By Lawrence Powell
The Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
He was in Texas in April and he’s doing shows in Ontario in June. But in between Charlie A’Court is touring around the Maritimes in some of the smaller venues – and loving it.
The Halifax-based, Truro-born contemporary bluesman wouldn’t beat around Nova Scotia without hauling his guitar into Annapolis Royal and King’s Theatre. He loves the cozy atmosphere, and the acoustics, and the homey feel.
On May 9 he’ll be stopping in at King’s for an 8 p.m. concert and he’s bringing a friend – Lindsay Jane from Winnipeg.
“Annapolis Royal is so great. When I’m there it’s a one-on-one conversation with the audience. There’s a vibe to that theatre,” A’Court said in a recent interview. “Every time I’m down there I get a warm welcome. It really makes you feel at home. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to come back.”
King’s Theatre manager Geoff Keymer brought A’Court back because the concert crowd wants him.
“Charlie’s a great performer and one of the things that makes him such a great entertainer is his personality,” Keymer said.
Keymer remembers A’Court’s first performance at King’s several years ago. It was a sold-out house and his rapport with the audience was something special. Not long after that, Keymer was looking for a performer to play a benefit for King’s Theatre staffer Nancy Young who was battling cancer.
“I hardly knew Charlie then,” Keymer said. “But I had a good feeling about him. I called him up and without hesitation he said ‘tell me the date.’ Without even looking at his own calendar, he committed.”
Later, Keymer found out that A’Court was in the process of moving from one house to another.
“He drove all the way down here on Thursday and he knew he was moving on Friday,” Keymer said. “That’s Charlie in a nutshell. He was willing to drop everything to do a benefit for someone he’d met once.”
WORLD STAGE
A’Court has been tucking ECMA awards under his belt for the past few years, picking up the East Coast honours when he’s home. But A’Court can be hard to nail down. From headlining at the annual Stanfest in Canso, to the Kerville Folk Fest, or Ottawa Blues Fest, he can be found opening for such greats as John Reischman & the Jaybirds, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Harry Manx, Colin James, former Stone Mick Taylor, and Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd. He’s even toured with the legendary British rock group Procol Harum and returns regularly as a headliner to tour in Europe.
THE MUSIC
A’Court is one of those rare combinations of talent. His soul-wrenching voice, his deft hands on the guitar, and his intelligent and searching lyrics make him one of Canada’s rising stars. His sense of humour and magical rapport with the audience has fans coming back every time he’s in town.
A’Court said that pretty much everything he sings is rooted in blues and soul, but not necessarily always traditional blues. He can rock the house, but he can bring it down to a tear-producing tempo.
This time around, A’Court expects he’ll offer King’s Theatre patrons some of the new stuff he’s working on for his next CD – his third after Colour Me Gone and Bringing on the Storm.
“There are some new tunes,” A’Court said. “I feel pretty good about them and I’ve been getting pretty good response.”
One song is called I Hope I get To Heaven and was written in collaboration with Dave Simpson in Calgary where A’Court crashes any time he’s in the Alberta city.
“I love this song,” said A’Court. “It has a real simple message – I hope I get promoted when I finish my time here on Earth.”
A’Court admits that until now his song writing has been very much theme based. That’s not a bad thing, but he’s been wanting to try his hand at a different style and he can’t shake the storytelling influence of the East Coast and such greats at Ron Hynes and Bruce Guthro.
“I definitely want to try them out there (King’s Theatre),” he said of some of his new tunes. “That’s a great stage for some of these songs.”
RISING FAME
Keymer believes in the not-too-distant future local audiences will look back and say they knew him when. And that’s not far-fetched. It wasn’t that many years ago that A’Court and his father Rod were playing local benefits in the Truro area as The A’Court Mountain Boys. The duo was in popular demand, but it was a foregone conclusion by many that the younger A’Court was bound for bigger things. And in the grand scheme of things in the music world, A’Court’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric.
But even now, A’Court credits his father for his career. As a child, he was drawn to the sounds of his father playing the 12-string. At 12 he was taking guitar lessons, and at 14 was studying classical guitar. When he broke into his father’s record collection, a whole new world opened up to him – B.B. King, Bad Company, Eric Clapton, and Long John Baldry. The young A’Court caught the rock ‘n’ roll and blues bug bad, but he’s content to live his life with the knowledge there is no cure.
A’Court has met B.B. King but hasn’t performed with the legend. However, he’s shared the stage with the late Dutch Mason whom King once dubbed Prime Minister of the Blues. So it’s fitting that A’Court has been asked to kick off the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in early August.
LINDSAY JANE
A’Court is excited about Winnipeg’s Lindsay Jane joining him on stage during his current tour.
“I first met her two summers ago at Stanfest,” A’Court said. “She blew my mind. She was there belting it out, and the next song she was soft and whispery, sort of like Rose Cousins.”
The two kept in touch over the Internet for almost two years and it was online that the idea of Lindsay hooking up for the Maritime tour came about. Ironically, they haven’t even seen each other since Stanfest – until about two weeks ago. At that time A’Court wasn’t even sure what sort of act they’d develop, but he promised it would be worth a ticket. And he was excited about Lindsay Jane’s own new CD Lovers Find Reasons.
NO PROMISES
A’Court has been known to coax his father on stage when he happens to be in the theatre, and when A’Court the elder does get up there, it’s always a magical moment for the audience. Most of the younger A’Court’s fans feel like they already know Rod A’Court. To see the two perform (often on the same guitar at the same time) lends a depth and legitimacy of roots to Charlie. He’s not just some young hotshot guitar player who grew up on a diet of MuchMusic and looking to make a name for himself. The music truly is in his blood and he’ll play that guitar until the blood is on the strings.
A’Court makes no promises, but he is keeping his fingers crossed that his father will be back from his work in Korea to make the drive to Annapolis Royal. If he does, A’Court is pretty sure he can get him and his 12-string up on stage.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. May 9 Charlie A’Court concert can be obtained by calling 532-7704. For more information go to
www.kingstheatre.ca
by Larry Powell/Spectator 
