show. Once again the show is a blast and the people make us and Jim Bryson feel welcome. The live music scene is on the ropes coast to coast, you know? These small victories spur us on. We spend time usually every morning exhchanging stories and views from the previous nights performance. There's a certain amount of pride in traversing the second largest country in the world, putting your all into a show regardless of the size of the crowd or the colour of the money (?). I figure as long as one person is getting it out there and I can sort of see or sense them, I'm good to go. It helps having your four best friends on stage with you and another at the soundboard. We play so much live that we don't really get to jam with all our gear like this so there's a certain joy that compensates for any lack of audience enthusiasm. Enthusiasm for music however, does not present a problem down east, eh? And that night just turns into a dance party...