The Sadies with Devin Cuddy At Showplace
$35 Adults, $30 students
Since their formation in 1994, Toronto’s Sadies have developed, even perfected, a style of music that is uniquely their own. Possessing a deep fondness and reverence for the best of country, bluegrass and blues (CBGB!), they are equally informed and influenced by everything from 60s garage and psychedelic rock (Pebbles, Nuggets, et al) to surf instrumentals and punk rock. You’re as likely to find an enthusiastic fan of Negative Approach or Crime as one of Santo & Johnny or Merle Travis within their ranks. It’s all relevant and it all fits and that sort of depth goes a long way in helping to understand how they came to develop such a broad platform from which to launch their own musical explorations.
A lanky young man sits at a battered piano in a dark, cramped club. His hair falls in large sweaty tussles over his eyes. As he kicks his band into the immortal “Mystery Train,” he tosses back those curls while cocking his head toward the crowd, Jerry Lee Lewis-style. The setting could indeed be Memphis or New Orleans in 1959, but this is Toronto in 2013 where a new generation has picked up rock and roll’s torch. Not in any kind of fashion sense, mind you, but in a spiritual sense, chasing the rhythm with pure heart and soul.
Devin Cuddy has always made music his way, and some might argue, the hard way. As the son of one of Canada’s most beloved singer/songwriters, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy, country rock has been the soundtrack to Devin’s entire life—he was born the same week Blue Rodeo began recording its 1987 debut album, Outskirts. But from the moment Devin was drawn to playing music, he was determined to get as close as possible to the sources of all the sounds he loved, whether they were made by rock and roll’s founding fathers, the Grand Ole Opry’s honky tonk heroes, or Jelly Roll Morton and the kings of jazz.
