Ottawa based songwriter Jeremy Fisher was an affable host for a sold out show at the Geomatic Attic, Feb. 6.
Fisher, who described himself as looking like Art Garfunkel but sounding like Paul Simon was all of that and more, adding elements of Bob Dylan and Joel Plaskett with just a touch of Todd Snider’s wit. He picked some pretty guitar and sand pleasing melodies while telling stories and cracking jokes.
A rousing version of his best known song, High School” from his 2004 CD “Let It Shine” CD was a classic and exemplified all of those elements.
He held the full house in palm of his hand with just him, his strong tenor voice, his harp and battered acoustic guitar. Though he would also loop a few guitar licks and play over them on a couple of songs.
He played “Built To Last,” one of several songs about bicycles and a highlight of his latest CD “Mint Julep after telling a story about his father remarrying and starting a new family.
Then he got the audience involved by singing “This is freedom, do you want more” which was the chorus of his song “Lay Down (Ballad of Rigoberto Alpizar).”
He was full of entertaining stories as well, in between songs. He said he had never been to Lethbridge before, noting the closest he had been was opening for Blue Rodeo in Edmonton and meeting a girl working the merch table, who turned out was from Lethbridge and only in Grade 11.
He followed it up by playing “Fall For Anything.”
Most of the crowd stood up and applauded after he ended his set. He returned for an encore, joking he was out of songs “but I’ve got a lot of stories,” he said.
Somebody called a request for “Mint Julep,” so he strummed the chords while chatting with the crowd while trying to remember the lyrics. He got through them by the end , but said he wasn’t going to end there.
“I don’t cover this guy a lot because of the physical resemblance,” he joked before playing Bob Dylan's “North Country Girl” to end an enjoyable show.
