Hayes Carll making a return to visit to the city
When Hayes Carll hits the stage at the Geomatic Attic on Sept. 7, he may be a long way from his Texas roots but in a sense, he may feel right at home. Carll has toured and recorded with Corb Lund and known Geomatic Attic founder Mike Spencer for years. The 43-year-old American roots artist is definitely an artist southern Albertans will want to see. Carll’s music is insightful and has an quirky sense of humour which makes it absolutely appealing.
Carll started playing guitar in 1998 and recorded his first album, “Flowers & Liquor,” in 2002. Since that time he’s recorded several other albums and earned a Grammy nomination in 2016 for his tune “Chances Are.” In 2010, four of his songs were heard in the film
“Country Strong,” sung by Lee Ann Womack.
While on tour recently, Carll spoke to me even though I was a week ahead of the scheduled interview day which he graciously didn’t mention.
Oops. In the time we spent on the phone, it became clear why Carll has gained such a strong following over the last 17 years of touring.
He’s engaging, friendly, soft-spoken and as he showed with me calling a week early, accommodating.
Carll says he’s drawn to the music of such artists as John Prine, Todd Snider and Canada’s own Fred Eaglesmith.
Growing up he listened to Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, “a lot of country guys, the usual suspects.”
Dylan was a huge influence on him, he said while on a trek from Colorado to Missouri.
“There’s such a big range of human emotions” in their works, said Carll, who isn’t one to get excited about awards.
“I try not to get too invested in awards shows,” he said, acknowledging they don’t really open any doors.
“It looks good on the resume, though,” he said.
As a musician, Carll spends a lot of time on the road, a price he pays to have his music heard and put food on the dinner table.
“It’s how I make my living. It’s got good parts and not so good parts. Travelling can get old fast but I love playing music.”
That travel also lets him get caught up with old friends, such as Lund, who Carll isn’t sure he’ll see when he plays the Geomatic Attic, which for the unitiated is basically in the Lethbridge Auto Mall area.
Carll has played the Attic “three or four times” so he and Lethbridge audiences are familiar with each other.
“I used to come up to Canada all the time but not so much as late. I haven’t done a proper Canadian tour in a while.”
On Sept. 7, fans and newcomers to Carll’s music have a chance to renew and make acquaintance with this talented and unique artist, thanks to Spencer.
Since he started The Geomatic Attic, Spencer has introduced to Lethbridge a wide range of artists from Canada and abroad.
His devotion to the city arts scene is one that deserves acknowledgment and appreciation and hopefully, the Attic will be part of the arts community for many years to come. Take a bow, Mike.
As we all know, this month marks the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock festival in which about 500,000 young music fans descended upon Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near
WOODSTOCK:
Bethel, New York for three days of music and fun from Aug. 15-18.
The concert film of the festival is a classic with the footage of Jimi Hendrix playing “The Star Spangled Banner” on his electric guitar in front of a sea of garbage and a few stragglers being an iconic moment in music.
Netflix has a documentary about the people behind the scenes, who produced the festival which also features commentary from some of the fans who attended. “Woodstock,” which originally aired on PBS, offers a fresh and interesting look at Woodstock and the logistics that went into staging it, running it and feeding thousands of hungry kids when food booths ran out of everything they had in stock.
While the 1978 documentary is still exceptional from the performance perspective, the new Netflix doc provides context to the whole event and deserves a view if you’re interested at all in Woodstock.
I’ve found over the years a lot of music documentaries can be hit or miss, this one is definitely a hit.
And today, five decades after rain turned Yasgur’s farm into a sea of mud while young music fans showed the world what peace and love are all about, is a good day to take a peek.
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