Edmonton acoustic bluesman Marshall (The Doctor of the Blues) Lawrence can’t wait to “duke it out” with Calgary bluesman John ( The Hoodoo Man) Rutherford.
“I’m going to knock him out in the third song,” chuckled Lawrence over the phone from Edmonton, where he is putting the finishing touches on his fourth CD “House Call.”
His previous two CDs, “Blues Intervention” and “The Morning After” were acoustic CDs while his first CD ““Where’s The Party” is with a full band.
Lawrence and Rutherford will be battling it out Lethbridge, Jan. 25 at the Slice.
They will each do a set then will finish each other off on stage together in a blues royale which will last until the wee hours of the morning.
“I’m going to knock him out and it won’t just be a TKO,” he continued, playing to the boxing theme of the tour which so far includes shows in Calgary and Medicine Hat as well as Lethbridge before going back north to Edmonton and Stoney Plain— with more dates being announced every day.
“There’s a lot of interest in this,” Lawrence continued.
“It’s going to be really interesting because we each approach the blues so differently,” he said.
And while he is excited about the tour with Rutherford, he is even more excited about having, not only harmonica player David Hoerl from the Twisters playing throughout the Cd, but having gospel blues legends the Holmes Brothers (Sherman Holmes, Wendell Holmes and Popsie Dixon) on his new CD as well.
“I’m really excited about it,” he enthused.
He has recorded 21 tracks for the CD and will choose 13 of them to appear on the CD. One of the chosen will be “Factory Blues” which features the Holmes Brothers.
“Popsie said it was very timely because it is about factories closing because of the recession,” he continued. He picked them up at the Edmonton Folk Festival and asked them to play on a track.
“They were so professional. They sat in the control room for 45 minutes making sure everything was perfect. They’d play a track and I’d think it was awesome, but they‘d want to do another,” he said.
While the original vision for the CD was to record with numerous harp players, as soon as he heard David Hoerl, he changed his mind.
“He’s one of the best in Canada,” he said.
“That’s it, I didn’t need anyone else. He asked me what I wanted him to play, and I said just do what you do. I want it to sound like you. That’s why I hired you,” he enthused.
“ This CD is going to be the bluesiest one so far, ” he enthused.
“There will be a lot more mandolin on this one,” he continued.
But even though he is still looking for the funds to finish this CD, by selling guitars and playing gigs, he is already looking to the next step.
“I’m forming an electric band. There has been a lot of interest in that and I keep having to turn people down,” he said.
“ I’m building a home studio so we’ll have a place to play and I won’t drive the wife crazy,” he said.
The show is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.. There is a $10 cover.
