Ordinary is extraordinary
Andrea Simms-Karp
|
Banjo bombast: Old Man Luedecke
|
Few sing about cookbooks like Old Man Luedecke
For a young guy, Chris Luedecke has managed to steep himself in more old-timey music than most aficionados. With his banjo in hand and his love for all things ancient, his stage name, Old Man Luedecke, makes all the sense in the world. Mixing his influences of Pete Seeger, Dock Boggs and Bascom Lunsford with his own lyrical style gives Luedecke a sound that could make anyone smile. Nobody can sing about quitting their job or leafing through cookbooks quite like him, and certainly not while sending the audience into a complete time warp. Although he came to the banjo later in life, he says the instrument was a perfect fit for what he wanted to do. After hearing it while living in the Yukon, he picked it up and taught himself the rest.
"I consciously decided to write songs with it," he says laughing. "I'm a pretty nerdy person."
Call it nerdy or call it fate, Luedecke has been charming audiences with his banjo since he started laying down songs, which found a home on his albums Hinterland and Mole in the Ground. Having learned several instruments as a child, and having grown up in a musical family, it was probably only a matter of time before Luedecke found his match with the banjo.
He now spends his time as many of the original banjo greats did: touring, writing music, and living as the self-described "weird guy up at the house" in the country, about an hour outside Halifax.
"I spent so many years in the city trying to figure out how to get into the country," he says,
recounting his path from Toronto to the Yukon to his current Maritime home. He's back in the city, sort of, for this year's CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival, where he'll entertain with songs and music inspired by a life that he admits "isn't that unique."
But that's the secret to good ol' country music. So bring on the banjo.
OLD MAN LUEDECKE
Friday, August 18, at 8 p.m. (World Harmony stage)
CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival
www.ottawafolk.org
