Who is Harpdog Brown? Well he looks like a younger version of KFC’s Colonel Sanders. As a kid he wanted to join a circus, but later as an adult drove a 13-ton cement truck with a split axle to the oilfields.
Most of us know him as one of Canada’s foremost interpreters of the blues, a gifted singer and an imaginative harp player with a string of awards and award nominations.
“I’m a blues purist and a deep soul that cares about humanity and is somewhat of a preacher. I want to sing something that means something,” said Harpdog in a telephone interview from an Edson hotel.
The West Coast based Harpdog Brown Band is braving winter snows and icy conditions for a nine-stop tour of Alberta and British Columbia. On Sunday, Dec. 8, they stop at The Bourbon Room for a spontaneous night of blues.
Few musicians have crisscrossed Canada playing every club, bar and hole in the wall that offered a stage. But it’s that very grittiness and life experience that gives his music authenticity. Harpdog is the real McCoy.
Looking back on his life, Harpdog said, “I guess I’ve always been a misfit.”
Raised in one of Edmonton’s Baptist families, Harpdog explains that he was adopted.
“I didn’t feel I belonged anywhere. I was loved by all and owned by none. The blues was the first thing that gave me a feeling of belonging.”
While still a 17-year-old student at Jasper Place High, he stumbled into blues when he saw American harmonica player James Cotton perform at the University of Alberta’s Student Union Building. An instant awakening took place.
“Without him I might have been an accountant.”
No chance of that. Harpdog was never attracted to the nine-to-five career rut. He’d always favoured the unpredictable, the unplanned life in a suitcase.
One of his first gigs in the early 1980s was a six-week tour of Alberta with a rock-pop band.
“I learned I didn’t belong. When I listened to the board tapes, it sounded like shit. Rock-pop is all surface. For me music has to matter. It has to mean something and blues is about truth and it allows me to enlighten and educate.”
Back in the 1990s he notched more than credits, his calling card was full of six nighters. He’d fly in or drive in to a city, pick up the local warriors, play a week and on Sunday fly to his next gig.
Of his early days with the Bloodhounds, he describes the wilder era as, “We were out to dazzle with all that bullshit we were doing off the cuff.”
Today Harpdog has a newer, tighter band that better complements his raspy supple voice and raconteur’s charm. The foursome, Johnny Hunt (drums), George Fenn (bass) and Jordan Edmonds (guitar) make it their mission to take listeners through a nod-and-wink romp of Chicago-style blues.
“We have a plan of attack and we’re gonna burn the house down,” laughs Harpdog.
The Bourbon Room concert is also a fundraiser for Toys for Tots. The cover charge is $15. Anyone bringing a new, unwrapped toy or stuffed animal pays $10. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. at #112A, 205 Carnegie Dr.
