First stop North of 60 for Dallas Green
City and Colour rocker to headline Folk on the Rocks Sunday
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Friday, July 14, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The moving and melodramatic music of acclaimed singer-songwriter Dallas Green of City and Colour will hit Folk on the Rocks Sunday night.
City and Colour's Dallas Green is hitting the Folk on the Rocks stage on Sunday night. The prolific songwriter has released five albums in 12 years, four of which have gone platinum in Canada. - photo courtesy of Alysse Gafkjen |
The Yellowknife visit is part of Green's solo tour of Canada.
The former Alexisonfire musician has released five albums in 12 years, four of which have gone platinum in Canada.
Green's been nominated for seven Juno awards and has won three, including two for songwriter of the year.
In 2014, he collaborated with Pink on a project called You+Me.
Yellowknifer chatted with the indie musician about the magic behind his music ahead of the show.
Q: Have you been to Yellowknife before?
A: It'll be my first time in the territories at all so I'm very excited to finally be coming up. It's wonderful to get to see a place in my home country that I have never been to. It's probably the most excited me and the guys who are coming up have been all year.
Q: Talk about your songs and song writing style.
A: People, I guess, think of my songwriting as depressing or sad but I like to write about the heavier things - like love and loss. The way I play guitar and sing lend itself to that way of writing. Most of it is just me trying to work out whatever is bothering me. Then I hope - through that - somebody can listen and take whatever they need from it. Whether they are listening to a song and it just resonates - something they were able to take away or help them get through something. That's my favourite part about music. That you can just take whatever you need from it.
Q: What inspired the song Northern Blues in If I Should Go Before You?
A: I bought a house down in Nashville, Tennessee. I had moved down there for a little bit and was writing If I Should Go Before You. I wrote that song about feeling guilty about moving to America and not being in Canada anymore.
It's about being Canadian and how we sometimes don't allow ourselves to be happy. There's a sense that Canada can't allow us to be who we are when certain things take off. I was going through a little bit of that in my own mind and trying to wrap my head around it.
Q: What is important when writing a song?
A: I feel really strongly about what I am trying to say and so I think that would be the most important part to me.
Q: What would you tell people who haven't heard or seen you perform before?
A: It's not going to be laser beams and fireworks.
It's going to be pretty sombre because my songs are a bit sombre, especially when I am mostly by myself and a guitar. I will be trying to play my absolute best and I'll probably tell some pretty bad jokes and hopefully, (the audience) can enjoy themselves.
