Scrapes on the open road, visits with beautiful actress daughters, holding government accountable and a new shirt; it’s all just another summer tour season for Canadian folk and country great Paul “Valdy” Horsdal.
Valdy, who celebrated his 69th birthday on Sept. 1, has made a successful career through the art of music and storytelling and there didn’t seem to be much slowing down for the “Rock and Roll Song” hit-maker, as he was interviewed, “around Saskatoon looking for a Husky Gas Station.
“I’m driving from Ontario to B.C. I played last night in Fort Qu’Appelle and today I’m playing up at Laird Fest, which is a gathering of Salt Spring Islanders who happen to be in Saskatchewan,” Valdy said.
Valdy plays the Canmore Royal Canadian Legion on Sept. 11.
Valdy might be crisscrossing Canada for gigs, but he still knows family is top priority.
“I’m having dinner with my daughter in Calgary tomorrow night,” Valdy said.
“Her name is Chelah, guaranteed she’s a beautiful woman, she’s also a sweet human and got a tough momma role in this thing called Hell on Wheels that they’re shooting around Calgary. She’s got one of the main characters on that.”
Canmore holds a soft spot in his heart due to the fun and uniqueness the place offers the musician.
“If you get depressed there you just have to look up. The island (Salt Spring) is different because of the climate and the whole economic social thing out there, but as a visitor to Canmore I love coming to that town. It’s a good crowd that shows up at the legion, and I used to play at the Policemen’s drop in centre by the creek in years gone by. But this seems to be the venue of choice and I’m going to stick with that.”
If there’s something in the national news, chances are Valdy will probably hear about it, and he makes a point to scan local news wherever he’s playing to see if he can incorporate it into his set. “I listen to local news then I’ll be able to use that in the show too, because it’s good to add local colour and people like being reflected by what’s coming into town.
“I’ve got a new tune I’ve dedicated to Stompin’ Tom Connors because he fell off the radar way too fast; I’ve written a song called “Oh Tom, We Miss Ya” and you certainly will hear it.”
The federal government also keeps Valdy’s beliefs and output at the forefront. “I’m just so disappointed that Canada is being so badly represented internationally. There are all kinds of sports people out there kicking it and doing the best they can, there are business people all around the world doing what they can and they have a government that is just so flat-footed,” Valdy said. “With the feds, I’m just so sorry they’re so small-minded in their approach to Canadian expansion and around the world.
“I’d like to see a change of colour in the PMO, not under the present resident either. But we have an election coming up in 2015 and we may brighten the horizon that way – I just don’t like the way we’re being represented internationally, like they’re not going to give money to countries that support abortion and s**t like that, come on. This is 2015 almost.”
Valdy says he had his firm beliefs on women’s rights issues sewn into him by his mother, who was a nurse in Ontario. “Guaranteed she did, she was a firebrand, she used to run contraceptives into Quebec. I can say that I’m a firebrand because I have developed a soulful conscious because of her,” Valdy said.
With music and well wishes constantly on his mind, Valdy hopes everyone had a great time at the Canmore Folk Music Festival and is looking forward to getting back.
“I’ve got some new tunes and a new shirt. But I’m not dancing as good as I could, I fell asleep at the wheel and I went off the road in Nova Scotia so I got a slightly broken back. I’m not dancing as well as I possibly could, but I’m on the mend,” Valdy said.
“What I’d like to tell people is that when they feel tired at the wheel, please get off the road for their own sake and for the sake of anyone else they might involve. For 45 years of touring I’ve never had an accident, but I woke up when my tire hit the gravel so I got to experience it.”
