PREVIEW
Paul Reddick
Saturday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Arden Theatre
5 St. Anne Street
Tickets: $32. Call 780-459-1542 or at www.ticketmaster.ca
“Songwriting and recording are like rolling the dice. You never know how it will turn out,” said Paul Reddick.
While that may be true, over a 25-year professional career, the multi-award winning bluesman has honed a deep passion, prodigious talent and never-miss instincts into an unstoppable force.
Dubbed the unofficial poet laureate of Canadian blues, Reddick has won an arm’s-length of accolades. In fact, Ride the One, Reddick’s first recording with Stony Plain Records won the 2017 Juno for Blues Album of the Year.
A devotee of the blues since age 12, the Toronto-based singer-songwriter describes it as a “unique emotional landscape,” the perfect vehicle to express the deepest moods in life.
“There are certain tensions in the music. It’s catch and release music. There are notes that define the blues and represent me,” he said.
Colin Cripps, who had produced the harmonica player’s 2012 Wishbone, also produced Ride the One. For Wishbone, Reddick, who usually writes alone, stretched his songwriting muscles co-writing.
“But the songs didn’t quite feel like me,” said the Toronto-based musician. “I’d always wanted to record a horse-themed album and this was the way to get back to what I liked.”
The cover of Ride the One is a cowboy holding on desperately to a bucking bronc. As he explained it, “ride the one” is also a term musicians use when repeating a chord instead of moving to the next verse.
“I had a bunch of grooves and wrote a bunch of lyrics. One of the features of repeating lyrics is the extension of creating a hypnotic effect. Colin was doubtful of the idea. He’s a melodic guy at heart. He was leery of what seemed a series of monochromatic songs. But when we rehearsed it, he was very supportive and suggested some melodic lines.”
Although the 11 tracks are primarily a one-chord album, they vary from the moody rhythm and blues of Love and Never Know, a comment on people looking for answers, to Celebrate, a tune loaded with cool stereo guitar effects and a melodic bass line.
Kripps’ influence is heard in Mourning Dove, what Reddicik describes as the most popular fan song. It is a melodic love song carried by a heavy swamp rock beat, sparse instrumentation and killer guitars.
”Ride the One is pretty rocking record and powerful thing. The band’s attack was great. The idea bore fruit and it was what I’d hoped it would be.”
Reddick performs at the Arden Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 3. Steve Marriner from MonkeyJunk will provide guitar support.
