Ottawa blues-rocker Steve Marriner got turned on to Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester from a Fabulous Thunderbirds tape

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 25, 2007

By Steve Newton

When Ottawa blues-rocker Steve Marriner calls me to chat about his new CD, Going Up, he’s dialing in from the northerly blues mecca of Whitehorse. Okay, so it’s not exactly a blues mecca; it does have “a real happening blues bar” called the Discovery, though, where Marriner’s been booked for a 10-night stand.

The venue is owned by the father of Vancouver-based guitarist Brandon Isaak, aka Yukon Slim, whose band the Twisters opens Marriner’s upcoming downtown show here. It’s cool how the Canadian blues community supports its own.

Marriner’s gig comes highly recommended, as he’s one helluva strong songwriter, blues shouter, and harp player. He didn’t learn his harmonica chops from the usual suspects, people like James Cotton or Sonny Boy Williamson; his main influence was Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

“Someone gave me a T-Birds tape,” he recalls, “and then I looked at who the songs were written by, and I found out about Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo and those guys, and then Little Walter and all those Chicago players, too. I wasn’t born till ’84, so I heard some modern stuff and then did my homework behind that.”

Marriner grew proficient enough on the harp to impress the likes of Canadian roots ace Harry Manx, whose Dog My Cat label has just released Going Up. After the two joined forces to earn a standing ovation at the prestigious Chicago Blues Festival in 2004, they spent much of 2005 and 2006 on the road, playing in Australia and England and touring all over the States.

On his return to Ottawa, Marriner started rounding up musicians for his solo project, pleased to find that area blues-rocker Sue Foley was willing to play guitar on five tracks.

“I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I started playing,” he reports. “She lives about an hour away from Ottawa, so we’d see each other at festivals and gigs and stuff, and we hit it off right away. We really dig on the same kind of people, a lot of the Texas blues artists.”

On Going Up , Marriner and Foley took a side trip from the Lone Star State with the Mexican-flavoured instrumental “El Encuentro”, which they cowrote.

“It’s one of my favourite pieces just because of how different it is from the rest of the material,” says Marriner, who plays North Delta’s Firehall Centre for the Arts on Friday (April 27) and the Railway Club on Saturday (April 28). Other standout tracks on the CD include an upbeat Manx original, “Funny Business”, and the twangy closer, “Zulu Ripper”, which showcases the impeccable guitar work of cowriter Garrett Mason.

“He’s a really fantastic player,” raves Marriner. “He’s got this feel that not too many other players have. He plays just with his fingers–he doesn’t use a pick ever–so he gets this unique tone out of the guitar. His whole approach is really refreshing, too, not your typical kinda Johnny Winter copy.”