Leeroy Stagger has been playing Victoria stages for 17 years, visiting the capital city often during a musical career that has produced 11 albums and a couple of EPs.
Once a fixture on the province’s punk scene, the bushy bearded Stagger is now a father of two kids with a home and studio in Lethbridge, Alta., a pair of brilliant new recordings and a book called Strange Path.
Stagger and his touring band, Rebeltone Sound play the Capital Ballroom Oct. 20 and it promises to be an amazing, soul-revealing show. Always a dynamic, high-energy musician, Stagger has grown into a wise, even more powerful singer-songwriter.
His latest recording, also called Strange Path, builds on the grit and songwriting strength of last spring’s Me and the Mountain album. The Americana-influenced songs on that recording grew out of writing Stagger carved from an extended stay at the Banff Centre and musical collaboration with musicians like talented multi-instrumentalist Steve Dawson and Brad Barr of the internationally acclaimed Barr Brothers.
Barr returned to help produce some of the songs on Strange Path, a recording that also features stellar rock drummer Pete Thomas and an edgier, more contemporary sound. Both recordings build on Stagger’s 2017 breakthrough, Love Versus, which earned him the nod as Solo Artist of the Year at the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Awards. The banjo-accented title track of that collection of Stagger originals is a bluesy, Americana gem.
Stagger’s visit to Chinatown’s Fortune Gallery last spring showcased some of the last couple of years’ breakthrough material, but his upcoming performance at Capital Ballroom promises to be one of the most important and revelatory shows of the season. Highly recommended.
For tickets and more information visit leeroystagger.com or call 250-920-9950.
– Joseph Blake
editor@mondaymag.com
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