Michael Bernard Fitzgerald was full of excitement after playing the opening main-stage performance at the Canmore Folk Music Festival, Saturday (July 30).
“I love Canmore,” he said. “We’ve come here three times and played at Communitea, and it’s sold out and Marnie always puts us up in such a fantastic way, and we’re able to present different interpretations of the same songs over and over, and the people are just so receptive in Canmore.”
The Calgary-based musician also played a free show Friday evening (July 29) outside the Canmore Civic Centre.
“One thing I love about folk music festivals is the sense of community,” he said. “I think more and more today, the folk festival represents community even more than it does a genre of music and I think that’s the best part.
“You come here and you instantly feel love from the audience. And we’re not a traditional folk group, so I really appreciate that we were welcomed to play a festival like this and the other festivals this summer. I think this is the most happening place to play. It’s such a wonderful experience for anybody, I think.”
Fitzgerald described himself as being a folk-pop artist.
“I play with a bunch of great guys – we play from the heart – and we sometimes play loud,” he said. “That’s pretty much MBF in a nutshell. I try to be kind whenever possible.”
He found his way into music through theatre and being on stage.
“Music just organically took over more and more of my life, so there was no room for the other stuff,” said Fitzgerald. “Now it’s just a really wonderful time, playing great events like this and getting to spend time with my friends on the stage. I can’t complain.
“I started playing when I was at the University of Lethbridge – that would have been 2005 – and I just started playing here and there more and more and then driving to Calgary on the weekends and playing more and eventually I took a hiatus from school,” he explained.
“It’s still a hiatus. For a while my mom was like, ‘Aw, I’d really like you to go back and finish,’ and a few years ago she stopped saying that and then she started going to shows. Well, she came to them all before, she just became a lot more comfortable with this idea.”
While his band did play a few covers, including a tune by Bruce Springsteen, most of the music was original compositions.
“Well, (the music’s) evolved over time, it’s always acoustic guitar based and we build it up with a really cool, Motown feeling horn, drum and bass, a great guitarist in Russel Broom – he’s incredible – and then the singers,” he said. “I just try to have that big band feel. I love that big sound, and then I also love the moments tonight where there’s not much sound.
“I like those really open moments. And that’s what I strive for, a lot of energy and some really cool, hopeful moments.”
As for the themes of what he writes about, Fitzgerald always strives to be positive.
“Sometimes girls, sometimes love of either forms, it varies, but most of it is up,” he said. “I think there’s enough stuff about down in the world currently, so I try to be positive.”
His most recent album was a disc of live recordings, released two months ago and he is now working on his next studio work.
“We’ve been recording, we’ve been working, we spent a lot of time on it over the last year, so I just want it to be right,” said Fitzgerald. “At times before I was a bit more juvenile in my approach and we were cramming to get it done and out.”
