Posted by After not hearing a peep from acoustic fingerstyle maestro Don Ross for what seemed like forever I was surprised to see that he had a gig coming up at a small pub and bistro that I had never heard of in Gatineau. When I mentioned the gig to a few friends I was even more surprised to learn that Don had been the Artist In Residence in Carleton University’s music department (my old alma mater) for the past year.
Strange a) that he had been around town for a full academic year and he hadn’t been playing any local shows, and b) that Carleton U. even has a position for an Artist-In-Residence; that was news to me, and I used to work there.
Anyway, after sitting on the fence for a week or so, when April 14th, 2018 came I decided on a whim to join a friend for the show and across the river we went.
Not only was the Troquet a new bar/bistro/venue to me, the whole area, rife with hip bar/restaurants, bricked pedestrian streets and cool music flying out of several windows was a surprise. How could something like this elude my attention when it lies just a ten-minute cycle from my house? I gazed around in wonder and before ducking into the venue I vowed to return for further investigation.
The bistro was small and packed. Amazingly, there seemed to be but two seats left in the place, both of them side-by-each and right at the bar, just six feet from the tiny makeshift ‘stage’; it’s like they were waiting for us. With just enough time for me to order a cold, hoppy beer and refuse a menu Don Ross stepped up to the mic, picked up one of the three custom-built guitar contraptions he had brought with him, and proceeded to drop every jaw in the room.
If you don’t know Don Ross, he’s a guitar-playing monster wrapped up in an overly-affable giant Teddy bear of a man. Homey, folky and surprisingly nervous, when he digs his hands into an acoustic guitar he instantly turns every head every time. His approach is aggressive and flawless and he can somehow stuff more notes into a bar than is theoretically possible. His open-tuned concertos are always very melodic, overtly consonant, and chock-full of ringing harmonics and flashy pull-offs…in short, the guy is just a joy to watch.
That said, he almost gives too much. I inevitably catch myself looking towards the door at some point during a Don Ross show; probably because I get too filled up with notes, so heavy is the sonic tidal wave, but I must also concede that Don’s down-hominess gets quite hard to take; it would be nice if he’d grow at least a little bit of attitude. In summation: even though this was the first time I had seen Don Ross play in well over a decade, it was this close to being too soon.
Love the guy. He’s a great, great player and he tells good stories. But I don’t think I’ll be going on Don Ross tour anytime soon.
Todd Man Out 