An evening of eclectic and original music is promised when singer-songwriter Medderick and The Wheat In The Barley join forces this Saturday (June 6) at 8 p.m. at the Elks Lounge, 1469 George St.
It's a follow-up to Medderick's well-received guest performance at the last Wheat In The Barley show at the Elks Club in March, but also the latest chapter in a musical collaboration with the band's founder and leader, Steve Gidora, that stretches back four decades.
The association of the two performers began in the early 1970s with Home Grown, the band for Gastown venue Deighton House.
"Eventually this band morphed into 'Dad,' recording originals at Can Base Studios, the forerunner to Mushroom Records, " Gidora said in a news release.
In the early 1980s Gidora and Medderick formed the duo Spellbound, which performed at many neighborhood pubs around the Lower Mainland and around B.C.
In 1986 the duo split when Gidora became a teacher, and Medderick left the coast to play in bands in the Okanagan, the Kootenays and Alberta.
After a decade hiatus from music, Gidora formed the folk-roots-world group The Wheat In The Barley, which has produced four CDs to date.
Inevitably, Medderick contributed to two of them – Granddad and Can't Draw The Curtain – and in 2012 he and Gidora teamed for an album of original music album, Jokers and Prophets, which drew in most of The Wheat In The Barley, as well as other accomplished musicians such as Neil Harnett, Jordan Carrier, Fanny Starchild and Darryl Havers.
For Saturday's show, The Wheat In The Barley will play an opening set and then play back-up for Medderick on songs from Jokers and Prophets and Granddad, as well as some new originals and some classic cover tunes.
"During our last show at the Elks Lounge, Medderick performed a couple of songs that left the audience wanting more, and that became the catalyst for this show," Gidora said.
Tickets ($15) are available at the Elks Lounge and at Tapestry Music.
For more information, call 604-723-3052.