audiophile vinyl. When we were young in the 1960’s we would go to the many coffee houses in Montreal and listen to all the great artists that were taking part in the great Folk Revival of the day. It was “intelligent” music, a break from the “ tell Laura I love her after I crash my car in a stock race that I entered to get money to buy her a ring” type of songs. There were songs of substance being sung and written by a small group of people in Greenwich Village in New York and they were fanning out across North America, spreading the word. At the center of it all was Eric Andersen, a songpoet with a social conscience and a six string guitar. The difference between this young breed of people as opposed to the great Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie types was these kids had grown up listening to Elvis, Buddy and the Everly Brothers so they had a bit of a pop influence. They didn’t sing much about the olden days, about no more cane on the Brazos, but instead grabbed a hold of the issues of the day and the mindset of the youth growing up in this era and wrote songs that were relatable and current. Unlike the rock ‘n’ roll bands their songs could be played with just a guitar so kids were running out and buying guitars and singing these new “folk” songs. All these years down the road Eric Andersen is still out there singing, playing and spreading the word. He lives in the Netherlands now with his beautiful and talented wife Inge but still manages to make it to North America every year. After dates in New York, state and city, and Nashville, Tennessee (he had been in Vienna just before that) Eric made his only Canadian appearance at one of his favourite spots, the iconic Hugh’s Room in Toronto. We caught up with Eric as he waited to be called to the stage and asked him if was tired after the hectic travel schedule he’d been on. He looked very serious as he pondered the question and said firmly “No, I love to play, this is not tiring for me.” The performance started with a great bit of nostalgia as Eric was introduced by publicist Jane Harbury who was employed at the long gone but fondly remembered Toronto landmark the Riverboat of 60’s folk fame. Nice touch. As in every time I’ve seen Eric perform the minute he takes the stage a respectful hush falls over the capacity crowd as they eagerly await the first song. The show opened with the classic “I Shall Go Unbounded”, a message the young Eric wrote and now sung by the mature Eric. Very moving and set the tone perfectly for the set. But as usual, Eric Andersen is not content to just sing the hits of the past, although the set is layered with just enough of them, like “Violets of Dawn”, to satisfy that need. The mature Eric has the same strength of curiosity as he did back then and he is constantly writing and researching new projects. His highly acclaimed songs based on the work of Camus led him to another legendary historical figure, Lord Byron. “This guy was a ground breaking man. He was the original bad boy. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. The ladies all loved him and to make it even more interesting he was bisexual, a deed punishable by death back then. And he died at 36 years old.” Byron of course is one the best known British poets.and Eric has written music to 14 of his poems to be recorded in February of 2016. The crowd at Hugh’s Room got a preview of some of them and they are amazing. “Mingle With The Universe” stood out for me. As Eric said while describing his work on Byron’s poems “Bear in mind this was early 1800’s and Byron said in 1809 ‘celebrity is being well known by a lot of people you don’t want to know. That was amazing perspective for 1809.” Halfway through the show Eric was joined on stage by guitar wizard Oliver Johnson and the two changed the tone musically although Eric’s distinct vocals left no doubt who you were listening to. For the encore Eric brought up singer Layah Jane who joined him for the moving “Blue River”, one of the best versions I’ve heard of that classic tune. The night ended with a blues number “This song was taught to me be the great Buddy Guy who said ‘ if you don’t love your woman, some other man will.’” As usual the contented crowd left the room with smiles and a warm feeling that will last them until they see Eric Andersen again as he continues to “ mingle with the universe.”
