Tag Archives: Bill Withers
Meaford Summer Concert Series Features Sean Cotton
The Meaford Summer Concert Series wraps up on Friday, August 24th with a concert featuring Sean Cotton and the Muskoka Connection. Sean has appeared in Meaford before as a solo one-man-band at The Leeky Canoe. This time he brings his band with him.
Sean Cotton is a veteran musician who was born into the business, son of country singer Neil Cotton. For many years he toured with Corin Raymond as a duo called The Undesirables built around original songs with lyrics by Raymond and music by Cotton. After a decade touring as a sideman he relocated to Muskoka to put more emphasis on family time, but he didn’t give up music. His interest in playing with others led to an involvement in the local scene that evolved into a collective called Tree Ring Records with a mission to promote the local music scene in Huntsville and surrounding areas.
He’s bringing many of his musical cohorts to Meaford, billed as The Muskoka Connection. The full band will allow him to rock out in a way he’s unable to do as a solo. He describes his music as having a 70’s, from the stylings of greats such as Bill Withers, Van Morrison and Waylon Jennings.
The free concert on Friday starts at 7 p.m. with the Emma Wright band, fresh from the Boots and Hearts festival, as opener.
Time Travel at The Marsh Street Centre
Review by Bill Monahan of the concert at Marsh Street Centre, Sat., June 10, 2017
Photos by Robert Burcher
The Marsh Street Centre capped off its day-long 90th birthday celebration on Saturday with a special sold-out concert. The band was called The Amazing Time Machine, a name that host Florian Lenders said “we just made up”. He explained to the audience that “Chris Scerri and I got together and brainstormed how to celebrate this birthday and we came up with the idea of musical selections that spanned the years of the building’s history.” Of course, Chris knew where to go to get the band capable of such a challenge. He called on his good friend Tyler Yarema, as he has so often with such impressive results, to put something together. Tyler, a seasoned veteran, pulled together a band from his many friends and created the special program for the occasion. During the evening, audience members commented on the fact that what was essentially a pick-up band could put on such an impressive show. It was because this band was a collection of top players, even though they may not be household names, musicians who could fill several shelves between them with the awards they’ve won, who are used to taking on any musical challenge. In essence it was a band of all-star sidemen.
Tyler Yarema loves playing to Georgian Bay audiences
Tyler Yarema has played often in the area this past year, at the behest, as he mentioned, of Chris Scerri, and he continues to build a solid local fan base. He makes it clear that these are not just gigs for pay, but he comes here because he loves to play for these audiences. “I always love coming here,” he told the audience, “there is such a great community here around Georgian Bay, where you all support each other.”
And the evening was a celebration of community. The sense of community was palpable in the hall and when at one point Florian mentioned names of people who had helped make this night possible it was a very long list.
The concert was divided into three sets. The first set started out with twenties jazz and took us through to the Swing Era. The second set visited the birth of rock and roll and took us up to The Yardbirds and The Who. And the final set covered the rest of the 20th Century with selections from The Beatles, The Stones, The Guess Who and The Band, along with three Bill Withers songs and a single selection from the 21st Century with Amy Winehouse’s classic “Valerie”.
Sax battle with Alison Young and Richard Underhill
Tyler, who is a master of boogie-woogie and stride piano, was in his element with this set, as were the two saxophonists in the band, Alison Young (who was outstanding!) and Richard Underhill. Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” was near the beginning of a set that culminated in “Sing, Sing, Sing” which for me was the highlight of the whole evening. It began with Tyler’s perfect reproduction of Louis Prima’s vocals and allowed a long section in the middle for a “battle of the saxes” which was thrilling, alto and tenor trading licks. While Prima wrote the song, it had been recorded several artists including The Andrews Sisters. But the most famous version was by Benny Goodman and the highlight of it was Gene Krupa’s drum solo that shook the world back in the thirties. Drummer Chris Lamont took advantage of that historical nugget to shine in his own Krupaesque solo after the sax battle. When a band like this takes on a song like that it is not just nostalgia. It is as exciting as it must have been for the dancers who filled the pavilions at Port Elgin and Sauble Beach back in the day.
It was, as billed, an amazing time machine experience, and a fitting tribute to Florian Lenders.
Special guest Tom Barlow rocked the house
But it wasn’t until the second set that this crowd began to dance. Special guest Tom Barlow set the pace with the song that caused riots in England back in 1955 when Bill Haley and the Comets introduced “Rock Around The Clock” to the first generation to be called “teenagers”. When he segued into “Johnny B. Goode” every available space on the floor was filled with dancers, and they didn’t sit down for the rest of the night.
