When John Reischman’s Jaybirds hit the Eagle Eye stage on Thursday (Jan. 28) at 7 p.m., it will be one of the few times the band has actually been in one place together in a while. That’s because each band member lives in a different city.
Reischman, the mandolin player, lives in Vancouver, while bassist Trisha Gagnon lives in Chilliwack, banjo player Nick Hornbuckle in Nanaimo, fiddle player Greg Spatz in Washington State and guitarist Jim Nunally in California.
“For this show, we won’t have our fiddle player,” said Reischman. “However, Runaway Wagon, a Squamish band, will be opening for us, and their fiddle player Michael Kilby may sit in with us for a few sets.”
Reischman got his start as an original member of the Tony Rice Unit in the late 1970s. With the Tony Rice Unit, Reischman helped define the “new acoustic music” movement in bluegrass thanks to the band’s high profile albums on Rounder Records. Reischman also toured and performed with seminal bluegrass band The Good Ol’ Persons before moving to Vancouver in the 1990s and forming The Jaybirds.
In 1996, he won a Grammy as part of Todd Phillips’ all-star tribute album to the legendary Bill Monroe, and he has also earned two Juno nominations and two Canadian Folk Music Award nominations.
Despite having such a far-flung group of musicians making up The Jaybirds, Reischman said it doesn’t take long for the band to gel when they hit the road together.
“Sometimes we just hit the ground running,” he said. “The band has really good chemistry.”
Reischman said a new Jaybirds album is on the horizon, and the band has already started working on new tunes.
“The Squamish gig is the first stop on this B.C. tour,” he said. “So we will likely warm up with some old material. However, we may work in some of the newer songs.”
Reischman said he likes to work any new material out on the road and in front of a live audience before hitting the studio.
“The ideal is to work up the tunes and then perform them a bit before going into the studio to record,” he said. “We have a day in the studio booked at the end of this tour.”
Reischman is also in the process of recording another album as part of a trio, and just finished a set of performances as a duo with musician John Miller, in addition to his own solo work.
“Yeah, I am busy,” he said.
The Jaybirds with Runaway Wagon play Eagle Eye Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.eventbrite.ca/e/john-reischman-the-jaybirds-with-special-guests-runaway-wagon-tickets-20410814295.
For more on Reischman, click to www.johnreischman.com.
