The McLennans and Music

  Jim and Lynda McLennan have been involved in music in one form or another for most of their adult lives. 

Lynda McLennan taught high-school music for many years, working with choirs, bands, jazz choirs and was music director for several Mainstage musicals. She has directed church choirs and retired after 15 years as the Director of the Big Rock Singers, a community choir in her home town of Okotoks, Alberta. She has also been very active in church-music as a worship leader and vocal soloist.   Jim often accompanies Lynda when she sings.

Jim McLennan is best-known for his profile in the world of fly fishing, but he has also been a serious musician for over 40 years.  Part of the acoustic music scene that flourished in Edmonton in the ‘70s and ‘80s, producing artists like Connie Kaldor, Roy Forbes, and Bill Bourne, he developed a strong reputation as a finger-style guitarist and arranger, specializing in coaxing piano and big band music out of a single acoustic guitar.

Through his interest in arranging the ragtime music of Scott Joplin,  McLennan met American acoustic guitar guru Stefan Grossman and subsequently recorded several of his arrangements for Grossman’s Kicking Mule Record Company in the 1970s  His music has also been featured in Guitar Player magazine.

Though McLennan took a 20-year hiatus from performing, his passion for the guitar remains. 

Currently he most frequently performs as a solo artist, and as an accompanist for his wife Lynda on vocals.  Jim is also a member of singer/songwriter Berna Dean Holland's band, and can also be heard accompanying his brother Hugh McLennan in the Western Spirit Band at Western Music and Cowboy Poetry gatherings throughout the West.

He also appears occasionally on recordings or in public performance with Cowboy Celtic, Tom Cole, Joe Cunningham, Steve Fisher, John Fraser,  Paul Rumbolt, Tanya Ryan, David Wilkie, and Denise Withnell.

 In 2011, Jim's first solo CD, "Six-String Gumbo" was released.  Shortly after, it was chosen by CKUA Radio as their "CD of the Week."  See more information about the CD and how to purchase one below.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Concert Information

What People Say:

Jim is a contemporary of U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship winner, (the de facto fingerstyle world champion), Bob Evans. Evans says this about McLennan's acoustic playing:

"I first met Jim almost forty years ago. At the time he had one of the smoothest fingerstyle guitar deliveries I had ever heard.  And now, all these years later, I'm happy to report the magic is still there.  Jim's playing combines a deft touch on the strings with a wonderful sense of musicality that continues to delight aficionados of great guitar music."

McLennan first recorded for American acoustic-guitar guru Stefan Grossman's Kicking Mule Record Company in the 1970s.  Grossman, who performed at Eric Clapton's 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival, recently had this to say about Jim and his playing:

"Classic rags to Jerry Reed to the Beatles - Jim Mclennan has it all.  His playing has grown since his first classic rag recordings in the late 1970s.  He is now a full-fledged guitar picker, at home with blues, folk, jazz and pop."

If you attend a McLennan concert you'll hear Jim play a number of his solo fingerstyle pieces, many from his Six-String Gumbo CD, and you'll hear Lynda's great voice as she interprets some old standards with Jim accompanying her.

Upcoming Performances  - Solo and with Friends

Jan. 21, 2012           Room Full of Sound, Okotoks, AB (Jim in Berna Dean Holland's band)

Feb. 4, 2012             Room Full of Sound, Okotoks, AB (Jim and Lynda in concert)

Feb. 24 - 26, 2012    Mid -Winter Roots and Blues Festival, Edmonton, AB

March 16, 2012        Double Bill concert with Barry Luft, Cardel Theatre, Calgary, AB

April 14, 2012          House Concert, Highwood River Inn, Longview, AB (Jim and Lynda)

Aprl 22, 2012           House Concert in Bragg Creek, AB (Jim and Lynda in concert

May 3, 2012             House Concert, Red Deer, AB (Jim and Lynda in concert)

May 4, 2012             The Hub, Red Deer, AB (Jim and Lynda in concert)

______________________

Recent Performances

Oct. 29, 2011    Nickelodeon Folk Club, Calgary, Ab
The Nickelodeon folks really know what they're doing.  It was a sell-out evening and the audience was there to listen to the music.  Many volunteers make the evening run smoothly.
Thank you to all the folks at the Nick and Vic Bell for a great experience.

Nov. 4, 2011    Tin Roof Grill and Bar, Blairmore, Alberta  

We had an amazing time at the Tin Roof.  The place was full and the food was wonderful.
We plan to have another evening in 2012.  Check back for more information.
                                                     

Nov. 19, 2011   Carlson's on Macleod, High River Alberta

Thank you to the folks who joined us at Carlson's.  It was a wonderful intimate evening of music.
Thanks to Don and Brenda Carlson for supporting live music.  We will be back in 2012. Check back for more information.
                                

___________________________________________________________

CD Information

Six-String Gumbo 

Jim McLennan

Solo Acoustic Guitar

$20.00 + postage.  We pay gst.   Send us and email to purchase.

 “Six-String Gumbo,” the CD, is exactly that - a smooth, yet surprising plateful of solo instrumental guitar pieces, served with a variety of pleasing musical spices. 

A preeminent fingerstyle guitarist, McLennan’s music runs from original compositions to arrangements of swing tunes, ragtime and blues.

Shortly after its release, "Six-String Gumbo" was chosen "CD of the Week" by CKUA radio.  Here's part of the CD review by CKUA's respected music journalist, Peter North:

"Here is an appropriately titled recording from an Albertan who is as talented and creative as he is schooled and focused.
Jim McLennan is a brilliant instrumentalist and simply one of the best finger style six string acoustic guitarists around, as Stefan Grossman's endorsement on the cover of the album suggests.

McLennan comes to his audience with a myriad of musical reference points, yet he’s able to spin this set of material into a cohesive piece of work that flows beautifully from start to finish.

He makes familiar and substantial melodies his own, giving a fresh understated turn to Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are and making a Beatles medley of Ticket to Ride and Lady Madonna dance.

The album is dotted with splendidly written originals, Mamoo’s Dream being one, and the rhythmic charge of Jerry Reed’s Blue Finger charts yet another course in this diverse collection that also hits on Willie Brown’s Mississippi Blues and Bruce Cockburn’s
Sunwheel Dance.

McLennan’s the complete player and one who doesn’t second-guess himself as an artist. Hard to believe that making music of this calibre isn’t what he does on a day-to-day basis for a living, but fans of instrumental acoustic guitar pieces will be thrilled Jim McLennan took time to record this impressive collection."

Peter North, March 18, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Jim's guitar playing featured on four other CDs


The Creak of the Leather
features Jim's playing throughout with his brother Hugh McLennan from Kamloops, B.C.
Please check out Hugh's website here

Steve Fisher's CD, River,
includes six tunes that Steve and Jim perform in their concerts.    
To find out more, to hear samples of the tunes,
or to buy a copy of the CD, visit   www.stevefishermusic.ca

 
Cowboy Celtic's Other People's Cattle
features Jim playing on the title track with Dave Wilkie and Denise Withnell of Turner Valley, Alberta.
Dave and Denise have recorded several CD's.  
Please have a look at the variety of music they offer.  Click here.

 
Earlier in 2010 Jim had the opportunity to play on
Joe Cunningham's  CD World Weary.  
Joe is from Pincher Creek, Alberta and is the recording engineer and
co-producer of Jim's new CD.  Joe brings some unique
and wonderful music to our world.
Click here for more information and to listen to some of his work.

 
For information contact Jim here.