From the moment Hulbert’s Open Stage (hosted by Rhea March) went “songwriter only”, I’ve had the weekly pleasure (every Sunday night) to witness the best Edmonton has to offer in young singer songwriters. My generation was quite self absorbed and well versed in its own music but had little use for the music that preceded us. I find young people today are much less generationally chauvinistic. On my kids iPods there are songs from Billy Holiday to Led Zeppelin to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Patti Griffin to Radiohead and forward. As a result they draw from a wider influence when they write. It makes their songs richer and more diverse.
I was at a concert at the College St Jean last night. There were two performers that blew me away. Andrew Perri and Lyra Brown, a couple of young Edmonton songwriters (I think around seventeen) performed their tunes with some friends for a crowd of about a hundred. I think Andrew had booked the venue and they were promoting the event themselves. Lyra has got kind of a Regina Spektor vibe and Andrew has a voice that reminds me of Billy Joel with the guitar stylings of a John Mayer. Both Andrew and Lyra were riveting performers, Lyra with her quirky originality and Andrew with his warm charisma and smile that lit up the room. Both are talented well beyond their years. I was asked by the father of one of the performers to come. I wasn’t expecting to see something this original and entertaining. It was a humbling experience.