It's his "get-my-cake-and-eat-it-too gig," said blues warrior Harpdog Brown about an upcoming appearance in Prince George on Friday night at the Legion Hall with special guest Graham Guest.
"I've been trying to find a venue where the two of us could perform an acoustic concert," said Brown.
Presented by the Blues Underground Network, the show will see the first half of the evening as a concert-like setting featuring an unplugged Brown and Guest, and the second half will see Brown invite the electrified Bloodhounds to take to the stage to rock the house. Little Charlie Trouble, also known as Ben Sures, will be on guitar and Grant Stovel will be on drums to round out the band.
Brown knows what he wants in the musicians he works with.
"I've always been one to hire attitude not chops, you know?" said Brown. "I don't care how good you are on stage, if you're an ego-driven maniac and if your body odour is beyond dealing with and your mouth won't shut and there's reason for me to want to murder you on the highway, I'm not going to hire you -- I don't care how good you are."
And that's how he found Trouble in 1992 -- he deemed him a good musician who knew the blues and kept his mouth shut.
Saturday night will be Harpdog Brown and the Bloodhounds performing their fully amped-up show so people can dance the night away.
"We all bring that home-run-hittin' attitude," said Brown.
In 1994 Harpdog won the prestigious Muddy Award, the only Canadian band to receive this honour. In 1995, he was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Blues Album for Home Is Where the Harp Is.
Last time Brown was in town was in 2007 when he played the first Railway and Forestry Museum blues festival. Before that Prince George was a regular stop and he said he would sell out the Other Art Cafe, now the Youth Around Prince location, across from City Hall. Ah, the good ol' days.
"I'll never forget the first time we played Prince George in 1994," said Brown. "We played the Other Art Cafe and it was a Friday Saturday gig and we sold out both nights and we sold out Sunday. On that weekend I had every publication in town covering me, all our CDs and T-shirts were gone and all we left with was money and we loved that and we started coming back twice a year and were sold out and held over every time."
Then the economy took a turn and those good times were in the past, he said.
"I've always had a kindred spirit connection with Prince George, and it's going to be great to be there again," said Brown.
Tickets are on sale now at Books & Co., 1685 Third and are $25 for non-members and $20 for members of the Blues Underground.
