Taber born musician and film maker Tanner James Holthe is good at multi-tasking. He was in Lethbridge to advance his short film Wild Bill,” starring fellow Taberite Bill Lawson a few months ago, but returns to Lethbridge to play a show with Brett Cassidy at the Owl Acoustic lounge, Friday, June 28.
He will have a full band playing with him and plans to play Nix Dicksons songs, Kid Cali songs, solo songs and music from the Wild Bill soundtrack.
He approached the movie with a similar DIY work ethic he put into his musical career with indie rock band the Nix Dicksons and as a solo artist.
He put together a crowd funding campaign in Fall 2023. He spent most of April and May doing screenings and premieres of the film at bars and pubs, approaching the release parties in a similar way to booking gigs for his bands and solo shows.
“ It’s a very Alberta film. But it’s also an homage to films like ‘Hard Core Logo,” James said before a screening of the film at the Slice on April 4.
He will be sharing behind the scenes stories of the film at his show on Friday.
The 20 minute unapologetic Albertan comedy stars Taber musician Bill Lawson, Vancouver's CR Avery and a host of western Canadian musicians. James described it as “straddling the line between Hard Core Logo and Searching For Sugarman.”
He filmed it in fall 2023 following a successful Kickstarter campaign.
“We begged, borrowed and stole to make it,” he said, noting it took seven days to shoot the footage.
James was excited to work with C.R Avery on the film.
“One of the leads in the film was written for C.R. Avery. He has a similar spirit towards art,” he said, noting the film’s focus on Bill Lawson’s character’s career as a renegade musician.
“ Bill plays a renegade musician and this is a mockumentary that gets dangerously close to him,” James said, adding he enjoyed working with Lawson.
“ He’s very talented. He’s one of a kind,” he said.
Tanner James Holthe and opening act Brett Cassidy play the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Friday, June 28. Admission is by donation.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor
