Jim Byrnes, The Sojourners

Event Description

The Rogue Folk Club turns 37! Jim Byrnes with The Sojourners as they reunite for this co-bill performance with The Sojourners backing Jim Byrnes and his band. Join us for our anniversary celebrations!

Jim Byrnes lives and breathes music. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri – that’s blues country. He grew up on the city’s north side. One of the neighbourhood bars had Ike and Tina Turner as the house band. By age thirteen, Jim was singing and playing blues guitar. His first professional gig was in 1964. Byrnes moved to Vancouver in the mid-70s, and in 1981, put together the Jim Byrnes Band – an outfit that became a staple of the local music scene.

He’s released numerous albums, including with producer Steve Dawson. They’ve covered the gamut, from the gospel, to blues, rockabilly, and country in an original and unique bluesy way. Jim’s evocative, smoky vocals are found in a truth that doesn’t come overnight.

https://www.jimbyrnes.ca/

The formative years that Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Khari McClelland spent singing in the churches of their hometowns – Ralls, Texas; Alexandria, Louisiana and Detroit, Michigan respectively – give The Sojourners’ sound an authentic edge that only comes with experience. This is real gospel — blessed with a soul that can’t be faked.

This is not music that strives to be polite. In The Sojourners’ universe, echoes of doo wop, R&B, country and blues weave together to create a unique sound. This is gospel music that can take a punch and remain standing. The Vancouver-based Sojourners sound as much at home in a road house bar as they do in a revival tent.

http://www.thesojourners.ca/index.html