Throwback Thursday: Jim Bryson in Showcase, 2001

May 292014

Throwback Thursday

Ottawa’s Kelp Records is celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a special shindig tonight at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, featuring The Acorn, Jim Bryson, Evening Hymns, Andrew Vincent, Andy Swan, Rhume and more.

For this Throwback Thursday, I’ll resist the urge to trot out an ancient, semi-embarrassing selfie and instead take us back to the summer of 2001. There were so many fantastic indie bands on the scene back then; it felt like a high-water mark for indie artists in Canadian music.

One of my favourites was Ottawa son Jim Bryson, who jimbryson played in Toronto often (I recall one show at the Rivoli where virtually the entire audience, including yours truly, ended up onstage to help sing the night’s final song). Some of you may know Jim from his work playing keyboards in Kathleen Edwards’ touring band. Edwards started out as Bryson’s protégé, often opening shows for him. When her star eventually rose above his, she returned the favour.

Bryson’s debut solo CD, The Occasionals (2000), is still one of my favourite albums from that period, and, in fact, still stands the test of time. It’s a solid collection of great songs. I was pleased to be able to shine a little light on it in my Showcase Page for Canadian Musician magazine.

So, even though the album was released before he recorded for Kelp, let’s look back at my Showcase write-up of Jim Bryson’s The Occasionals, here.

Here’s an excerpt:

Produced by Bill Stunt of CBC Radio’s “Bandwidth”, the album trucks off on a rootsier path. Bryson’s husky vocals bring a smoke-dried wistfulness (think Whiskeytown) to songs like “Without Piano” and “Travelled By Land”; “Soupy Sales” and “February” are scrappy alt-country rockers (think Zuma-era Neil Young & Crazy Horse) driven to the edge of the town by LeFeuvre’s crunching lead guitar work; and “26 Miles By Car” lingers in an eerie starkness, a passing glimpse of lives caught in the high beams.