Hometown
proud
Canyon makes three N.S. stops on latest tour; takes turn on
Trailer Park Boys
By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter
George
Canyon isn’t allowed to say much about his guest appearance
on the seventh season of the Halifax-produced TV hit Trailer
Park Boys.
But
the man who vaulted to country stardom as the runner-up on
Nashville Star in 2004 and has been racking up the hits and
awards ever since, can say he plays an American forest ranger
in the last few episodes of the season.
Canyon
and Trailer Park Boys star Bubbles (Mike Smith) both grew
up in Pictou County though they went to different high schools
and travelled in different circles.
"We
bumped into each other from time to time and competed against
each other in the battle of the bands," said Canyon by
phone from Fredericton on Monday, before a concert at the
Aitken Centre.
He
brings his Somebody Wrote Love Tour to the Charles W. Keating
Millennium Centre at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish
today, the Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday and the Mariner
Centre in Yarmouth on Friday. All shows are at 7:30 p.m.
"I
really got to know him on the video shoot and during the seven
days on set for the Trailer Park Boys."
Bubbles
was the perfect choice to play a character in his video Drinkin’
Thinkin’, he says. In the video, now part of CMT’s
Canada’s Chevy Top 20 countdown, a drunken Bubbles in
his trademark thick glasses stumbles up on stage with a beer
in hand during a Canyon concert pushing the cowboy-hatted
star away from the microphone while Canyon sings "the
more you drink, the better you think you are."
He
performed the song live at the Canadian Country Music Awards
in Saint John last month but Bubbles was unable to attend.
And there’s no word yet on whether Bubbles might make
an appearance at the Metro Centre, though Canyon hopes he
will.
The
headlining show at the Metro Centre is the fulfillment of
a lifelong dream for the 35-year-old Canyon, who now makes
his home on a ranch in Okotoks, Alberta, with his wife, Jennifer,
daughter Madison, 6, and son, Kale, 8. He attended his first
concert at the Metro Centre featuring Randy Travis, Reba McEntire
and Clint Black (he’ll just miss Travis who played the
Metro Centre Tuesday).
Playing
in the Maritimes is exciting, says Canyon, who began a 30-date
tour on Sept. 16 in Regina and wraps it up in Yarmouth.
"We
played Saint John last night and it felt different, like a
homecoming. It’s nice to finish the tour here, it’s
tightened up. But we’re having a blast. It’s a
great tour and the majority of dates have been sold out."
Opening
the shows is Gord Bamford — an Albertan whose hits include
Heroes, My Heart’s A Genius, and All About Her and who
was nominated for a rising star award at the 2005 Canadian
Country Music Awards.
Canyon’s
good buddy from Pictou County, Dave Gunning, an East Coast
troubadour, is a special guest performer.
Gunning,
who frequently joins Canyon on tour, played with the iron-jawed
singer in July at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso and
was part of Canyon’s Home for Christmas tour in 2005,
and the two are enjoying bonding and writing on the road.
At
the Nova Scotia concerts Canyon will be doing a lot of his
early hits as well as songs from his new album, Somebody Wrote
Love, released in July. It’s his third major label release
following One Good Friend in 2004 which won the 2005 Juno
for country recording of the year. . He also released the
EP George Canyon Home for Christmas in 2005.
The
evenings will include a tribute to Johnny Cash.
Canyon
won’t reveal what Cash tunes he’ll be playing
but during last year’s Christmas shows he sang the Man
in Black’s Folsom Prison Blues and Ring of Fire. Ring
of Fire could be considered an anthem of sorts for Canyon.
It was the song he sang on the first episode of Nashville
Star after which judge Tracy Gershon of Sony Music Nashville
said: "You’re lucky tonight that I am a sucker
for a strapping, young, handsome guy who sings the you-know-what
out of a Johnny Cash song."
There
will also be a theatrical tribute to Canada’s fallen
soldiers.
"I’m
not political, but I definitely support the troops and their
families. It’s important to me," he says, noting
he got to many of the troops this spring, when he accompanied
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay on a trip to Kandahar
in Afghanistan.
He
expects a large contingent of family and friends at both the
Antigonish and Halifax shows, though he won’t have any
time to visit. "We’re barrelling through."
Nor
will he be back for a Christmas tour this year. However, he’s
hoping to do it again in 2007.
"It
will be the same kind of feel as last year, but bigger. It
was a lot of fun."
Tickets
for the Antigonish show are $47.03 (day of) with student rate
of $30.50 (call 867-3304), $44.50 for the Halifax show (call
451-1221 or visit www.ticketatlantic.com) and $36.75 for the
Yarmouth show (call 742-2155).
(
anemetz@herald.ca)
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