There's a fire in Barney Bentall's eyes as he drives the short jaunt north to Prince George for a special concert appearance today.
The show is a community barbecue in a region that could dared not spark up so much as a hibachi only a few weeks ago. The dry conditions and walls of wildfire became national news. The mop-up crews still haven't come back from the local woods but the main danger is now extinguished by the autumn weather.
A family party is being held to help put it all behind us - the choking air, the highway detours, the constant fear, the thousands of evacuees, and the tears over lost homes and shattered ways of life.
Glass Tiger is coming to perform at this show simply because Prince George has always been a welcoming city for their storied rock 'n' roll career.
But Juno-winning rock star Bentall is coming because he could taste that very smoke. It stung his eyes and carried ash onto his front doorstep - and the rest of the house and barns, too. He worried about the torrent of flames and thick plumes as it all closed in on his own Cariboo ranch.
It's still standing today but only because of epic firefighting efforts and twists of weather. He's coming here to perform to say thank you to this city that took in so many of his Cariboo-Chilcotin neighbours (whether he knew them personally or not) and share in our relief in the moist, chilly nights that finally stalled the blaze.
"The Elephant Hill fire came to within nine kilometres of our place and a fire that size, you think it's one kilometre away," he said. "You're always trying to get information, and it looks so apocalyptic. You're in a situation where if you leave, you can't get back, and part of you wants to get the hell outta Dodge and part of you wants to stay with your land. It's a conflicted situation. And your heart goes out to the people who lost property, some lost their homes, and that's nothing short of devastating. And then there's a whole level of people who are just kind of shellshocked from living in a state of flux and just not knowing for so long what's happened for them. And the fires are still burning."
It's the second time in seven years that a major wildfire has nipped at the edges of his spread. For farmers and ranchers, such fires aren't just a threat to a few family members and the buildings. They have cattle and horses to be responsible for as well.
Bentall knew of fellow Cariboo cattlemen who had to rounde up the herd with a helicopter escort, in case water had to be dropped to open escape routs for cowboys and livestock alike.
What a real-life rodeo that must have been and Bentall also knows those. He and some neighbours put a group together to compete in the team roping events at some B.C. rodeos. Nothing knocks the polish off of rock 'n' roll perceptions like the mud and dust and dung of a livestock ring.
"You don't want to screw up," he said, recalling the butterflies in his stomach as he rode into the ring with his mates on horseback. "I've performed on stage all my life, pretty much, since I was 20 anyway, and nothing would get me more nervous than being in a rodeo. It was always so thrilling and exciting."
He had to give it up when a close call rang a bell of realization in his mind. He wasn't competing in the rough stock events riding broncs and bulls but he nearly sustained a hand injury. When the guitar is the main tool of your trade, that near miss can be an epiphany.
Herds of livestock teach lessons, too, slower though they were. Bentall eventually concluded that some people have a hobby farm but you can't have a hobby ranch.
He was a man split by two full-time, all-consuming careers.
"I did have cattle for about six years but I found it's hard to keep the music thing going and also keep a ranch going," he said.
"But I learned so much and I got such an appreciation for the people who do it, live on the land, and you've do it yourself, you grew up with it, so you know - I feel that when I came back to music after that, when I put out the Gift Horse record, ranching taught me a lot about life and how to go to a different phase of my music career."
He got nationally large on the strength of classic rock hits like Life Could Be Worse, Crime Against Love, Something To Live For and the modern rock staple Do Ya. He and his band The Legendary Hearts were equated to Canada's version of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
Since he moved from the Vancouver urban sprawl into the Cariboo grasslands, though, he has taken in the clean dirt and fresh air and grown another attitude for music. The rock will always be there, but he also formed The High Bar Gang with some well-known players like Shari Ulrich and Colin Nairne, but this group is all about bluegrass. They just won a Juno Award for that roots work.
Bentall's latest album is called The Drifter & The Preacher, biographical references to his father-in-law and dad respectively. His father-in-law was also the subject for the first single off the album called The Miner since the man used to pan for gold in the Cariboo after the Second World War.
The single is a duet with Bentall's son Dustin who has his own roots-rock career now underway. One of Bentall's daughters is a member of the Kootenay trio Wild Honey when she's not busy on her own farm.
It's never been easy to make a living as a musician, Bentall said, but he has encouraged the artistic pursuits of his kids because they understand the balance between rock star expectations foisted on musicians by society and the realistic benefits of music if you keep literally connected to the earth.
Prince George has long been a special place on Bentall's personal map, so he is excited to be part of this unique community gathering. He said back in his beginnings, all the musicians in the Lower Mainland considered this city the place you had to go to make your true mark. It was one thing to impress the insular audiences around Vancouver, but the cabarets of Prince George were filled with blue-collar and largely indifferent people who would express their approval but also express their disapproval and indifference if you just didn't have the goods. He said he didn't believe he could be a national music star until the night he and the Legendary Hearts opened for Doug & The Slugs at the Coliseum in P.G. and finally got that honest, P.G. validation.
"There's kind of a collective celebration when that happens, especially if you're open to it," he said about being a performing musician (as opposed to a songwriter who never goes on stage). "Some people just mail it in, but you can tell. When you're open to it, there's a bit of a contract going on, where, as the artist, you're the first one extending your hand for this handshake deal, and if the people give back it just keeps escalating and you have a really great musical experience. But it has to start with the artist, I think."
The artists today include DJ Ant to start things off, some words from mayor Lyn Hall and other dignitaries, then Bentall and Glass Tiger. The events get underway at 4 p.m. all at Canada Games Plaza and it is free of charge to attend.
