Tim Vaughn and his band put on the blues show of the year at the Slice, Aug. 23 and that’s saying something considering we’ve already seen great blues shows from Wild T and the Spirit and Jack Semple, just to name a few.
Though Saskatoon’s Tim Vaughn has been playing for about 14 years, seeing him and his trio was like seeing a young Wide Mouth Mason just before they break. Vaughn’s voice is a dead ringer for Wide Mouth Mason frontman Shaun Verrault, he even looks like him.
The trio tore it apart, the audience of 50 should have been 500 or even 5,000 and likely will be one day. The rhythm section were locked in, leaving Vaughn loose and free to experiment and tear a few ears off in the process. He updated and revamped a couple Jimi Hendrix songs. Vaughn showed he could play many different styles rather than just shredding. He could play slow and soulful like B.B. King, he got a little funky on a couple other numbers and played straight ahead blues rock on others.
He switched to keyboards for a couple other numbers and all the while sang with enough soul to jerk out a waterfall of tears. His voice was magnificent— very similar to Shaun Verrault.
The people felt it. While about 20 people were there at the beginning of the show, (it would double by the end), most of them were dancing in front of the stage. He ended with a soulful version of “Time is On My Side” then went a little Crazy on Prince’s “Let‘s Go Crazy.” He ended his show with what sounded like “Whipping Post ” but was actually more Jimi Hendrix music.
Lethbridge songwriter Amy Bronson opened the show by releasing her brand new CD with a little help from her friends. She had a full band backing her including violinist Megan Brown, bassist Felipe Rodriguez and Jesse Northey, who also produced and recorded her CD, alternating between guitar and drums. Together they did a good job of bringing the new CD “ Coeur d’ours grizzli — Grizzly Bear Heart ” to life.
It was also one of her last concerts before she moves to New York City. She also played the next day at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.
The band completely filled out the sound and let Bronson’s voice shine.
She played some pretty guitar as usual, particularly on the new song “Noisy Sparrow.”
While her new music was very strong folk singer songwriter material, a new song, “Manners” was a very cool, quirky and catchy alt-country number.
She sang the French title track of the CD “ coeur d’ours grizzli” which was also a highlight of the show.
Another highlight, “Canada” which is also the last track on the CD was another highlight which sounded similar to one of the songs off her last CD “I’m Allergic to my Deodorant.”
