Who: Wayne Lavallee
What: 2 nd Annual Pemberton Folk FestivalWhere: Pioneer Park (Pemberton)When: Saturday, June 11, 7 p.m.
Wayne Lavallee isnÕt much of a nightclub act and heÕll be the first one to admit it.
ItÕs not like LavalleeÕs raw, country-tinged classic rock ÕnÕ roll songs wouldnÕt be more than welcome in a joint where people just want to have a couple beers and a round of two step.
ItÕs just that the acclaimed Vancouver-based aboriginal singer/songwriter prefers the theatre. HeÕs a storyteller at heart, taken to engaging his audience with the narrative or the emotion that inspired the lyrics, the melody and the moment."I canÕt really do that in a club," Lavallee says, "really connect with the audience and share with them, speak about my experiences or the songs and where they come from.
"ThatÕs a real storytelling trait. I think people really love hearing about that too," he continues. "When I see a show I want to know more about the artist, rather than them just playing song after song."LavalleeÕs affection for the theatre extends beyond performance compatibility. Music has been his longtime companion, but it was the theatre that saved his soul.
He got his first guitar at the age of five, his Christmas request from a Kamloops community cable television Santa Claus. The music stayed with him through tumultuous teenaged years, bouncing through foster homes. A classic Iron Maiden/Judas Priest-loving, longhaired Zep-head skid rocker, the music was there through the hard years that befell him after dropping out of school at 16 to live on his own.But things turned around after a successful audition for VancouverÕs Spiritsong native theatre company in 1990. At the age of 20 Lavallee discovered not only a love for the stage but the culture he had grown up without. He absorbed his lost heritage like a sponge."I knew I was aboriginal but I didnÕt really understand what that meant to me," Lavallee recalls. "When I started coming to know myself in that way, I started exploring aboriginal sounds and fusing them together. "IÕve been experimenting a lot trying to create a sound that I can really call aboriginal music, instead of just being an aboriginal musician that just plays blues or rock ÕnÕ roll," he adds. "I just wanted to make sure it really related to the aboriginal experience whether lyrically or through the music or the vocals."Inspired by artists such as Buffy Saint-Marie, Kashtin and Robbie Robertson, LavalleeÕs combination of classic American John Cougar Mellencamp-style radio rock laced with traditional aboriginal vocal arrangements and narrative lyrics has won the artist accolades from both the aboriginal and non-aboriginal music communities.
His 2004 album Green Dress Ñ an eclectic collage of rock, alt-country and folk with the ever present aboriginal vocal elementÐwas awarded best album honours at the 2004 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. He followed up with a Best Aboriginal Album award at the 2005 Junos. The album was recently given a second wind with a re-release on EMI affiliated Arbor Records this past March, something Lavallee notes with a touch of irony since Green Dress is already old hat for him.
The follow up is in the planning stage with a projected release date of summer 2006. Lavallee says he will attempt to create a more consistent sound this time around, avoiding the folk, to rock, to country mash-up of his last record.
"I really know what my vision is now, what I want to create," he explains. "I have a really strong sense of what my next album is as a whole."The acclaim that has followed Green Dress has made Lavallee an integral part of this summerÕs aboriginal and non-aboriginal music festival circuits. He takes the stage at the 2 nd Annual Pemberton Folk Festival this Saturday evening before he heads up to the Yukon for a series of festival shows. Many will remember LavalleeÕs performance with a three-piece backup band at the Celebration 2010 Whistler Arts FestivalÕs Cultural Cabaret evening at Millennium Place last February, but this time around heÕll play solo against the backdrop of majestic Mount Currie."I love performing festivals because I can connect and speak to an audience the same way I can in a theatre," Lavallee says. "You get a more mature crowd there to see and listen to an artist, unlike in a club where theyÕre there to be entertained. "I love playing solo as well," he adds. "I think IÕm actually a better solo player than I am with a band. Me and my acoustic guitar and my voiceÉ ItÕs going to be intimate. IÕm definitely going to take on the energy of the surroundings while I perform."
SIDEBAR
Pemberton Folk Festival roundup
The 2 nd Annual Pemberton Folk Festival kicks off this Saturday, June 11 at noon with a performance by the LilÕwat Hand Drummers on the main stage in Pioneer Park.
The festival continues through the afternoon on the main stage, with a backstage workshop venue allowing audience members to interact with and learn from the various artists, and a kids activity centre featuring storytelling, crafts and special performances. Ten-year-old Jocelyn Pettit, a Cape Breton-style fiddling prodigy from Squamish will be doing double duty on the main stage and for the kids.
The festival breaks from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday before the eveningÕs concert. The night kicks off with a special solo performance by Vancouver contemporary-aboriginal singer/songwriter Wayne Lavallee and follows with popular bluegrass players The Mountain Bluebirds, the rootsy musical stylings of The Bruce Knauer Band and the instrumental electro-funk jams of VancouverÕs Themasses.
On the roster for Sunday is a diverse lineup that features the return of Rom flamenco players Lolo & Gerardo accompanied by vibrant flamenco dancer Afifa, and more familiar faces such as Dubh Linn Gate Pub mainstays The Bowen Boys. The festival closes with a performance by VancouverÕs Mike Weterings Band, a folk-rock group with African rhythm influences, beginning at 5 p.m.
The festival is being run as a family-friendly, alcohol-free event that is proceeding rain or shine with an abundance of tent shelters should the latter be the case. But the family-friendly theme doesnÕt extend to furry family members Ñ organizers are requesting attendees leave their dogs at home.
Early bird tickets are no longer available but passes will be available at the venue for the duration of the festival. Weekend family passes are $90, adult weekend passes $25 and child weekend passes $10 with kids under five free. There are also individual day pass rates for both Saturday and Sunday and a Saturday night concert ticket for $20.
For more information go to www.pembertonfolkfestival.com.
