Renowned fiddler Scott Woods is bringing his ‘Fiddling up a Storm Concert’ to the City May 24th.
Showtime is 7 p.m. at Sunnybrook United Church.
Cost is $25 for adults, 12 and under pay $10. Contact Sunnybrook United Church for tickets 403-347-6073.
The show features lots of Canadian old-time fiddle music, traditional country songs, western swing tunes, country gospel, smooth vocals, step-dancing, family humor, inspirational stories and of course Woods’ awesome trick fiddling – front and back somersaults and walking on a barrel - all while playing his fiddle.
“We started in the middle April in Ontario and then the ice storm came in that weekend that we started,” Woods said.. “We plan the shows months in advance, so ‘fiddling up a storm’ — we didn’t know we’d be taking it quite so literally when we kicked the tour off,” he said with a laugh.
The weather didn’t keep folks away from his shows though, and these days Woods is thrilled to be heading west as well with his band which includes his sister, Kendra (Woods) Norris, Canadian Country Music Award Winner and Guitar Player of the Year Steve Piticco, Peter Sisk (bass), Canadian Country Music Award Winner and Drummer of the Year Bill Carruthers and champion step-dancer Leo Stock.
Woods is a two-time winner of the Canadian Open Fiddle Contest, a two-time winner of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship as well as Fiddle Entertainer of the Year.
He is also known as ‘The Flippin’ Fiddler’ and tours extensively across Canada and the U.S. every year raising funds for churches, charities and community service organizations.
“Every year we kind of struggle to come up with a different show that is new, exciting and different,” he explained. “My mom found a poem that my grandmother had written some time after 1954, because it’s about my grandfather who was caught in Hurricane Hazel. His car was washed off the bridge into the Humber River.”
Incredibly, his grandfather was able to hang onto a small cherry tree for six hours.
“At about three in the morning they were able to get a rope to him and they rescued him. Three others on the same bridge that were swept into the river did not survive.”
Of course, it was a well-known story in the family for years, but when Woods’ mom found the poem, she suggested it might be something he could work into a show at some point.
Thus the name of the current tour.
“It’s not so much about the literal part of the storm, but the ‘fiddling’ part — ‘fiddling up a storm’.”
Woods is simply stunning in his role as entertainer, and he’s landed many accolades along the way to prove it. He was part of a Don Messer tribute show for several years some time ago before heading out and developing his own productions.
During his high school years, he’d practice six or seven hours a day.
“I started playing when I was four, and we always played around southern Ontario and the northeast United States. The first time I came to western Canada was in 1986 when I was 15.”
He’s been coming back ever since, and never tires of hitting the stage even though the traveling is extensive and of course he’s away from home for lengthy stretches at a time.
For Woods, playing for folks in every community and meeting them after the show are definite highlights. And as mentioned, music was an essential part of his growing up years, and his siblings joined him in learning a number of instruments. His father felt a foundation in classical music was critical to any branching out into other genres down the road.
Woods and his siblings were thus all busy with lessons on a variety of instruments, from violin to piano to guitar, and his father was careful to keep his kids inspired.
Ultimately, there just is no life like it - no matter the challenges that occasionally surface.
“The audience’s joy is very contagious and that adrenaline is what drives us.”
For tickets, call 403-347-6073 or e-mail office@sunnybrookunited.org.