Having one of Canada's most luminous bluesmen in your good books comes with some benefits. David Gogo has dug himself into the good graces of Prince George for several reasons - years of bringing his rock band, years of bringing his acoustic act, willing to do festivals and nightclubs and holes-in-the-wall, and he even married a P.G. girl.
Next week, he renews his musical vows with this city.
For the uninitiated, Gogo is a four-time Juno nominee, winner of the 2012 Western Canadian Music Award for Blues Recording of the Year, the two-time winner of Maple Blues Guitarist of the Year, and he was bestowed with the CBC Saturday Night Blues "Great Canadian Blues Award" for a lifetime contribution to the blues in Canada. He doesn't just share the stage with the blues greats out on the road, he is their peer and their friend - a virtuoso player who is only now hitting his prime.
Gogo will be here for a two appearances, first on Wednesday at a cafe then Thursday at a house concert. He's bringing along a new set of songs to test on an audience he trusts. A new album is in the making.
"We want to have it out by the end of June/early July so we've got to get it done," he said. 'We are also doing a vinyl pressing for the first time in my career. This is album 14 and the first to be pressed into an actual record."
The blues audience is one attuned to the warmth and crackle of a vinyl record. The genre was born onto the platters cut by ignition blues players Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Son House, Jimmie Rodgers (and for that matter Jimmy Rogers), Bessie Smith, W.C. Handy and on up through the afterburner blues players like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, John Hammond, Eric Clapton - all of them born and raised in the vinyl recording style.
And the list continues to blossom today despite little pop-culture power and only a few slivers of the population keen to keep spinning vinyl. But the blues sliver is thicker than most.
Not that Gogo is a luddite. He was born head-first into the blues, at the end of a hot electrical cable. Although he made a careful study of acoustic blues later in life, his main thrust initially was heavy rock-based blues. His teenaged band The Persuaders were the buzz of Vancouver Island (Gogo is a lifelong Nanaimo resident). Gogo was studying guitar directly from the electric blues king himself: Stevie Ray Vaughan. He would go on to form friendships with the likes of B.B. King and Johnny Winter. Eventually he went for a spiritual pilgrimage down the Mississippi Blues Trail and got a lot of raw blues dust on his boots along the way. He was getting to the root of the genre he'd performed in all his life, the genre that spawned rock 'n' roll, heavy metal, modern country, even rap and hiphop. But all the while, Gogo was integrating it with the most mundane of high-tech tools.
"With blues, songwriting and song interpretation is always about life experience," he said. "I've found myself using the iPhone quite a lot, either jotting notes or singing into the voice memo feature. Sometimes I even make a phone call on it. But when ideas are popping into your head when you're driving, you can pull over to the shoulder or sit up in your airport seat while you wait for a plane, and get it all down."
He is also expanding his range of guitars. No two models sound the same, and Gogo has a collection of the machines at his home. His default axe was always an electric Fender but lately he has been tapping into his collection for a Gibson here, a Les Paul there, so he can push his own borders.
He's also expanding his life experiences by sharing it with someone important.
"I'm going to bring my son with me on this trip. He's 16 and they don't get any younger, and pretty soon they don't want to hang out with the ol' dad anymore," he said. "He's been around a lot of musicians all his life. He plays drums. He's really into music and it's an interesting barometer to hear what songs of mine he likes. Believe me, a teenager tells you the truth. And he's introduced me to some new stuff, too. It was never anything I ever pushed on him, but he found his own interests in music."
Gogo will play Wednesday at Chez Elissa Et Mira. Only 60 seats available, $15 per ticket, full restaurant services available.
The next night he will be at 4910 Crest Road, $20 per ticket while space is available, homestyle services only.
