Doug Cox

Here’s something from another time. This is my set list from when I was playing with Long John Baldry’s acoustic trio. How I miss that man - he was one-of-a-kind!

Alan Hume and Doug Cox at Old Town Strings, Victoria (circa mid-late 90's)

Today I'm going to tell you about my dear friend Alan Hume from Victoria, BC. I first met Al, as many of you did, when he was working behind the counter at Victoria's Old Town Strings, a fantastic top-end music store, repair shop and lesson centre that was located on Pandora Ave in Market Square in Victoria for a bunch of years.

Al was this guy behind the counter who always knew so much about guitars, and it took me a few years to learn what a brilliant classical guitar player he was himself. You could tell he loved all the instruments in the store. He was very modest about his own playing and apparently, he was a really good teacher too. I ended up teaching at Old Town Strings for a while and got to know him a bit better, but really got to know him when we started to play music together. 

We recorded the CBC Radio theme song (bluegrass version) to Jürgen Goth's show, which was very popular at the time, called Disc Drive. And we had spent weeks preparing a classical guitar and dobro duet version of that song. When we showed up at the studio, Producer Tod Elvidge, (who we also sadly just lost), laughed and said, "No, that's not really what we were looking for at all. We were kinda looking for a bluegrass version." So luckily, we had John Reischman and others in the studio with us, and very quickly came up with a version that became known as the bluesgrass version of the theme song to Disc Drive. 

After that, Al and I started to compose together. He was a brilliant composer and always pushed me in directions I never thought I could go as a Dobro player. We were going to make a record of duets for dobro and nylon string guitar. Imagine the commercial potential!! Ha ha ha. 

We did a nice duet version of a Sting song from back in the days of The Police called "Wrapped Around Your Finger," which is on one of my CDs. And then we wrote a couple of songs together that I still am really proud of to this day. I'll try and hunt those down. I know that they exist somewhere, and when I do, I'll post them on Bandcamp. 

Well, Al got really busy because sadly, he suddenly ended up as a single father of his boys, so he chose to stop with the music thing for a while. I really admired him for doing that, because when his family needed him he dropped what he was doing and gave them 100%. You can't blame a guy for that.

After that, we kind of lost touch for quite a long time. Actually, years and years and years. And one day last year, I was sitting here in my office in Courtenay (about 3 hours north of Victoria)  and my phone rang; the name came up that it was Alan, so I happily answered the phone. "Hey, Doug, it's Alan." We did the usual catching up pleasantries, until he shocked me with some news. This was on a Tuesday that he phoned me, and he gently said "I'm going to be dying on this weekend on Saturday, and I have a record that I need to finish. I've written all this beautiful guitar music for my sons, and I really want to finish the album. And if I can't finish it, would you be willing to finish it for me?" Well, I tell you, behind tears, I said, "Of course I will, Al. I would be happy to. I would be honored to." 

Anyways, he finished the record on Thursday, put it out on Friday, and he indeed passed away on Saturday. How heavy is that? The notice that he posted on Bandcamp about the album is beautiful. I'm gonna copy it and paste it here for you, and I'm also gonna add the link to Al's record that he made for his sons. Here's what Alan wrote:

This album was written, recorded, mixed and mastered by me, the AlanHumeBand. I actually have but days to live
I'm sad to say and can tell you that all proceeds of sales will be going to my 4 sons. I truly hope you find some tunes in this album that give you some lasting enjoyment...I feel fortunate to be able to have it out in the big world of music--With Love and Peace to you all.

https://alanhumeband.bandcamp.com/album/flying-colour

I hope you'll enjoy it. I hope you go listen to it. He was a very dear man and a great musician, and a reminder that you don't really have to be known out there in the world to be a brilliant musician. They are everywhere. 

Anyways, I was very lucky to work with Alan Hume and blessed to have some of his music and our duets as a memory of my time with him. I hope you enjoy it. 

What a joyful, musical time it was joining (from left to right in the picture) Ramkumar Mishra, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Salil Bhatt for the adventures we had in Slide to Freedom. 

This picture was taken while we were recording our first CD, just outside of Edmonton. We made 3 albums in total and each one is certainly worthy of it's own story. 

For this, our first album, we set up to record in a lovely, very comfortable old barn and we had the master, recording-wiz Miles Wilkinson, set up his gear and record for us. Miles has worked on some of the definitive albums in roots music history but you would never know it working with this quiet, modest man. 

I think it's a lovely way to record; set up a studio in some far-out space that turns the recording itself into a once-only event for everyone involved. I have made a few albums with Miles this way and they have always turned out to be wonderful and unique experiences. Recording in studios is a blast as well, but sometimes they can feel a bit sterile. 

The guitar I am holding above was made by my dearly departed friend, Bill Little. I met Bill when I was teaching at a music camp in England called Sore Fingers and we becamce fast friends. The instrument is a metal weissenborn style instrument; highly unusual, and sounds like it comes from another planet. The sound of that guitar joining with the beautiful instruments and playing of my friends from India is like no other. 

One thing we did when we collaborated, which I still think was what gave us our own sound; was that we met in the middle of our musical experiences. In other words, I didn't try to sound like them and they didn't try to sound like me. There were some challenging moments for sure, but the spirit of sharing music outweighed everything. We had a lot of laughs as well

I remain very grateful to Fred Litwin (Northern Blues Records) for believing in us and supporting us through the few short years we were together. 

There are a few videos out there from our recording and shows on youtube ~ and we did make 3 albums (one nominated for a JUNO). I hope one day, we get to to it again! 

ARTWORK BY A MAN CALLED WRYCRAFT

(above photo  ~ songwriters circle at Smithers Adult  Guitar Camp)

Today's article is about the community of guitar camps and workshops. I've had a lifelong passion for guitar camps. I've been lucky enough to attend (mostly as an instructor) from the time I was a young adult up until now. My first introduction to this cultural phenom was at the granddaddy of them all: Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, which happens in the state of Washington. I once attended PSGW for three weeks as a student! It was very intense (in a good way!)  I think it's fair to say it changed my life as a musician and as a person. I found my tribe at these camps, and I got to study dobro and guitar with some of the best players and instructors of all time. Three weeks was amazing.  One week, I was just there as a student. Two other weeks, I was there as a student and a volunteer.

This was in the early '90s, and we were all so much younger back then. Jam sessions would go basically until the sun came up. The day would be filled with classes and great meals, and the nighttime would be full of jam sessions and hangouts. You could take part in the jams or you could just sit and learn and watch some of the master players. 

 One thing I love about guitar camps was it isn't about the music business at all. It's about music, and people can come in at whatever level they are at. It's a community of choice put together through the excuse of learning how to play music. I can't think of anything better than that. 

After attending Puget Sound for a couple of years and learning so many different things on different instruments, it gave me the foundation for what a guitar camp should be and what a teacher's place in a guitar camp should be, and I went on to teach at camps from as far away as Slovenia and England to Texas and Alaska, and from British Columbia to Ontario. 

I've been very fortunate to be at some of the best. The picture that you see above is from last summer's Smithers Guitar Camp, which is my favorite. There are so many finely tuned details that go into how the folks in Smithers put on their camp that is missed by other camps, including food quality, special themed parties, and nighttime situations that allow for different things like song circles, jam sessions, small gatherings and large gatherings. There's something for everyone at this camp. 

I first taught at Smithers in 1997 and have gone on to teach at 14 of their camps. You make some lifelong friends at these camps, because often many of the attendees come back whenever they can. If you think about it, if I taught there 14 times, that translates to three and a half months there, largely with the same group of people. So it's pretty hard not to make some lifelong friends and follow them through their journeys, including births and deaths and marriages, and… boy, you name it!

 It's a pretty magical thing. Lots of people attend these camps as hobby musicians, and they are happy to leave with just a few extra songs and new techniques in their hands.

 Others are serious songwriters, although they might not be trying to make a living as musicians. That doesn't matter. They just wanna write songs, and there's nothing wrong with that. The people who put on the camps are usually a very special breed of folks who get the importance of what they're doing. This is a place where people can find themselves and find new groups of friends who can relate to what they do outside of their own work. It's a beautiful thing. 

If you've never been to a camp, you should check them out. Try to find one close to your own community. They happen everywhere. Or, start one! My favorites are the ones that happen in closed camps where the only people allowed into the area are those people actually attending the camp. They have a big kitchen, so there are communal meals that happen, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and it's a safe space. Everybody starts to feel really safe sharing their music, trying to play things in front of people that they've never done before. It allows for a really close community immersed in music. To get to teach at these camp/retreats is almost a sacred position. You are influencing people in their lives in a profound way, no matter what age they are, and in return, they offer the same gift to you. 

See you 'round the campfires!

For 28 years, I was the artistic director of Vancouver Island MusicFest in Courtenay, BC. 

My favourite job in overseeing the festival was booking the music, by far. One of the things I was most proud of with our festival and my bookings was putting together quite a few once-in-a- lifetime opportunities to see musicians collaborate, often for the first time ever. You'll see some of those memories pop up here as I add more photos in upcoming weeks. But I thought I'd start with a photo I treasure, from 2010, of when we had David Lindley, Amos Garrett, and Adrian Belew all together on the Grierson Stage , which was our legendary collaboration stage, named after my dear departed friend, David Grierson.

Amos played the festival many times, and was often the leader of some of the finest musical collaborations you would ever see, right at our festival. I was very fortunate to be part of the Amos Garrett trio as well for a couple of years, playing with and for one of the worlds greatest guitar players, and a very funny friend, but more about that later.

David Lindley played the festival numerous times, and became a friend as well over the years that he played the festival and as we ran across each other in other places. I even got to play with David Lindley and Wally Ingram at RootsFest in Victoria one time. I was honoured David remembered that throughout the years when we crossed paths. Every time we got together, we'd talk about slide guitar, music history and guitar.

Adrian Belew only played our festival once, but to have him there was absolutely legendary. Like all great musicians, or just about all great musicians, Adrian turned out to be a wonderful human being. Most people that are super players don't have huge egos, probably because they realize and respect the hours of time they put into playing their instruments. They understand the humility it takes to be a great musician. It's usually the people somewhere in the middle, that have the gigantic egos and are harder to deal with.

Artists like Amos, David Lindley, Adrian Belew, Ry Cooder aren’t like that. The list could go on and on. Leo Kottke's a good example. They are some of the nicest people that you'll ever meet. I won't mention the ones that are not so nice, but they usually have more fragile egos and are certainly a lot harder to deal with.

I enjoy this photo because you can see how much they enjoy meeting each other, talking to each other. Amos and David were old acquaintances, probably old friends going all the way back to the first Maria Muldaur album. I think for Adrian Belew, that was his first chance to meet Amos. And you can see the respect for him in the photo above. There'll be lots more about Amos and David in future articles. But I just wanna say that it was such a thrill to have Adrian show up on our back door. He even went out to one of the local bars and jammed the night before the festival, which is pretty impressive for a guitar player of his stature. He was lovely to deal with. We dealt directly with him on his plans to come out to Vancouver Island.  His one-of-a-kind guitar broke just before this performance with Amos and David. He could have completely freaked out and he didn't. We managed to get it fixed or at least get him through the set of music that he played with these two gentlemen. Anyway, a wonderful memory with three of the best guitarists of our time. They all still liked to have fun and treated playing with the childlike wonder that makes great musicians what they are!