Ballads, Blues Offerings Kick Off Old Chestnuts Song Circle Season

By Robert Reid (C) Kitchener-Waterloo Record, August 1997

As the summer festivals draw to a close, music buffs can put away the suntan lotion for another year and start turning their thoughts indoors.

Jack Cole, a guiding light behind the Old Chestnuts Song Circle, is kicking the fall music season into gear with two house concerts that reverse the tide of westward expansion by bringing western-based performers to Kitchener-Waterloo.

The first has Bill Gallaher and Harmony Road playing a concert August 29 at the Coles' comfy Chestnut Street digs. The second marks the return of Cathy Miller on September 12.

The Victoria-based Gallaher and Harmony Road - consisting of longtime musical partner Jake Galbraith, Mike Jones and Maureen Campbell - may not be known to area acoustic music fans. Pity that, because they deserve to be as familiar as former westerners Stephen Fearing or James Keelaghan.

Gallaher, who has been performing since 1983, is a superb songwriter whose forte is the traditional ballad.
He writes songs about the people and the events of history with the kind of skill that invites comparison to such contemporary balladeers as Tom Paxton, Ewan MacColl and Dougie MacLean or, closer to home, to early Keelaghan. Comparison to the late Stan Rogers is simply too obvious to belabor.

Those who have not heard any of Gallaher's five albums - including the recently released Across the Divide - or who have not seen him perform might be skeptical of such heady comparisons.

All that can be said to the uninitiated is: hearing is believing. Gallaher is that good a songwriter.

Gallaher's songs are attractively packaged by Harmony Road in terms of both vocal and instrumental work. Gallaher, who plays 12-string guitar in addition to handling lead vocals, is backed by Galbraith on harmony vocals, guitar, bass, violin and mandolin. Originally from California, Galbraith has been performing folk music since the late 1960s. He has backed various performers including Diamond Joe White, Ian Tyson, Nathan Tinkham and Cindy Church.

Harmony Road is rounded out with Jones (the group's only Ontarian) on harmony vocals, guitar, banjo and accordion and Campbell on harmony vocals and percussion.

Cole is high on the Vancouver native. In a recent Old Chestnuts newsletter he describes the balladeer as "one of the best kept secrets in the country," adding that his appearance promises to be "a penultimate Song Circle concert."

Cathy Miller is no stranger to Kitchener-Waterloo. She was here last December for a wonderful Christmas concert with David K and Eileen McGann. Titled Two Thousand Years of Christmas, the trio are returning again December 6 for a concert reprise at Zion United Church.

In the meantime, though, Miller will be in town for a solo concert, her first locally since the fall of 1993.

Originally from Ottawa, Miller moved to Calgary in 1990 where she has pursued multiple careers as a singer/songwriter, children's performer, theater performer, music activist and educator. A diverse songwriter in terms of both content and style (spanning folk, jazz, blues), Miller has a gorgeous voice - strong, clear and expressive.

Although she has released three albums, including Dance Beneath the Moon in 1991, Miller is involved in a couple of projects that will be reflected in her house concert. She is currently working on an album that will accompany a photographic book dedicated to Canadian coal miners. The album involves a number of Canadians including Bill Bourne and Diamond Joe White, but Miller is the project's primary songwriter.

"It's an exciting project for me," Miller said. "It's involved a new way of writing music which I've quite enjoyed."

Miller is a polished performer. Her concerts are buoyed by high energy and are spiced with humour. She is a performer who learned long ago that it's easier to attract fans with honey than vinegar.