Toronto based, Winnipeg born folk/ pop musician Daniel Sky is learning some tough lessons about touring Canada in the winter, but he’s keeping 
his sense of humour about everything, even after having to temporarily abandon his car in an Athabaska snow drifte en route to a gig in Edmonton.
“Touring in Canada is absurd anyway,” laughed Sky, who plays the Slice, Nov. 30.
“If only because of the geography. I play Lethbridge on Wednesday then drive 12 hours to a house concert in Victoria. And I’ve tried not to do that on this tour. But I’ll take a break and play some other shows there ,” said Sky, who made a surprise appearance at the L.A. Beat jam at the Owl Acoustic Lounge a couple weeks ago.
He is about midway through an extensive western Canadian tour in support of his sophomore CD “Spider Milk.”
“ I’m a Travelling Wilburys/ Jeff Lynne type of guy,” he said of his CD, an upbeat ’70s style pop/ rock , 10-track effort reminiscent of the Wilburys and even George Harrison. especially on his song “Through The Blue.”
On that song, I felt like George was there is in the studio with us.I think is something he would have liked,” Sky continued.
Sky got a late start on his music career, beginning it at age 20. He was an actor before becoming a musician, training and working as an actor in Winnipeg. He recorded his first CD, a more folk inspired solo effort “On the Round,” back in 2007.
The latest CD is more punk rock inspired.
“It’s very different. It’s not really punk rock though, it’s more Elvis Costello. When I’m playing solo, I can punk out the folk songs. I find I can do that as a solo artist rather than being constricted by a band,” he said.
While his tour has mostly been solo, he hooks up with other musicians in the cities he plays. He may be bringing a drummer from Calgary to Lethbridge.
“He has to work , so it depends on if he can get the day off. I’ve got 26-28 songs and five or six covers, so I’ll be playing two sets,” he said.
“I’m getting familiar with the old songs and they’re holding up,” he said.
The new CD , was producd by multi-instrumentalist Derek Downham, who plays guitar for Sarah Slean and variety of other musicians inlcuding Serena Ryder and Andy Kim who is best known for his song “Sugar, Sugar.”
“He’s like an unsung Toronto, Canadian musician,” Sky enthused.
The CD was engineered by Lee Rogers, who has played with a number of other people as well.
“I’ve been lucky, where ever I have lived, Winnipeg, Lake Louise, I’ve been able to play with this calibre of musicians interested in playing my music. I would have never been able to get to where to where I am without them,” he said.
He is looking forward to the Lethbridge show.
“I think I’ll delever a very rock and roll performance, even if I am playing solo. I’ll just turn the amp louder,” he said.
