With a personality as vast as the country he travels and as engaging as his music, Scott Nolan took to the stage at the Snow Lake Motor Inn on the evening of March 11. Laidback and at ease with the crowd of 35 or so, Nolan began by explaining that he was no stranger to Snow Lake. He had visited the community as an 11-year-old with his father. Recalling that his father was visiting with a curling friend, Gordon “Bud” McIntosh, Nolan regaled the audience with tales of visiting bears at the dump and the teasing of Snow Lake’s beloved “Bud.” He also noted that he’d recently done some online musical collaboration with Bud’s son Jeff … a fine songwriter and musician in his own right.
As the laughter petered out from Nolan’s first sermon, he began picking his time-weathered Art & Lutherie guitar and accompanying it with a voice that was perfected for the instrument. Most of the tunes in his first set were originals and his mastery at both writing and performing led many to the back of the venue between sets to purchase a CD of his work.
Scott Nolan is a songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist from Winnipeg. His songs have been recorded by Hayes Carll, Mary Gauthier, Watermelon Slim, and Corin Raymond among others. He has recently produced albums for William Prince, Lynne Hanson, and Watermelon Slim and has released nine albums of his own music since 2003.
Seeing Nolan perform is not just about the music … he has a flair for taking common occurrences within daily life and turning them into entertaining and humorous stories. He had several from his Home Routes tour stops that had folks chuckling and there were others from tours in Canada and the states that roused laughter and cheers. A particular story from a performance at Folsom Prison introduced one of several cover tunes he played on this night … a seemingly out-of-place “Hungry like the Wolf.” Many in the audience preferred his rendition to the original by Duran Duran. He also shone bright on The Weakerthans “One Great City,” Tragically Hip’s “Bobcaygeon,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche,” which was recently revived in an episode of TV’s “Black Sails.” He closed the show with the Cohen tune.
The Scott Nolan show was another in the series of fine Home Routes performances Gerard and Roxane have brought to Snow Lake. The next, and final performance of the season, takes place on April 9, when Daniel Gervais, a master fiddler playing Canadiana, takes to the motor inn main stage. All shows have a $20 cover charge, which goes in its entirety to the musician.
In other news, the people of Snow Lake will have a unique opportunity to experience Patsy Cline in all her splendour when the Aurora Borealis Arts Council and Me to We Committee present The InClines’ “Sweet Dreams of Patsy Cline.”
The InClines’ show is billed as a musical celebration of the life and times of the legendary Patsy Cline. “Through narration and song, The InClines revisit Patsy’s life from her humble beginnings to the tragic accident that took her life on March 5, 1963,” their literature reads. “Lead vocalist, Michelle Anseeuw, brings Patsy’s magical music to life with a two hour show of her best songs.”
The InClines bring to Snow Lake a “true Nashville sound” reliving Cline’s timeless classics. Ms. Anseeuw will be backed by a six-piece band, including backup singers who recreate the unique sound of the “Jordanaires,” those splendid vocalists who sang backup for Cline and countless others, including Elvis Presley and Jim Reeves.
Reached on the road via email, Michelle Anseeuw advised that she has been performing her show for close to 16 years. “The first 10 years of the show (the band was then called InCLINEation) were performed with a group of musicians that were committed to part-time/weekend shows and we travelled mostly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” said Ms. Anseeuw. “With this next phase of our show (now called The InClines), this group of musicians are available to travel further, perhaps with more touring to the more western and eastern provinces and possibly the U.S.”
The performer says that the show is more the portrayal of a legend than it is a tribute. Noting that the intent is to tell Ms. Cline’s story, keep the music alive, as well as create an experience that rivals a real Patsy Cline performance. “In 2000, I had approached a local musician and friend, David McKay to see if he was interested in performing together,” Anseeuw said in explanation of how it all got started. “Having been in the music industry for decades, David had been intrigued with the idea of putting a professional stage show together.” McKay was impressed with how well Ms. Anseeuw portrayed Cline, and this motivated them to develop a show about Patsy Cline. “I had literally just finished reading her biography, and was very taken by, not only the songs of Patsy, but by Patsy’s journey from childhood to career roadblocks and landmarks to her untimely tragic death,” said the performer. “What a story! How could I not do this? So, I re-read the biography with highlighter in hand and got to work to write the show.”
The co-sponsored dinner theatre will take place on April 29, 2017 in the Lawrie Marsh Community Hall. It begins at 6 p.m. with supper and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets for the show and supper are $40, for the show only $20. They are available at Cornerview, Franals, Second Glance, The Snow Lake Motor Inn and HD Central.
