- 12th annual Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival, Saturday, Aug. 13, Deer Lake Park, Gater open at 2 p.m.
Luke Doucet performs his last gig with his current band, the White Falcon, tomorrow night at the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.
It should be a touching final performance for the musician, as his wife, musician Melissa McClelland, and daughter plan to join him on stage.
"It's the one performance I've been looking forward to all summer," Doucet says in a phone interview from Calgary. "I'll be up there with my wife and daughter on the West Coast, all together and we get to play an outdoor festival in the greater Vancouver area. It's very exciting to me."
Doucet says he and his wife are moving on together to form a new band, Whitehorse.
"We're putting our solo careers on hold," he says. "We have a record coming out this September."
Doucet has made a career in music for the past 15 years plus, including a tour with close friend Sarah McLachlan.
The singer/songwriter describes his sound as a bit rock and roll, blues and country. "It's equal parts," he says. "It's a bit of all these things."
Since he was four years old, Doucet has been exposed to iconic musicians such as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and the like - thanks to his family, who would play that music loudly throughout the day.
"I didn't choose for them to influence me," Doucet explains. "I would hear that music at the table eating Shreddies with my mom and sister.
"Everything I hear musically influences me. You don't choose your influences. Your influences choose you."
Like his influences, Doucet has also witnessed what he calls a devolution in his music.
When he learned to play his guitar, it was right around the time the alternative movement hit.
"When I first played guitar, I was so deeply up the (butt) of my guitar, I didn't hear the music, just the guitar," he says. "I wouldn't think about songs until the '90s and late '80s, when the alternative movement hit, and it was all about deconstruction."
He was very influenced at the time by bands such as the Flaming Lips.
Now he's "back to the cradle" and making music in a lot of different ways.
"The music I do now is more obvious," he says, adding that as musicians age they don't try as hard to find their sound. "It sounds like it's coming from a certain time or place."
Doucet uses the example of Dylan and Waits, who don't make boring music because they've had such long musical careers in the spotlight.
"Not to sound cliché, but things have become more simple musically for me. There's something about somebody who's not trying so hard."
Doucet says everyone's really looking forward to tomorrow's performance with his wife and 15-year-old daughter, Chloe DoucetWinkelman, who will also be playing the guitar.
"I know Chloe is excited. It's going to be really special."
The festival runs from 2 to 10 p.m. at Deer Lake Park. Single tickets cost $65 or $70 on the day of show. Visit www.burnabyblues festival.com or call 604-205-3000 for more information.
Other performers at this year's festival include headliner k.d. lang, John Mayall and Imelda May. For more coverage of participating artists go to www.burnabynow. com.
