I only caught a few songs  from Maritime transplant Eddie Lockhurst at the Slice, Sept. 8. He sang pleasing folk style acoustic music. He had a pleasant voice along the lines of Jay Farrarr and a touch of Todd Snider, but also let loose a mighty bellow on a couple songs.

He ended the set I caught with a cover of “Last Kiss.”

Freshfest was off the hook last week at the University of Lethbridge, Sept. 7 and 8.

 I was only able to catch Calgary power trio the Static Shift on Saturday after a brief intro from the weekend’s host  the Deaner from the FUBAR movies.

The Deaner  had fun checking the the two microphones on stage and pretending to be out of breath because of it before promising “I’m really actually in shape. I could do cartwheels across the stage if I wanted.”’
 The Static Shift looked and sounded like they stepped right out of the ’70s with long hair, flared bell bottoms and paisley shirts.

 They played, big, beefy, catchy riffs right out of the Black Sabbath, Foghat, Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad playbook. There was also wah wah pedal drenched guitar solos and lots of massive groove.

There are a couple of big shows this week.
 Vancouver based, organ powered progressive rock band Bend Sinister stop by the Owl Acoustic lounge to play a special ticketed event, Wednesday, Sept. 19. Tickets are $10 for the show, which begins at 9 p.m. They are supporting their new CD Foolish Games. Local band the Dirti Speshuls will be opening the show.
 It is a busy Wednesday as there is also an open mic at Beaches.
 The Slice hosts Port Alberni folk/ alternative rock and pop band the Chase Spencer band on Sept. 19 as well. Admission is by donation.
 Admission is also by  donation at the Smokehouse where Prairie Huckster aka  Gabriel Thaine and Aya will be playing every instrument they know, Webdnesday, Sept.19.
 There is a big alternative rock show on Thursday, Sept. 20 with Saskatoon’ grungy, noisy post punk duo  Man Meat, plus Edmonton  trio Hex Beat and local alternative rock trio MomBod. Admission is $10 for the show, which begins at 8 p.m.

On the weekend, the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra has their first Extras concert of the season with Musaeus performing at Fall in Strings  — a tribute to Autumn at Casa at 7:30 p.m.  featuring violinist  Isabelle Robinson, keyboardist Mary Lee Voort and  the Musaeus String quartet. The Symphony opens their series on Oct. 15 with Russian Inferno.
It that isn’t enough classical music for you, Pianist Jesse Plessis returns home to Lethbridge to perform at the Galt museum’s Piano and Pie, Friday, Sept. 21 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for adults, $20 for youth and students.

The quick picking and velvet baritone of Winnipeg based musician Richard Inman returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge on Friday, Sept. 21. Fellow Winnipeg musician Dana Lee will be opening the show.
 For something different from that, bang your head at the Smokehouse as Medicine Hat thrash/punk band Western Death return to rock with local bands Chernoff, alternative rock duo Cope and High River hardcore punk band Shark Weak. There is a $10 cover for the show, which begins at 8 p.m..

After 15 years together, Hamilton/Toronto folk/ alt country trio feel like they’re just hitting their stride. they are looking forward to returning to Lethbridge to play their usual haunt the Slice on a Tuesday, Sept. 25.
“After 15 years or however long we’ve been together I feel we‘re just hitting our stride as a players. not that we didn’t play well before, it’s just that every night we feel like we’re playing in the pocket,” said frontman/banjo player/ guitarist and ukulele player Mark Sasso from a tour stop in Moncton. He is joined by Casey Laforet on guitar, vocals and bass pedals and  Stephen Pitkin playing suitcases, percussion and vocals.

“We‘re going back to Hamilton to play the Supercrawl festival. It’s a huge event. It’s such a great experience for us. It‘s putting Hamilton back on the map. It’s right downtown in the street.  They get like 100,000 ,150,000 people or about 50,000 people a night. It will be our third time playing it and they keep asking us back so  we must be doing something right,” Sasso continued.

“We’ve been playing a lot and touring a lot. We‘re on the east coast now, where we haven’t been for a while,” he observed.
They are still touring in support of their 2017 “Ghost Gardens,” which  is doing well with fans.
“Fans have been listening to the music and buying the album and singing the songs back to us, same as they always do, so we must be doing something right,” Sasso said.
 Part of their success is road testing new songs as they are now and will be doing in Lethbridge.