Ken Hamm, Doug Cox, David Gogo, Sam Hurrie

When looking at the line-up for Blues Reunion one can’t help but think of the lines to the chorus of Old Friends, a tune from the book of the late, great Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark. “Old Friends, they shine like diamonds. Old Friends, you can always call” You won’t get any argument about those sentiments from the quartet of Ken Hamm, Doug Cox, Sam Hurrie and David Gogo who have decided to come together on stage as BLUES REUNION. These are four artists who musically intersect in “the blues”, but four musicians with decidedly unique perspectives and approaches to dispensing songs and sounds that have been a storied part of global culture for well over a century. The songs, the styles, the influences are also “old friends” to each of these instrumentalists, songwriters, interpreters and singers, but relationships are just as important of a component when it comes to making BLUES REUNION click. Ask Doug Cox who has been juggling duties in the world of music for a number of decades, as an award winning performer, session player, album producer, collaborator, and tunesmith about the importance of hunkering down with “old friends”, and being a catalyst in bringing his friends together for this project. “Ken Hamm and I played together for at least seven years, almost full time, on and off, and I was lucky enough to play on his "Eagle Rock Road" album in the mid-nineties, which has some of my best playing on it. Ken played on my first two albums as well. So we have a long history. We toured in Canada numerous times and did a couple of runs into the United States. I never thought I'd get to hang out with Ken again, let alone play music with him, so I can't tell you how much this means to me. Add Sam and David to the mix and it's a wonderful mix of friends and masterful musicians. It's a full circle moment.” “In 1996, David Gogo and I were playing a duo gig in Powell River, and Sam opened for us, and that's where we first met Sam. Sam and I went on to have a very long musical friendship, including three albums. We used to host what is now kind of a legendary gig at the long-gone Edge Pub in Comox with Todd Butler. It was a blues gig with visiting guests every week. Sam and I went on to host jams at the Waverly and Cumberland Pubs (both in Cumberland). This lead to numerous tours and Festivals all over Canada; to Texas, and even into Germany, Slovakia, Belgium and France together over the years,” says the dobro and guitar playing Cox of these friendships that have traversed so much time and territory. Hurrie, the elder statesmen of this crew, dipped his toe into the blues as a fan back in the late fifties when he first caught John Lee Hooker back east. Before long he was immersed in the music as a player of note and one who was a witness to and participant in the heyday of the Younge Street rhythm and blues scene in Toronto and New York with his band the Churls. The band hosted a gig in New York that lead to numerous jams with Jimi Hendrix and other musical legends of the 60's. Since leaving Vancouver Island a few years ago and following a fine run with Cox as a duo that produced three albums, including their last album titled after the aforementioned Guy Clark song, Old Friends, Hurrie has been living in southern B.C. in the Kootneys. David Gogo, the junior member of this troupe, concurs with Cox when he starts thinking of when and where these musical intersections took place and the impact these mainstays of the Canadian roots music scene have had on him. “The first time I ever saw a National guitar, it was being played by Ken Hamm at a concert in Nanaimo when I was 14 years old. Despite our age difference, we struck up a friendship through music. His collection of blues on cassette became my personal lending library to hear these great artists. When I started going on the road as a young man, Ken recommended that I try to see Big Dave McLean and Tim Williams, which I did. Eventually I met Doug and Sam through touring and played various shows with them over the years,” recalls Gogo, who speaks of his fellow members of BLUES REUNION with great respect and fondness. Since being inspired by Hamm and other superb bluesmen Gogo has gone on to record a string of albums that have helped him win the Maple Blues Award as Guitarist of the Year three times. He’s also been honoured with Blues Recording of the Year from the Western Canadian Music Association and named Musicians of the Year at the West Coast Music Awards. That Ken Hamm has not been out on the road for a few years now is an obvious reason for blues/roots fans to be delighted this crew is hitting the road and when it comes to rating discs in the great Canadian blues library, albums from Hamm immediately come to mind, with Ken Hamm and Friends, Sheet Metal Shuffle, the aforementioned Eagle Rock Road and Cross The River, standing out as classics. Ken is easily one of Canada's most influential acoustic guitar players for at least two generations of musicians. This BLUES REUNION foursome, of Hamm, Cox, Gogo and Hurrie have collectively created a ridiculously impressive body of recorded work, played all of the major festivals and folk clubs in Canada, as well as many beer parlours and coffee houses, and many more beyond our borders. All the while they’ve kept the pulse of Canadian blues thumping and having the opportunity to witness all four making great music and sharing stories will be something for roots and blues music fans to look forward to in the coming months. Gogo perhaps sums it up best and puts an exclamation point on the package when he says.. “This is not a lineup that I ever expected to see on one bill, especially at this point in time, but we are making it happen because it NEEDS to happen!”