by Scott Roos
photo by Mark Welsh Photography
This coming weekend, the Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Association will present their annual “Bluegrass at the Barn” event. Saskatoon bluegrass and old time music aficionados can enjoy the festivities at the Barn Playhouse on Saturday, June 3rd. Reginans can take it all in at Country Acres which is near the small town of McLean. The lineup will feature The Bix Mix Boys, The Barrelmen, Soil N’ Grass, Lucas Welsh and Deacon Creek as well as a pick along jam. It’s a family friendly event that will run from 1 - 7 pm at each venue.
Meadow Lake’s Lucas Welsh is very much looking forward to performing on the Bluegrass at the Barn stage. Welsh, who is of Metis origin, will be performing a solo set that will promise to bring a unique, “something for everyone” kind of vibe. He’s a multi-instrumentalist on top of being a world class fiddle player with a veritable suitcase full of influences that he wears on his sleeve.
“I'm hoping that I can showcase a little bit of variety. I'm gonna bring some of the Metis influenced fiddle stuff. It’s the kind of stuff that I can perform as a solo fiddle player,” explained Welsh in a recent telephone interview with NSMZ
“Maybe I’ll add a little traditional footwork to showcase that Metis heritage that I have that's always important to me. I always try to do that in a show.”
On top emphasizing his Metis heritage, Welsh, as a fiddler, is capable of showing off stunning versatility on the instrument. He plays a pretty slick version of the George and Ira Gershwin jazz standard “Lady Be Good”. His “student of the game approach” is what he attributed to some of the sonic eclecticism.
“You know, I was always looking for new sounds and different things when I was kinda trying to explore and find the style of fiddle music that I wanted to play…. Bluegrass has a lot of different flavours in the fiddling.”
At Bluegrass at the Barn, Welsh, on top of showing off his fiddling chops, will do some singing, guitar picking and mandolin strumming - all things he’s picked up along the way during a storied career that’s seen its fair share peaks and valleys. Through it all, Welsh has remained gainfully employed in the music industry. That’s no small feat to be sure.
“One of the reasons why I learned to play so many different instruments is you can always be busy as a musician if you know how to play more than one thing,” relates Welsh.
It’s far from being a “jack of all trades master of none” situation, though. Perhaps a “master of all” is a more fitting description? The point is, Welsh is a good dude, who plays good music and you should come out to Bluegrass at the Barn to see him.
For more information on this event including tickets, vendors, food and children’s activities, check things out by clicking here.