Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Artist: Valdy, Album: Passport Best Of Valdy, Song: Streets Of Whitehorse

"So you go out walking the streets of Whitehorse with all the money that you made.  Buying doubles for the ladies, if you're lucky you'll get laid.  Bars all closed and the cold wind blows and you feel like a fool in your summer clothes and you realize that nobody knows your name.  You're just another southern fool in a northern game."  Valdy is a country folk singer who started his career in Ottawa.  He played with a number of bands before moving to Vancouver in 1966.  He released his debut album, Country Man, in 1972 and rocketed to fame with his first single and biggest selling song, entitled, Rock and Roll Song.  His achievements include 14 albums, 2 Juno awards, 14 Juno nominations, numerous gold records as well as being a recipient of The Order of Canada.  Valdy has become one of our most celebrated artists.  He continues to play live at  home and abroad, averaging 200 shows a year.  You can read about him at http://www.valdy.com/.  The  70's decade was a key period for Valdy's popularity and by 1976 he had amplified his stage presence with the addition of the Hometown Band (see blog 4/6/11).  He was also signed to A&M Records for most of this period.  In 1980, A&M released the first of many retrospective releases of Valdy's work.  Streets Of Whitehorse was a track originally penned by Canadian folk singer, Bob Ruzicka, and recorded by Valdy in 1977 with the Hometown Band.  Unfortunately, all of these early releases, including the retrospective release, are only available on vinyl and very hard to find.  Some of his hit songs were re-mastered for a 20th Century Masters Millenium release which included this song and it is available on Itunes.  You can hear the song, Streets of Whitehorse, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSSe7I5dFFk&feature=channel_video_title).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!