An iconic Canadian musician who is no stranger to the Sunshine City is returning to town for a concert next week.
Murray McLauchlan, who has performed multiple times at the Orillia Opera House and the Mariposa Folk Festival, will be in Orillia for a Feb. 19 show at the opera house.
“It’s a lovely place,” McLauchlan told OrilliaMatters during a recent interview.
During a career that has spanned nearly half a century, the 71-year-old musician has played venues big and small across the country. While “sometimes the theatres blend together a bit,” there’s something that stands out to McLauchlan.
“One thing that always strikes me is how much, generally speaking, Canadians are very much alike and there’s a great commonality with them,” he said. “People in Canada have a really great sense of humour. They’re willing to laugh at their own foibles.”
His world travels have cemented that sentiment, but they have also helped to shape McLauchlan and his art.
He sought inspiration during a trip to Vietnam a year ago after hearing about “Mr. Thanh,” a guitar maker in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Everybody had been raving about the guitars he makes,” McLauchlan said, adding the instrument he played at the shop was “one of the most gorgeous” he’d ever played.
“One of the reasons I love to travel,” he added, “is, as much as I love Canada, it’s really important to get out of it. It makes you both appreciate what’s here and is also a bulwark against being parochial.”
That international inspiration informs McLauchlan’s music, and while he isn’t yet working on a new album, writing is “always an ongoing process,” he said.
The material he is working on now has some different sounds, though that should come as no surprise to fans of the multi-genre musician, known for songs such as Farmer’s Song, Down by the Henry Moore, Whispering Rain and Sweeping the Spotlight Away.
“It’s funky, little rockabilly grooves with sweet, little chords mixed in,” he said of his current work. “It’s still recognizable as me and people don’t mind it when I try to kick out the jams a little bit.”
Fans also noticed an evolution in McLauchlan’s sound when they listened to his last album, 2017’s Love Can’t Tell Time. A few years earlier, he had spent three months in Italy, where he “really sat down and started working on how to play a different style of guitar.”
“I got eager and I went back into some of the stuff I’d created earlier,” he said, noting he did so on his 1938 Hensel guitar.
Fans will be able to experience McLauchlan’s variety of sounds from some of his 18 albums during his Orillia show Feb. 19.
“My ambition when I play a concert is when people walk out the doors, they’re slightly different from when they walked in,” he said.
Those who can’t make it to the show can still catch a glimpse of McLauchlan at this summer’s Mariposa Folk Festival, though he is not expected to perform there. He will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
It will be a special moment for McLauchlan, who was a founding board member of the hall in 1998.
“It’s taken long enough,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve got to the point where I certainly don’t need validation, but it’s always nice to be recognized for what you do.”
His show at the opera house will start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $48 and can be purchased here or by contacting the box office in person or by calling 705-326-8011.
Find out more about McLauchlan on his website.
