Anyone in Thompson from Down East? How about more exactly “The Rock” a.k.a. Newfoundland and Labrador? Eh b’y, thought so.
Matthew Byrne, a traditional folk singer and acoustic guitarist, gets the kitchen party started next Friday night for the second half of Home Routes’ sixth season in Thompson over at Tim and Jean Cameron’s place at 206 Campbell Dr. Show time is 7:15 p.m. Feb.6 and tickets are $20 at the door and the coffee will be on. For more information give Tim or Jean a call at 204-677-3574 or send them an e-mail at: cameron8@mymts.net
Tim and Jean Cameron moved here from Ashern three years ago. The Camerons were also Home Routes hosts in Ashern for three years before coming here. Tim’s day job is as a uniformed armed peace officer with Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship – the province’s chief natural resource officer. Jean Cameron is the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) branch manager here. Tim is also known as a guitar-playing folkie from the late 1980s, whose talents were first on display here long ago at the old Thompson Folk Festival, during an earlier stint working and living here in his 20s. He’s even been known to pick up an acoustic guitar the odd time at the end of a Home Routes concert here and join the performer and whoever else wants to jam in keeping the kitchen party cooking awhile longer.
Home Routes is coming off its traditional 2½-month Christmas hiatus after three fall shows, which featured Allan Fraser and Marianne Girard last Nov. 20; Jolene Higgins, better known by many perhaps by her stage name of “Little Miss Higgins” on Oct. 22; and Deep Cove, Nova Scotia area country bluesman Morgan Davis, who kicked off season six here on the Borealis Trail Sept. 23. Other stops on the Borealis Trail beside Thompson include Flin Flon, The Pas and Minitonas and Swan River Valley in Manitoba and in Saskatchewan, Buena Vista, Annaheim, Prince Albert, Napatak, Melfort and Greenwater Lake Provincial Park. Other circuits on Home Routes include the Yukon Trail; Salmon-Berry in British Columbia; Cherry Bomb and Blue Moon in British Columbia and Alberta; Chautauqua Trail in Saskatchewan and Alberta; CCN SK in Saskatchewan; Central Plains in Saskatchewan and Manitoba; Jeanne Bernardin in Manitoba, Agassiz in Manitoba and Ontario; Estelle-Klein in Ontario and Québec and the Maritimes in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Byrne was born into a family of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland music makers and his repertoire is heavily influenced by that singing tradition that thrives on the two basic elements of the song – the weaving of a great story with a beautiful melody. His parents moved from Placentia Bay to St. John’s during the period of the so-called “No Great Future” and other government resettlements where 307 communities were abandoned between 1946 and 1975 and more than 28,000 people relocated in a farbed up bid to bring rural residents from fishing communities in danger of financial collapse to the capital for some urban modernization with its requisite central regulation.
Byrne’s first album, Ballads, was released in 2011. His most recent album, Hearts & Heroes, was released last May 31.
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