Blues cruise
Bugs Burnett
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Watson and Deslauriers chasing the blues away
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Montreal's Dawn Tyler Watson taking her share of the limelight around the world
Montreal's Queen of the Blues, Dawn Tyler Watson, was filming a concert scene in a black sequin evening gown on the set of the 2004 docudrama Jack Paradise co-starring Roy Dupuis as jazz pianist Jack Paradise, a leading figure during the Golden Age of Montreal night life. Watson was playing his partner Curly Brown and, she recalls, "I actually tripped on the monitor during one song and hit the ground. But I jumped up so fast that if you blinked you missed it! And I neatly ripped my bra à la Janet Jackson!"Watson has won countless blues awards in Canada and overseas. She's headlined everywhere from Moscow ("They're trying to create a blues scene there") to Bahrain, where she shared a bill with Roberta Flack and Sister Sledge last November. About the stage equipment in Bahrain - made for symphonies and not blues bands - Tyler cracks, "I've seen buskers with better gear!"
Her new Justin Time acoustic album En Duo with guitarist Paul Deslauriers is garnering favourable reviews.
"I really enjoyed recording this time, with Paul and [producer] Charles Papasoff. But I still prefer singing live on stage. It gives me goose bumps. I'm gigging most of the year - this year I took two weeks off for a vacation, which I don't normally do. It's the old musician mentality: Take the gigs when you got them because you never know when they're gonna stop. My goal is not selling
albums, it's touring and playing on stage. And playing the Jazz Fest is the biggest hometown thrill of all."Dawn Tyler Watson and Paul Deslauriers
At Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent), July 2, 7 p.m.
The Dawn Tyler Blues Project also opens up for Koko Taylor at the Tremblant International Blues Festival, July 7
