EDMONTON JOURNAL Tuesday November
30, 2004
'Homegrown acts' flourish in the glow
of Ruby
Moon
Dowey, Phillips among those recording
for
roots label
by Peter North
Judging by its
first
two releases, Ruby Moon Records appears to be a fine new addition to
the
Alberta roots music scene.
Operating
from Calgary,
the indie label has come out of the gate with albums from two musicians
who've been longtime regional favourites of blues and country fans.
Look On
Yonder
Wall, an early November release by bluesman Bill Dowey and his band
The Blues Devils, was followed last week by another live set from Tom
Phillips,
one of southern Alberta's honky-tonk heroes.
While
Dowey's set
of blues staples was cut in the tavern of Calgary's King Eddy Hotel,
Phillips'
16-song effort was captured during a two-night stand at the Ironwood
Stage
and Grill.
"It’s a
good thing
we scheduled Bill's recording dates when we did because the King Eddy
closed
down not that long afterward," Ruby Moon representative Shannon
Anderson
says of the tattered venue that had been a pit stop for touring and
local
blues groups since the mid-'80s.
"The vision
of the
Ruby Moon is to concentrate on homegrown acts and the live recordings
are
part of what we're calling the Wee Hrs. series," added Anderson, who
expects
Dowey to play a multiple-night engagement in Edmonton early next year.
Phillips'
Ruby Moon
release, King of the Broken Heart, is a step up from his last
studio
offering High Flyer that was a disappointment on the production
front and surprisingly thin in the vocal department.
Produced by
respected
bluesman Tim Williams, as was the Downey disc, King of the Broken
Heart combines
nine Phillips originals with six rough-and-rowdy covers of some of his
heroes - Mel Tillis, Ian Tyson and Merle Haggard.
Last week,
Williams
was in a Calgary studio control room recording material for yet another
Ruby Moon project. This one matched Phillips with Billy Cowsiill and
Edmonton's
Stewart MacDougall as they covered a dozen Hank Williams songs.
"We also
cut an equal
number of originals for what is going to be a two-CD set," an
enthusiastic
MacDougall said following his sessions.
"The band,
which
included Tim Leacock from the Co-Dependents, Ian Tyson's old drummer
Thom
Moon and steel player Charlie Veilleux, really clicked."
The pianist
/ singer
was thrilled that Cowsill, his longtime friend and some time writing
partner,
was able to participate in the sessions.
Cowsill's
numerous
health problems had basically kept him out of circulation for the
better
part of a year. It remains to be seen if the man who provided the vocal
swagger and sweet harmonies in groups like The Blue Shadows and The
Co-Dependents
will ever be able to make more than the occasional guest appearance in
a nightclub or concert setting.
While the
release
of a second live Co Dependents disc has been rumoured, a spirited and
vintage
live set featuring Cowsill will definitely be issued in time for
Christmas
by Calgary’s Indelible Records. The eight-song EP was recorded at the
Palliser
Hotel during the 1985 Calgary Stampede when a very young Colin James
was
working with Cowsill. It will be available at Megatunes by mid-
December.
|
The
reunion of these five
Fredericton-bred musicians might be better described as the
continuation of a collaboration that began in the seventies. 
