Shari Ulrich hosts Doug Cox, Linda McRae and Ryan McMahon for November's Vancouver's longest running songwriters showcase (28 years!) presented by the Songwriters Association of Canada.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS – November 26, 2024
Doug Cox is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer who embodies inventiveness and breathtaking musicality. As a young bluesman, this devotee of bottleneck slide guitar had a life-transforming when he first picked up the Dobro. Before long he was playing and recording with masters such as slide guitar virtuoso Ellen McIlwaine and bluegrass master musicians Tony Trischka and David Grier. Eventually his musical world expanded to include such diverse virtuosos as Indian slide guitarists Vishwa Mohan and Salil Bhatt, Long John Baldry, Amos Garrett, Chuck Brodsky, and The Mighty Popo. Doug’s bands and solo recordings display an expansive arc of musical genres, and his compositions and songs have been featured on many film and TV soundtracks, including Terry Gilliam's Tideland, A&E's Biography, Coyote Ugly, Steven Seagal: Lawman, Auction Kings, Breaking Amish, Call of the Wildman, Chasing Classic Cars, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and TV's Duck Dynasty. Doug ran his own Malahat Mountain Music label for years and still produces records for the many musical friends he has made along his journey. He is also the long-time producer and artistic director of Vancouver Island MusicFest. In 2017, Doug was inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame as a Pioneer Star. https://dougcox.org/home
Linda McRae is a singer-songwriter and musician who bends rules and genres, proving that stripping a song clean brings one back to their roots. Early in her career, Linda’s love of Canadian, American and British music resulted in multiple band configurations from roots-rock to punk to folk - including the platinum-selling Spirit of the West. Linda has released six critically acclaimed solo recordings. She has been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music nomination for Contemporary Album of The Year for “Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts,” and her contributions to the Canadian music scene resulted in her being honoured as a 2016 British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame “Pioneer” inductee. Linda is also highly sought after as a teacher, mentor, juror, panelist and workshop facilitator. She has worked alongside her husband/manager with at-risk youth and adults in her Express Yourself Writing Workshops, presented across the country at detox and correctional facilities including New Folsom Prison in California. When Linda steps onto a concert stage, into a recording studio, workshop or mentoring session, there is an effortless passion, a love of what she does and a connection with fans and friendships built and treasured. https://www.lindamcrae.com/
Ryan McMahon likes to tell people he’s a late bloomer. But when looking at the body of work he has amassed since 2006, he has certainly made up for lost time. With six releases under his name and two with his side project Lion Bear Fox, Ryan has established himself as one of western Canada’s most prolific singer-songwriters, leading to multiple Vancouver Island Music Awards and supporting slots for Burton Cummings, Tom Cochrane, Mother Mother, Lee Harvey Osmond and others. The latest addition to Ryan’s catalogue is Live Now, an album he describes as containing more hope and optimism than any of his previous material. “The entire record is a reminder to myself of just how rich my life is, and how to dig in and persevere no matter what is going on around me,” he says. “Before creating these songs I did some deep dives into the careers of current Americana-type artists that I really admire,” he says. “Jason Isbell, Nathaniel Rateliff, Father John Misty, Israel Nash—these artists are out there, doing their own thing using highly artistic and simultaneously entertaining methods, all the while telling their truth. That’s what I want to do.” https://ryanmcmahon.com/
Shari Ulrich (Host / Producer)
2024 marks 50 years of making music for multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Shari Ulrich. She began writing songs at the end of the reign of The Hometown Band in 1977. Her first song "Feel Good" was a hit for the band. Her solo career followed from 1978 with radio hits with "She Remembers", "Bad Bad Girl", "Romeo", "Every Road", etc. Since then, she has released nine albums of original material, along with another 16 in her collaborations with Pied Pumkin, UHF (Bill Henderson & Roy Forbes), and BTU (Barney Bentall & Tom Taylor) and the High Bar Gang. Her work has garnered two Juno Awards and several nominations, an induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, and a Canadian Folk Music Award for English Songwriter of the Year. Thanks to her love of the unique chemistry of a song circle, Shari has been producing and hosting Bluebird North / SongBird North both nationally and locally since 1996 and at the Roundhouse since 2005. https://www.shariulrich.com/