On Friday Mar. 22, 2024, the Mary Webb Centre for the Arts, after a few

scary hours during the morning and early afternoon when the weather threatened to perhaps cancel the concert, welcomed Canadian folk singer Valdy. He had driven that day from Colbourg and without any trouble getting to Highgate, a relief to us all.

He mentioned at the start of the concert that he usually starts his concerts with the song “Put an End to Peace”, which with the many serious conflicts presently going on around the world is so much more appropriate. Having been nominated for 9 Juno Awards and winning two, he has a wealth of songs to sing. He sang “I am Not a Rich Man” and “Yes I Can” to name just a few. His thoughtful song “Rollin North on Hwy 63” remembers the fire that devastated Fort McMurray and the drive back up to it to see the destruction. A wonderful song, based on a true story about a friend taking his grandkids out for lunch was “Dave Pulled the Plug on the VLT”. Many of his songs are ones for which he wrote the music to poems written by others. He was a good friend of Stompin Tom and sang a beautiful song that he wrote about Tom.

Valdy is a funny, friendly performer who tells some very entertaining stories in between songs and involves the audience in many of his songs. He is also a truly amazing acoustic guitar player. He had brought some CDs to sell at intermission, thinking that not many would sell, but they were all gone before he even started his concert. Several people in the audience had Valdy record albums with them, many of the albums from Valdy’s early career which he signed after the concert. For someone on the upper side of 70 years of age, he still does an amazing 200 concerts a year. He ended his concert with “Til The next Time I’m in Town” and based on the standing ovation he received, that is certainly what they want to see happen. After the concert as he was packing up to head out, Valdy once again commented on how impressed he is by the acoustics in the Mary Webb Centre.

Special thanks to the sponsors for the evening, Total Comfort Heating and Cooling and our sound tech Joel Morningstar.