Blues artist and folk fest documentary kicking off concert series

The Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous concert series is back, and their roster of guest artists will be stopping at multiple venues in the Pembina Valley. 

Offering a wide range of musical styles, the intimate concerts are a rare opportunity to see and hear singer songwriters up close and personal.  

Season debut

Kicking off the Southern Manitoba run is Debra Lyn Neufeld, a blues musician and artist based in Winnipeg. She's expecting to see a lot of people she knows on this Pembina Valley tour. 

" Oh, I'm very excited to be a part of it, and I'm really looking forward to doing a rural route like this, to hopefully see a lot of people I haven't seen for a long time." Neufeld shared. "I'm from Winkler, so it's going to be awesome. 

"I hope everybody comes out. I'm going to let them know." 

Debra Lyn Neufeld photo provided

Film included

Neufeld's performance is the musical portion of a unique kickstart to this particular Home Routes season.  

In addition to the live music, a documentary film on the founding of the enduring Winnipeg Folk Festival will be shown. 

Winnipeg filmmaker Kevin Nikkel presents his feature film When We Became Folk Fest, a  look at the first two years of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. 

The film draws on archival footage shot by the Winnipeg Film Group in 1974 and 1975, capturing the early days of a festival that would go on to become a defining part of Winnipeg’s cultural landscape.  

Winnipeg music history

The film captures Home Routes co-founder Mitch Podolak at the very beginning of his career as a presenter and festival director. Kevin will screen the film and then host a conversation and Q&A about the footage, the festival’s origins, and the remarkable community that came together around it. 

"So, this is a new idea for Home Routes." Neufeld noted. "It feels like it's going to go really well.  

"I met Kevin and we're on the same page for his video and my work. It's nice to look forward to seeing this grassroots, original kind-of beginnings of the festival. Kevin and I are excited about going on this tour with his video." 

Debra Lyn Neufeld photo provided

Lovin' the blues

Neufeld also spoke about her connection to her own favoured musical genre, the blues. 

"Well, I've always been a visual artist, so that's something that I'm very busy with, doing that." Neufeld explained. "I heard Koko Taylor sing when I was around 30, I guess, I heard her sing and it just really changed everything for me. 

"It introduced me to that kind of music, to the blues and to the stories and the emotion, you know, the raw and the joy of it all. I heard Koko Taylor sing Wang Dang Doodle and it literally changed things for me. I'm thankful for the blues." 

Diverse influences

Neufeld's songwriting grew in a pocket of influence from primarily female artists, and some obvious blues masters. 

"Well, Muddy Waters is playing right now." Neufeld commented. "Jimmy Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Lynn, Sister Rosetta Tharpe,  all incredible guitar players, and it's not by direct planning, but I look at my set list and it's a lot of women. 

"So I'm really honoured that the blues comes through in my originals. That means a lot to me, that there's that connection automatically, that's blues." 

Winnipeg blues staples

Winnipeg has long featured a pretty vibrant blues scene, with stalwarts like Big Dave McLean and Brent Parkin to name just a couple. Of dudes.  

Where's the female string-benders? 

"Well, ta-da!"  Neufeld proclaimed. "There are women blues artists that have been around with different shows. Lady Lee has put on these incredible shows for women. 

"There's Tracy K, and Sue Foley coming into town. She's a big inspiration as well." 

Winnipeg Blues Women (and man) photo provided

Winnipeg a talent magnet

Neufeld acknowledged that there's a big interest in Manitoba and Winnipeg artists in particular, beyond the local fans. 

"Oh, for sure, definitely." Neufeld noted. There is just such a well of passion, and incredible players, world class. So many great musicians have come to town and from town, It's a very rich, fertile area, for sure. Blues is definitely strong and alive here.  

"Like, Times Change(d). Big Dave has been playing there for over 30 years, and he's still playing, there's that passion and that longevity I feel in the blues. It's your life. I mean, that's passionate, real music, real stories." 

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Neufeld also described another appeal for her, of blues music.  

"Something I like about the blues too as a songwriter is, I just feel like the language of the blues is so surreal." Neufeld outlined. My visual art is definitely surrealist imagery. 

"But the language of the blues, I just love it. I'm trying to think of an example right now of a mule kick, another mule kicking in your stall or wang dang doodle. A quote I made up, ‘blues, music that matters’.” 

Real deep blues

Neufeld's music is driving, growling blues. She's even got some ZZ Top type boogie blues. Her Bandcamp site notes her sound being like smooth leather. 

"You tell your stories with the voice that you have, right?" Neufeld shared. "Your voice of the story and your vocals. It's a combination of everything." 

Currently, her two blues collections include Bootleg and Lock Up Your Sons. 

"I have another album written, starting to gather up." Neufeld said. "It'll be a different album. Each album I've had, like the first one was Lock Up Your Sons, and I've always had one song to start it off. 

"Lock Up Your Sons, the song that I had there, I was asked to be a part of a Big Dave tribute album. I knew exactly which one I wanted to play. Sweet Ella Jones. It's an awesome song that Big Dave wrote for Muddy Waters' Grandma. So I did that song and recorded it for the tribute album." 

Be prepared

Bootleg had an entirely different origin. 

"The second one, I did a little video called Sweet Pie Fruit." Neufeld outlined. "I didn't have a handy dandy phone at the time, so I had to record the riff before I forget it. So I put it on my answering machine. 

"You've got to keep the inspiration. One time it was dark, and a line came to me as keep a close watch. I wrote it on the dashboard in the dust. I didn't want to forget that line. So whatever paper is available, use it. You've got to be ready. Don't tell yourself you'll remember that. Write it down." 

New music, this Home Routes tour, and even more artistic commitments are in the immediate future for Neufeld. 

"Just to step ahead, there's the art show with Candace Propp on October 2nd at Golden Prairie Arts Council." Neufeld shared. Then I'm heading off on Via Rail from Vancouver to Toronto on a tour, a train tour."

Her art exhibit at Golden Prairie Arts Council runs October 1 - 31, with that official October 2nd reception from 7-9 PM.

Your chance before that to catch her performing live in our area will be the Pembina Valley stretch of the Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous tour.