Paul Pigat, West Vancouver Memorial Library, Tonight. Free event as part of the Friday Night Concert Series. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information visit westvanlibrary.ca.
Until time travel is perfected, the surest way to voyage into the past may be through your older brother’s record collection.
It’s been more than 35 years since guitarist Paul Pigat trespassed into his big brother’s room and stumbled on a stack of albums.
Asked if he came from a musical family, the country swing player renowned for his versatility and dexterity is dismissive.
“Not at all,” he says, before amending his answer. “The only thing in my family that was musical was my brother’s record collection.”
Flipping through the vinyl, Pigat came across early new wave bands that befuddled urban anarchist punks with synthesizer melodies and cosmopolitan style. Past that there was Johnny Winter, a Texas guitar hero who played incendiary blues-based rock.
Fittingly enough, past Winters was B.B. King.
The son of Tennessee sharecroppers, King was maybe the most influential blues guitarist – at least among the pickers who avoided transactions with the devil.
“I would spend hours in his room just searching through it finding these wonderful gems,” Pigat says.
It’s discomfiting for music fans to wonder what might have become of Pigat if his older brother had collected comic books or car magazines instead of records.
Pigat grew up in Toronto, Ont. between Jane-Sheppard and Jane-Finch, once dubbed Canada’s toughest neighbourhood.
“Almost like the ghetto,” he says.
The one opportunity Pigat saw in his blue collar town was playing music, which was convenient, as, by his own admission, he wasn’t interested in anything other than music.
At 13 he was playing country tunes, early rock and “whatever anybody wanted us to play” in a spate of Toronto bars.
“I’m sure you could not get away with that now but the ‘80s were a different time. You could convince people that ‘Yeah, sure I’m 19,’” he says with a laugh. “I was by no means an angel back then.”
Today Pigat regularly plays with Jim Byrnes, The Sojourners and Michael Kaeshammer, as well as releasing instructional videos on different guitar styles.
“Making a living playing gigs is by no means an easy thing,” he says. “When I was younger it was much easier to do than it is now.”
Reflecting on his youth from his East Vancouver home, Pigat makes a few tweaks to his custom Gretsch guitar.
“I’m just sitting here trying to make sure my guitar stays in tune for the gig,” he says, talking about the Friday night show at West Vancouver Memorial Library.
Pigat might be better known as the sneering rockabilly cat he turns into as the frontman for Cousin Harley, but Cousin Harley isn’t invited to the library.
Friday’s concert gives Pigat a chance to indulge his “sophisticated hillbilly side” with a jazz trio likely to favour a setlist including standards from Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Hoagy Carmichael.
“I might even bust out some Bing Crosby,” he says.
For Pigat, Crosby is “one of the ultimate crooners,” particularly in the 1930s when his guitar work was handled by the legendary Les Paul.
“How could I not love that combination?” he asks.
Friday’s concert should be a journey back to the time of black suits and bandstands, according to Pigat.
“It’s going to be like Mel Torme meets AC/DC,” he says, laughing. “No, it’s not,” he quickly corrects himself. “It’s going to be cool, it’s going to be swinging, and that’s all I need to say.”
