I didn't expect to coincide with Toronto troubadour John Borra while on a flying visit to my hometown in central Alberta. But there he was.
Gracing the bar, all-Toronto-like, in the Velvet Olive Lounge in downtown Red Deer.
Johnny captivated, drawing especially upon his new record, Cassettes in Common (21 October 2022).
He told of how, as this collection of his interpretations of “other people's songs” emerged, he realised that
part of what imbued these songs with meaning was the means by which they were shared. They moved between friends and songwriters in the late 1980s and early 1990s on cassette tapes.
John Borra was joined at the Velvet Olive last evening (23 November 2022)
by Calgary-based (Québécoise) Emily Triggs, with whom he is currently on a seven-stop Alberta tour.
Emily Triggs drew especially from Middletown (2019). Her set —and wit— left the audience wanting more.
These two proved wildly complementary in voice and message, in art and style.
What a Wednesday evening treat for me, my sister Kari Anne, and old friend Bobby Brown . . .
. . . as I bid farewell to western skies again for awhile.
* photographs by Kenneth Mills (with the exception of John Borra's album cover).