It’s always been great that the Folk Club in Bonn attracts international musicians to visit. When one of them actually comes here to live – well, we’ll take that happily, thank you very much! Rick Fines is a veteran Canadian roots musician with a long and storied career in Canada and possibly one of the country’s hardest working artists, having toured across the Country countless times — solo, as a duo, and with a full band — recording over 14 albums along the way. After several short appearances at Dotty’s it was great to finally see Rick do a full set at the Kulturbad in Rüngsdorf.
In advance of the show I did a little research and discovered that Rick’s Grandfather, Smilin’ Jonnie Lucky, was a Canadian country music pioneer and that Rick himsel was already a successful musician by the 1980’s as a part of the Canadian band Jackson Delta alongside Gary Peeples and Al Black. Rick has since gone on as a solo artist to receive numerous nominations at Canada’s prestigious Juno and Maple Blues Awards; showing his creative resilience especially on 2020’s ‘Solar Powered Too’ release which was recorded during Lockdown in a backwoods cabin using just two solar panels and four golfcart batteries. Oh, and with contributions from, amongst others, one Jimmy Bowskill – who guitar/rock fans might remember sharing the Museumsplatz bill a few years back on a magical evening with Jeff Beck and Joe Bonamassa.
Leaving all of this, and his native Peterborough Ohio, and moving to Bonn must have been a huge upheaval that needed all that resilience then. Meeting Rick though you wouldn’t know it. He exhudes a calm, thoughtful air and an easy smile. Both of which were on display at the Rungsdorfer Kulturbad. But then, he had it comparitivley easy – with electricity ‘on tap’, no need for those golfcart batteries in Rungsdorf!
‘Stones Throw Away’ is a bright and jaunty number to get the fingers loosened up with before one of my favourite songs from the folk-club floor spots – ‘Laundry on the Line’. Later on a smiling Rick will tell you that his composition ‘Mrs Turner’ is “The only John Prine song I’ve ever written”, but that’s not true. There’s a lot of Prine’s deceptively simple but powerful narrative way of writing in ‘Laundry…’ and I think these two songs really give you an idea of the calibre of songwriting on offer. Lyrics clearly matter a lot to Rick, as his collaborations with Peterborough poet PJ Thomas prove.
There are just two guitars set out on the stage tonight. One a Parlour sized acoustic and the other a Republic steel. One could equally say there are two Rick Fines onstage tonight. One a folk/Ragtime finger picker and the other a veteran Bluesman. For song two that Republic steel and the Bluesman take the stage for ‘Never Let Go’ which offers up some fine brassy slide playing. I should point out here that although there is definitely a set-list at Rick’s feet he warns me about paying it too much attention. It’s more as though he’s jotted down what he generally wants to play and hops around the list according to feeling, switching between the two guitars accordingly. The music and songs though are generally up-tempo in mood. ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Good To Go’ are examples. The latter is a sprightly ragtime number about leaving home to start a new life. One for his wife before coming to Bonn perhaps? The audience is certainly happy that the Fines are based in Bonn – no complaints.
‘Half-Full Cup’ is a song that followed Rick’s visit to a seminar about German psychologists. It was supposed to be a positive song for his wife, but he found that after a couple of verses his own mother seemed to creep into the narrative. Mr Freud would I am sure be most pleased. ‘Scared to Dance’, he revealed, has its origins in conversations with poet PJ Thomas and at this point I recommend checking out the lady’s website where you will find some first-rate poetry. A nice steel guitar slide boogie number took us to the closer for part one – a deliciously pared-down version of John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boogie Chillun’.
Part two got underway with a track from what Rick described as two “Old gentlemen of the Blues” by the names of Jagger & Richards. And he is absolutely right when he says ‘No Expectations’ sounds like an old Blues standard. It’s great to hear it played in that way by Rick too, rather than the Rock ballad rendition trhat commercial productions require. Now we are at the song ‘Mrs Turner’, that “John Prine song I wrote” and it is of course a cracker. A simple story of a simple life, told in that deceptively simple Prine style that, had it been written by Prine himself, would maybe be up there for cover versions alongside ‘Angel of Montgomery’ and ‘Sam Stone’. It’s musical magic. I’ve been lucky enough to catch some great singer/songwriters live onstage: Ralph McTell, Don Mclean, Richard Bogle… I think that Rick, at his best as he is on this number, is up there with them all.
And if you still need convincing, there is ‘Riley wants his life back’. It maybe goes over the heads of audiences in Germany so I’ll explain: In England (and Canada) we have a saying that when someone is living the perfect life of ease they are “Living the Life of Riley“. Well, Rick Fines takes it a stage further, to ask what happens when the said ‘Riley’ wants his life of ease back? I first heard this at Folk Club and fell in love with the song. The sheer idea behind it. I guess that if I had to choose just one song to define Rick Fines this would be it: Witty lyrics, catchy tune, throaty vocals, and Satchmo styled trumpet without a trumpet (wouldn’t it be great to hear Rick one day join forces with Zaz for a sizzling ‘orchestral’ version of ‘Je Veux’!
There’s a great jazzified version of the next number ‘This One Day’ online but the purely acoustic version this evening hits home too with its feel good vibe about living one day at a time. The concert part one finished with a cover – JL Hooker’s ‘Boogie Chillun’ and part two also closes with a familiar cover – Chuck Berry’s love song for his automobile ‘No Money Down’. As opposed to the FolkClub version from last week, it definitely benefits from having amplification when the Rock n Roll riffs are due, and Rick delivers them pretty well considering he’s playing a parlor acoustic and not a Gibson SG.
No one is going to let Rick go without an encore and it’s a melancholic number played on his Steel guitar that I think is called ‘Ancient Drum’. That’s what it says on the set-list anyway, but Rick Fines plays them as they fit which is as it should be (although if this was a band show and I was in that band I might feel differently!) There is loud applause from the audience of around 100 people. If there’s any justice that audience size will grow. If you’re a promoter out there, take note.
In all then, a magical evening of music and song, and if you’re a fan of Rick Fine’s who is reading this from Canada – No, you can’t have him back! I would also recommend keeping an eye on the website for Rüngsdorfer Kulturbad HERE as there are some interesting shows coming there way including British duo My Darling Clementine on 6 June who have worked with the likes of Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Steve Earle, Nils Lofgren, Ron Sexsmith und Graham Parker.
