Toronto – I walked into Haligonian David Myles’ set on Friday with no expectations and no prior knowledge of his music at all. Myles was already playing as we walked in and as I looked at the trio up on stage (two guitars and an upright bass), I thought, “Ok, suits, ‘staches … they’ve got that classy, old school bluegrass kind of thing going on.” There were elements of bluegrass, folk, and even a bit of jazz in his sound. Myles and his band were all impressive players and also seemed like pretty nice guys.
Myles was a pretty personable performer. As with many folk musicians, it’s almost as much about the storytelling and banter between songs as it is about the music. He talked about how he lived in Toronto for a year working at Queen’s Park: “A lot has changed in my life since then, but I still wear a suit to work.” Speaking of suits, he used their suits as a clever way to introduce the band and lead into the next song - mentioning how the bass player was wearing the suit his father got married in and the guitarist was wearing the suit he got married in, Myles said, “Me? I’m wearing the suit I’m gonna die in … a long time from now.” From there they launched into a song with the chorus, “I’m getting old but I’m not old yet,” one of several upbeat tunes he played throughout his set. He did play some slower songs, but quickly realized that a Friday night Dakota crowd wants some good stompin’ type tunes.
And finally, my favourite moment of the show: As Myles spoke of his time in Toronto, someone shouted “Welcome back!” Brief pause. “Thanks … I thought you said don’t come back.” It’s probably safe to say that David Myles is welcome to come back to Toronto.
