Tacoy Ryde continues to soldier on and create hot sounds nearly 40 years after the first incarnation of the band started playing taverns, street dances and folk club gigs in our city.
Close to a couple of dozen players are Tacoy Ryde alumni, and all have contributed to the various chapters of the band's weaving musical mandate that has embraced everything from reggae and fusion to progressive and country rock sounds.
This past weekend the current line-up of the band hosted an under-the-radar show for 150 longtime fans, friends and associates, neatly stitching together those elements into a three-set show that produced a series of great moments.
As the sets unfolded, it was easy to recall the days when the band was a major draw in this town, packing places like The Ambassador, Dinwoodie Lounge and The Riv Rock Room, or opening shows at concert venues for international acts like Third World and Steel Pulse.
Bassist Duane Smith and guitarist Barrie Nighswander—who started playing together in their mid-teens in Stettler—were instrumental in directing traffic onstage Saturday night as ex-members and guests injected hot licks and soulful vocals into the affair.
Steel guitarist Rusty Pimm, who was a core member in the early '70s; singer Jerry Woolsey, the Tacoy frontman from the late '60s through the late '80s; Hot Cottage Drummer Linsey Umrysh, who was with the band in the '70s; local pop fave Stew Kirkwood, and Gary Bowman were a few of the guests who spiced up tunes that were pulled from the catalogues of Tacoy Ryde originals as well as the Bob Marley, Boz Scaggs and Allman Brothers songbook.
"Has Jerry (Woolsey) ever sounded better?" mused front-of-house engineer Kirby, who toured with the band for a number of years.
"No" was the answer to that as Woolsey, who has been recording artists like Steve Pineo, the McDades, the late Bill Cowsill and Maple Creek for the past few years at Beta Sound, laid it on the line on a number of reggae tunes and classic Grateful Dead songs like Sugar Magnolia, Deal and Truckin'. Stew Kirkwood and his father, Ken, who has done a couple of stints with Tacoy, also ruled on an electrifying take of Sonny Boy Williamson's One Way Out that featured the younger Kirkwood on bottleneck.
The night was recorded by Lynn Wells from Atlyn Productions. Judging by the performances, there should be plenty to draw on for a live album."
PETER NORTH, Special to the Journal, Edmonton, September 13, 2006
