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February 26, 2007

Canadian musician/singer pleases crowd at PHCC

Charlie A'Court belts out the blues

Charlie A'Court delighted the audience with his music, and his wit.
Monday, February 26, 2007

By HOLLY KOZELSKY - Bulletin Staff Writer - Martinsville Bulletin.

There was more laughing than crying during the contemporary blues concert of Canadian musician Charlie A’Court Saturday night at the Walker Fine Arts Center at Patrick Henry Community College.

The Canadian singer and guitar player kept the audience of about 200 people chuckling between songs with anecdotes and one-liners.

He played an acoustic six-string guitar, which was shortened to a five-string in just his first song when a string broke.

“It’s a good time for a story,” the singer quipped. “I wish I knew some.”

As he sat down to replace the high E string, “the most embarrassing string,” he called it, he spun a couple of tales. With a new string on, he tore into the adult contemporary-twinged rhythm and blues with vigor.

His sound contained hints of his musical influences, B.B. King, Bad Company, Eric Clapton and Long John Baldry.

A light-hearted repartee went up between the audience and the 28-year-old singer from Nova Scotia.

He asked guitar players in the audience to raise their hands, and then he asked them the hardest chord to learn to play. A man’s voice from the back hollered out, “C major 7 with a diminished 21st!”

“Always!” answered A’Court, “because you have to wrap one leg around your head to pull it off.”

Then he said that the F-chord was the most difficult for him to learn “because you’re trying to fret two strings with one finger while your other digits kinda find their way around.”

He told a story about how that chord frustrated him so much when he was 12 years old that he threw his father’s guitar. His father was upset with him, suggesting that if that was the way he would treat a guitar, perhaps it was time he consider another line of work.

After several weeks of Charlie not playing guitar, his father finally taught him his first song, which he then played for the audience: “Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again.”

Apart from that and one Willie Nelson song, though, most of the songs he performed were his own.

“I’m thankful that every woman I’ve ever had a crush on has left me with a song,” he said, and he has written songs for every girlfriend he has had. The single A’Court said, laughing, that when he had a girlfriend he didn’t want to lose, he had better not write her a song.

A woman from the crowd hollered out to ask if the ring he was wearing was a wedding ring. “I’m not married,” he answered, adding that the ring is inscribed with the phrase “in blues we trust.”

“He’s a great vocalist,” said Lidia Hairston of Bassett. She said that when she heard about the show, it was hard to imagine how a Canadian would sing the blues, “but now I see what’s on the table.”

She added, “it’s great to have this kind of entertainment in the area.”

Rebecca Flippin of Axton rushed right out during intermission to buy A’Court’s CD, “Bring on the Storm.”

“He’s an awesome guitarist; he’s wonderful,” she said.

“I like his style a lot,” Twyla Neil of Patrick Springs said, describing the music as “a crossover between the blues and (with) a contemporary twist.”

Mary Lou Barrett, also of Patrick Springs, nodded in agreement, adding, “it’s good to see some live music.”

At the end of the show, the crowd didn’t let A’Court out easily. After he had left the stage, he returned to a standing ovation to play the powerful and sentimental, “I’m Coming Home.”

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