Golden’s own Bill Usher is a four-time Juno award winner who has shunned retirement to reinvigorate his career as a singer-songwriter-percussionist. His band includes guitar stars Paul Pigat and Steve Briggs and bassist Holly Hyatt.

As most Goldenites know, Bill Usher was key in transforming the moribund Civic Centre into a handsome performing arts theatre. He then went on to program the consistently excellent Live Kicks concert series for two decades before retiring earlier this year. But when he appears on that very stage in October, it will be as a performer and not as an arts producer. Usher, you see, is a four-time Juno award winner and one of the most famous not-quite-famous people in Canadian music. Starting in the 1970s, this self-taught drummer played and recorded with everyone from Bruce Cockburn to the Boss Brass, and found time to produce 60 albums. In 2002 he shifted to being a singer-songwriter with the release of Slowdancing in the Ballroom of Life, a deep dive into the challenges and rewards of surviving into middle age. From gospel-tinged hints of redemption to poignant love songs, Slowdancing had a lot to say. “These songs . . . are about things that I have lived and about things that I am living, in a musical language that I can understand,” wrote Dugg Simpson, longtime artistic director of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Fast forward to last year when Usher, not really ready to retire, decided to go on tour. He consulted his overstuffed Rolodex and fielded an A-list band: renowned guitar stars Paul Pigat and Steve Briggs as well as bass ace Holly Hyatt. With repertoire including the highlights of Slowdancing and some new material, Bill Usher and the Space Heaters have been delighting audiences throughout Canada. Full of easy-going charm and a percussionist’s unerring sense for the perfect groove, Usher and his band fill up the evening with music, wisdom, and some great stories. As The Bills’ ever-genial frontman Chris Frye remarked, “Bill has somehow found that magical combination of fresh vitality and seasoned wisdom in his show. His songs are personal yet universal, moving the entire audience to laugh, sigh, and sing along.”

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