JIM CUDDY + Justing Rutledge @ Spectrum

By Fraser McCallum - F-Train 120 - 11/23/2006

Jim Cuddy has been a staple of Canadian blues rock for more than two decades. His rock band Blue Rodeo are some of this country’s greatest road warrior tour bands, and are my parents' absolute favourite thing in the world. That was generally the feel for the night on November 23rd at Spectrum: entertaining and soulful blues rock numbers and baby boomers eating it up like it was going out of style. And although the generally all-white, all-middle-age audience may not have had the best or most in time dance moves, they knew all the words to Cuddy’s numbers.

Cuddy was in town promoting his new solo album entitled The Light That Guides You Home. He still plays with Blue Rodeo and is planning a new album with them in 2007; this night was his and his uber-talented band of unknowns. The show was opened by Toronto’s Justin Rutledge, who is along for the ride through the entire Canadian and US tour and is clearly being trained as Cuddy’s own protégé. Rutledge writes similar music and plays acoustic, lapsteel and banjo guitars. He opened the show with a selection of his own tracks from his recent album The Devil on a Bench in Stanley Park. Rutledge certainly has some skills, shining brightly on "This is War" and "Come Summertime" but his deep croon is no match for Jim Cuddy’s soulful sweet voice. Not yet anyway.

Cuddy took to the stage to warm applause from an audience very familiar with his catalogue of music. He instantly jumped into a new single from Light, a blues rocker entitled "All I Need". This blended nicely into an old Blue Rodeo number “Stuck On You“ that showed off the tightness of Cuddy’s six-man band. The most entertaining of these six was the electric fiddle player, Anne Lindsay. She owned the stage as much as Cuddy at times, hitting psychedelic levels of speed with her frenzied skills; this was one of the most interesting elements to the show. The night definitely belonged to Cuddy though, not only for his smooth vocals but for his refreshingly earnest banter and storytelling with the audience. This writer is much more used to the apathetic, too-cool-fo’-schoo’ indie bands in Montreal, usually disinterested in chatter or stories. Not so with Cuddy. Almost every song was setup with a charming two-minute story, be it about the last time he was in Montreal (10 years ago) or a man throwing up on his wife’s shows, the stories were entertaining. Enjoyable to me, but a given to the older and very joke-friendly audience.

From there Cuddy weaved through Blue Rodeo classics, such as “I Am Myself", "Diamond Mine" and "You Are The One" to his new solo material. One great upbeat rocker from the new album was "Married Again", a hilarious thumping number about a divorced couple getting remarried in Vegas that he had read about in a National Enquirer. Overall Cuddy seemed to never tire, playing far more songs than most concerts this writer is used to. Many songs I did not know, but most had a good solo from Cuddy or lead Bazil Donovan. Lindsay was at her best, it seemed, doing some interesting trades and back-and-forth battles with Donovan. This did grow repetitive after some time as it seemed just about every song arranged for the night had a fiddle solo; enjoyable things but like too many hot dogs, tiresome after three or four.

Justin Rutledge reappeared for two or three later songs in the night, which was really a shame as he stole some of the vocal spotlight from Cuddy who, put side to side, dwarfs Rutledge in skill and patter. Rutledge has some potential, songs like "I’m Gonna Die Some Sunny Day" and "I’m Your Man, You’re My Radio" have gorgeous melodies and fit Cuddy’s band well. At times Rutledge seemed to be doing his best Mark Knopfler impression. It worked sometimes and at others, it provoked me into going get a beer.

After Rutledge’s brief training workshop was over, Cuddy brought it back, playing four more tight rockers that had the audience screaming and dancing in some of the best styles, or lack of styles, I have ever seen. This writer was tempted to document more of the turtleneck-wearing waspy baby boomer dance skills that the audience put on display but then I was reminded of my own parents’… abilities. A song that garnered huge audience applause was "I Never Meant To Make You Cry", a beautiful ballad that featured a rare piece of harmonica work. It was hair-raisingly effective, a nice touch. Another great touch was a solid Neill Young cover "Are You Ready For The Country?" that fit Cuddy’s voice nicely.

All in all, the concert was a good one, a bit long and repetitive but Cuddy and his band are some of the tightest musicians on the road these days. I am positive that if I knew Cuddy’s repertoire a little bit better, and maybe was 52 and lived in Westmount, I would have gotten more out of the show. However, that did not detract from the hilarious and fascinating element of the all-baby boomer company -- good company at that -- and the rich crooning skills of one of Canada’s rock heroes, Jim Cuddy.

7/10 Westmount Sweatervests

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