Gary Fjellgaard and Valdy return to the Okanagan once again.
“I don’t know how many years in a row this has been now, 15 or something like that,” Fjellgaard laughed. “But, you know, people keep coming and we always get really good crowds.”
Raised on a Saskatchewan farm, the Juno-winning singer/songwriter and Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductee continues to bring his finger-style acoustic, down-home country flavour to audiences across the country.
He and fellow Canadian musician Valdy have known each other since the 1970s. Valdy got a hold of a song Fjellgaard wrote about a Martin guitar, putting it on the Valdy and the Hometown Band album, and a friendship was born.
“Valdy has sort of been God to me ever since,” Fjellgaard said. “That was quite wonderful. We became friends, but we never actually worked together.”
The two played the same festivals the odd time, but didn’t start working as a duo until 1999 when they played the “Creek Tour of Alberta.”
“We played Pincher Creek and Bragg Creek and they were sold out,” Fjellgaard said. “We thought maybe we should have a CD to go along with this. So we wrote some songs and the rest is history.”
Fjellgaard compared the duo to the odd couple, saying he and Valdy are “opposites.”
“But on stage we don’t take each other too seriously,” Fjellgaard said. “It’s a privilege to be out there touring and still getting nice crowds.
Fjellgaard and Valdy’s latest album, released in 2015, Off the Floor, has garnered a good response, Fjellgaard said. The album brings out the purity in what Fjellgaard and Valdy do.
“We recorded in the studio, the two of us playing and singing live. No overdubs. Absolutley none so what you see is what you get. When we walk out on stage and do these songs they’re exactly like the CD. Maybe pick up a little energy of course,” Fjellgaard said.
Fjellgaard and Valdy play the Barking Parrot on Nov. 1, tickets available at the Dragon’s Den (250- 492-3011). They also play the Summerland Centre Stage on Nov. 2 with tickets available at Martin’s Flowers (250-494-5432).