CFN – This was not your normal evening of acoustic music at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage. When you combine the avant-garde style of David Simard and the cello playing of Kevin Fox you are in for a terrific night of entertainment. One commonality between the artists was great vocals and great song writing but their styles were pleasantly different. David Simard displayed his great vocal range with his selection of his songs and Kevin sang with a clear strong and flawless style perfectly matched with his music.
This was not David’s first visit to the stage. He first appeared in the Intimate Acoustics night in May 2011 and the Board members were so impressed with his performance they invited him back. Tonight he was joined on stage by Jenny Berkel who is an exceptional artist in her own right.
I may have already recorded David singing this song during his last visit to the stage but I am still so impressed with his vocal and minimalistic guitar styling’s that I am going to repeat myself. To quote the Stage’s program, “David’s lyrics, voice and guitar playing are a lovely combination, but when he leaves the singing of words to create sounds like a muted trumpet you gain a greater appreciation of his uniqueness as a musical talent.”
Kevin Fox is a well accomplished and recognizable musician having composed arrangements, toured with or played with some amazing talent such as Sarah Harmer, Chantal Kreviazuk, Steven Page and Tom Cochrane to name a few. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect but I love the Cello and the description of Kevin’s musical accomplishments left me with high expectations. I was not disappointed; actually I was blown away by his performance. The power in his voice and the quality of his cello playing was fantastic.
Kevin also covered Joni Mitchell’s “River” at the end of his set and Paul Simon’s “Diamonds in the Soles of Her Shoes” as an encore. I was so engrossed in his performance that I didn’t notice that my camera had run out of power. I would definitely have posted those videos for everyone to enjoy but you couldn’t possibly appreciate the atmosphere in the theatre. At the end of each of those songs it actually took a few moments for the audience to catch their breath. There was a brief period of silence before the unanimous show of appreciation with standing ovations.
This was another terrific show in a series of terrific shows. I very much appreciate all the work that the board of the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage goes through to bring such quality talent to Morrisburg. Looking at the line up for the rest of this season I can see that there are more great performances to come.
To see the schedule for the rest of the year you can go to the Stage’s web site:
