It’s that time again. Jamming. You love it, I love it - we all love it.

Open jamming means that our host with the most, Dave Balfour, will play all night and will invite people up on stage to join in. It’s a great time for both audience and musicians!

Musicians: Bring your instrument of choice (including drums - small stage sized set please) and approach Dave to quickly let him know that you’re there and you would like to join in on the jam. He’ll do his best to rotate you in if at all possible. This is a great event and is catered to most levels of playing. Jamming is fun and helps build your skills. It’s great when it all gels together and it’s entertaining when it doesn’t (doesn’t happen to often!).

Audience: It’s a Wednesday night in the middle of October. It’s the middle of the week. You’re looking for something to do -maybe meet some friends or take in some entertainment. O’Reilly’s Pub in Perth has your answer. The Open Jamming experience with Dave Balfour is a night of amazing music and it’s all FREE. No cover. The music ranges from classic rock to folk to MILD country to blues to hits of today and beyond. It’s a night of fun and friends, music and mayhem.

The show starts at 8pm so both musicians and audience should arrive early for easier setup and best seating. There is a great food menu and drinks so don’t hesitate to come for supper or snacks and drinks prior to the show!

Thanks and see you there!

Mike

Brock Zeman may only be twenty-five years old, but already he’s released three previous albums with his signature roots style, and been praised by critics for the maturity of his vocals, the depth of his storytelling and his impressive live performances – which he shares with audiences widely and regularly, across North America and Europe.

His fourth album, Welcome Home Ivy Jane, produced by Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster fame, along with Zeman and Steve Foley at Audio Valley, cements Zeman’s talent as a songwriter who balances the grit of everyday life with a lyrical heart. Sung in his deep, rich and twangy vocals and backed by a first rate band, Zeman is, as one reviewer has said, “certainly a rising star” (Atlantic Seabreeze).

Zeman’s vocals often illicit immediate comparisons to Americana greats; Country Music News has said that Zeman has “a voice that begs to be compared to Steve Earle” while Rootshighway claims that “Brock Zeman should have been born in Austin Texas.” But it is Zeman’s songwriting that makes the comparisons to the great singer-songwriters stick.

Brock Zeman may only be twenty-five years old, but already he’s released three previous albums with his signature roots style, and been praised by critics for the maturity of his vocals, the depth of his storytelling and his impressive live performances – which he shares with audiences widely and regularly, across North America and Europe.

His fourth album, Welcome Home Ivy Jane, produced by Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster fame, along with Zeman and Steve Foley at Audio Valley, cements Zeman’s talent as a songwriter who balances the grit of everyday life with a lyrical heart. Sung in his deep, rich and twangy vocals and backed by a first rate band, Zeman is, as one reviewer has said, “certainly a rising star” (Atlantic Seabreeze).

Zeman’s vocals often illicit immediate comparisons to Americana greats; Country Music News has said that Zeman has “a voice that begs to be compared to Steve Earle” while Rootshighway claims that “Brock Zeman should have been born in Austin Texas.” But it is Zeman’s songwriting that makes the comparisons to the great singer-songwriters stick.

Sioux Newberry has been surprising audiences since she first cut her teeth as a hip-hop artist while attending University in Guelph, Ontario. Spending sleepless nights spitting, cussing and harmonizing her way through performances with prominent DJs in the Toronto area, she learned to find solace in the charms of folk songwriting and classical vocal training. “In fact,” says this small-town darling, “I have always seen hip-hop as a tool for learning to write better folk music.” Today, where the styles of jazz, country, folk-rock, hip-hop and accapella foot stomp meet, Sioux emerges as a student of reflection, offering songs and stories that consistently demand that her listeners look both inward and outward.

David Newberry has rock and roll in his heart, but somewhere along the way he found that folks like Woody Guthrie, Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt could craft a song and a story like no others. The result is a unique singer/songwriter with a collection of folk songs played by someone who learned his trade in the world of punk. Sweet country songs full of hardship and hope that are sung with the world weary tinge of alt-rock and whiskey. With each performance, David blends the energy and politics of punk rock with the storytelling and lyricism of American roots music.

Together, Sioux and David offer support on each other’s solo material, and present a batch of new songs co-written especially for this project. Their music reflects the realities of everyday life in Canada - highlighting ‘the regular’ in an extraordinary way. It also talks a lot about trains and boats.

While they are extraordinarily different musicians, their unique styles compliment each other, both picking up where the other leaves off. You’ll find their common ground to be both eclectic and coherent, and most of all, realistic and reminiscent of home.

Tom Savage writes songs that make people stand up and take notice. Tales of love and loss lay the groundwork for many of his compositions, but Savage is not afraid to tackle social and political issues in his writing as well.” What I try to do when I’m writing a song is to leave it open-ended enough for the audience to interpret in their own way, but at the same time, get my point across on some level.”

Musically, Savage draws from a diverse range of influences. His early days covering Neil Young songs in the band Too Far Gone, and twanging out the Rockabilly sounds of Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent in The Cronies, have left an undeniable imprint on Savage’s style. “As an artist, I believe that my style is the cumulative result of everything I’ve ever heard or played.”

Savage’s singing style has drawn comparisons to a wide variety of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Fred Eaglesmith, Warren Zevon, Steve Earle, etc.

Tom Savage has recorded two albums, Day-To-Day Truths (1999) and Brand Of Sympathy (2001), and has just released his latest effort, Never Shed No Tears.

Show starts at 9pm - $3 cover