Don’t quote me, but I don’t think Timber Timbre has played a hometown gig in, I’m thinking, a decade or more, like maybe 15 years - it's been some journey for the moody alt-country artist, aka Taylor Kirk, over those years which brings him back around town at the Biltmore Theatre Sunday, July 16, 2023. Opening will be Katie Cruel, aka Kate Boothman, who grew up in the high hills of Kirby.
Kate already has a few albums under her rhinestone belt, and I’ve been a fan of her work for many years. Her most recent album, ‘My Next Mistake’ under her own name, was recorded with Thom D’Arcy, and I play it often, as I do with her previous psyche-country record, ‘I Am An Animal.’
Timber Timbre is on, I believe, his seventh album; each one is almost Bowie-like in its exploration of era-defining production. However, whether it’s the 80s synth dance-y vibes of ‘Sincerely, Future Pollution’ or the 70s NashVegas plush arrangements on ‘Hot Dreams’ or crackly 78s historic folk gatherings of ‘Cedar Shakes,’ the darkness shines through.
So yes, this will be one fine deep delve into the backwoods backroads black grass of Durham Region. Both artists do source the darker weirder side of the rural experience; There seems to be a slight wave stirring of it at the moment overseas with the doom folk of Lankum from Dublin, Scottish piper Brighde Chaimbeaul, and Burd Ellen also Scottish. On his new album ‘Folkocracy,’ even Rufus Wainwright gets slow and moody. I digress for nothing more than to point out why the old factory town of Oshawa keeps producing world-class folk artists, something in the 'Shwater, definitely something in the dirt.
Plus, the Oshawa gig gets extra support from Anomalia, the outsider folk project of Julia Fenn. So say yes to this evening.
Also, say yes to the Punk Rock Parking Lot Party on Saturday, July 15, hosted by Brew Wizards, the art, game, and craft beer café. It’s a sweet hang spot all the time, but there will be tunes this day with free outdoor gigs, of yes, punk rockers, The Mendozaz, By Octopi, and Poison Fountains, whose album art is the old Knob Hill Farms terminal.
Earlier in the week, on Thursday, July 13, Cork & Bean has solo artist Joe Ozorio from 7 to 10 p.m. On Friday, July 14, check out country artist Riley Wheater at the Wee Pub. Wheater is on the brighter side of the Black Grass; fans of Robyn Ottolini and Meaghan Patrick would dig Riley for sure.
Also, on Friday, Kickstart gets it going at the Bollocks Pub, and over at Simcoe Blues and Jazz, Andy Earle sits in with House Band with special guests. Good things are happening at the Simcoe spot, lots last week and more to come, I’m told.
And more music is always best.