Music of the West
By Hugh McLennan
Dec-Jan 2010
 Dance Tonight
Ed Peekeekoot
Note for note, you will not find a more talented Canadian musician than Ed Peekeekoot. His latest CD is a collection of songs that folks have danced to for a long time. If you’re at a dance where Ed is the band, you’ll see a fiddle, Fender Stratocaster guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, a couple of native flutes and a fiddle. Ed plays them all and sometimes a couple at the same time.
This collection boasts one of the most spectacular versions of Ghost Riders in the Sky you’ll ever hear. Ed can play finger-picking acoustic style in the traditions of Merle Travis and Doc Watson, big sound twang like Duane Eddy, surfin’ style like Dick Dale and honky-tonk like Carl Perkins — and you get them all on this one.
He plays fiddle as well as anyone, and I bet you can’t help getting up and dancing to Maple Sugar. Ed’s wife, Gail, adds vocal harmony and some leads on Freight Train and Log Cabin Dreams. His vocals fit perfectly with these songs and his pleasant country baritone reminds me of the great Dick Damron. If you said, “Pick a favourite track,” I’d say, “Are you kidding?” However, Bury Me Beneath The Willow might be the one.
Ed is awesome and you can’t go wrong with Dance Tonight.
|
