The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (1925-1930) in Europe this month!
06-06-2023Acclaimed Montreal country songwriter Li’l Andy has come with The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter (1925-1930), a multi-layered project 10 years in the making, and is coming on tour in Europe starting this month:
The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter is a live medicine show act, a dazzling display of virtuosity by Canada’s most revered old-time and folk musicians, and a performance art piece that takes audiences back to the beginnings of country music.
The project is made up of 29 new recordings, a companion novel, and a new stage persona named “Hezekiah Procter”. “I created Hezekiah to be the kind of über-country singer in the tradition of Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, or Charlie Poole,” says Andy. “A self-destructive genius who burns out and fades away, leaving a handful of great recordings for 78rpm collectors and historians to obsess over.”
To create an authentic 1930s sound for the album, Andy and his collaborators recorded on vintage recording equipment from the era itself, recording on a wire recorder manufactured in 1937 to create a facsimile of the 78rpm sound of early jazz, blues, and country recordings. That unique recording process is in full view in the video for the song “I See Jesus Comin’ Down the Road”, which sounds uncannily like an old-time gospel recording from the 1930s. The accompanying video was filmed in Earle Hall, a 100-year-old vaudeville in Wakefield, QC, and shows the singer’s transformation from “Li’l Andy” to his new stage persona of “Hezekiah Procter”.
Go see The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter this month:
14/06: Copenhagen, DK - Alice
15/06: Norderstedt, DE - Music Star
16/06: Drachten, NL - Iduna
17/06: Nijmegen, NL - Kids ’n Billies
18/06: Terschelling, NL - Oerol
19/06: Lint, BE - ’t Groot Verzet
20/06: Krefeld, DE - Kulturrampe
23/06: Bottelare, BE - 't Ketske
24/06: Rotterdam, NL - Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival
25/06: Middelburg, NL - Eindeloos Eiland Festival