‘Raucous stuff’ promised for Western Music Concert Saturday
With Rose & Owl playing the show promises to be a hoot. Rose & Owl (Jarred Albright and Lecocq) and Over the Moon will play at the Western Music Concert on Oct. 6. The show, 7 p.m. at the Medicine Hat College Eresman Theatre, is the latest offering from the Medicine Hat & District Live Music Club.
Albright and Lecocq are both trained violinists who’ve transitioned to the fiddle and play a lot of old-time, Celtic and bluegrass music. Albright plays blues fiddle and mandolin. Lecocq has taken to the guitar and is singing a lot more these days, says Albright.
With all that talent the pair is able to put on a show that will have a little bit of everything when it comes to energy. “We’ll be playing some softer songs because Claire has a really beautiful voice and we do pride ourselves on our harmonies,” Albright said last week. “But we’re also both fiddle players so there’ll be some raucous stuff too.”
For Albright the path to life as a musician hasn’t been as smooth as most. A deformation of his right arm since birth has put more than a few obstacles in front of him.
“I have three fingers, no elbow but I do have sort of a half-working wrist that bends one way,” he explained this week. “So it’s enough for me to be able to have jerry-rigged picks, so I can pick guitar and mandolin and it just naturally works that I can hold a bow.”
Without any resources out there for someone with his condition to learn from, there’s been a lot of trial and error and making it up as he goes.
“I’ve found these thumb picks that are angled and that work for me but I had to go through however many different styles of picks to figure out what would work and what would produce the nicest tone,” he said. Nothing was going to stop him from his goal though. “It was going to work out. If you want something there’s not really anything to stop you from figuring out a way to do it.”
Suzanne Levesque and Craig Bignell are Over the Moon. The duo recently released its first CD “Moondancer,” which according to their website reflects their beautiful two-part harmony style and wide array of acoustic instruments they play. The bio continues “Most of the songs are original and tell stories of life lived in Southern Alberta’s ranching country."
Tickets for the Western Music Concert are $20 and available from Bill desBarres at 403-526-1070. The doors will open at 6:15 p.m.