Matt Epp @ the Black Sheep Inn

I always love spending time in Wakefield, but afternoons at the Black Sheep Inn hold a special place in my heart. Now that my daughter has taken a special interest in music, and luckily she shares my taste, I especially love sharing those afternoons with her.

On November 29th, we headed up to Wakefield and found it cold & grey, but this only made the atmosphere inside the Black Sheep Inn that much cozier as the afternoon melted into evening. There was not a sell out crowd on this particular day, but a nice size crowd of, as usual, respectful and attentive music fans. As Amanda Putz, there on behalf of the CBC later pointed out, it felt as though we were all sitting in someone's living room for a house concert.

The scheduled line-up was Matt Epp, Mike McDonald and finally headliner Leif Vollebekk. I had wanted to see Leif at Bluesfest and missed it. Having heard such good things about him, I had still picked up his CD and quite enjoyed it. So he was my main reason for heading out that day. Having said that, on many occasions, I have fallen in love with artists I would never have heard of, if they hadn't been opening for someone else.

Leif's performance was being recorded for the CBC, so Amanda Putz, was on hand to do introductions. She introduced Matt Epp after joking that the Rough Riders had thrown up on her that morning (see photo) - Putz is from Saskatchewan and the Grey Cup was taking place that evening. I am always impressed by how much she knows about each of the artists and how genuinely excited she is to introduce them to the audience as though she was letting us all in on a well kept secret. And sometimes, as this particular afternoon would prove, it is almost exactly that.

I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about the music scene in Canada, or even just in Ottawa for that matter, but I am surprised that I had never heard of Matt Epp until now...

Matt opened his set with an older song called "You Should Know". The first funny moment occured during this song when at one point he turned and uttered "hit it boys", even though he was alone on stage. Matt is an entertaining and engaging story teller and had everyone laughing and/or hanging to his every word between songs.

By the third song, Epp got hot under the stage lights and announced that he needed a costume change which only involved removing his toque. This prompted someone from the crowd to shout out: "How many songs until the pants come off?". Matt joked that since Mike McDonald had gotten stuck in Ottawa, he had a bit more time and that anything would happen. This was the first time the audience became aware of the line-up had changed. I think I can safely say that no one was complaining that we would get to hear more from Epp than we initially thought.

The next song was introduced as an unconventional love song he wrote instead of committing murder. It turned out to be my favorite song of the afternoon as well as my favorite on the album, Safe or Free. You can see the video for the song here: bit.ly/MattEppVid

After warm applause, despite the dark subject matter of the song, Matt declared that "since that went so well, we can take chances now", this after joking that he had instructed Emily at the door to lock the doors and let anyone out , in case we got freaked out by the lyrics. He also shared with us that the actress in the video was his new found "amor" the two of them having bonded and fallen in love during the shoot.

My daughter's favorite for the afternoon was a song called "Valentine". This song is not on the album and is actually from a side project called Rescue Motorboat (http://www.myspace.com/rescuemotorboat). It is a cute tale of a scorned boy who spent all night trying to get the sparkles just right on his would be valentine's card.

Another memorable tune was "Travel by Ground". A song Epp penned in Cali after taking a walk down a military beach while wearing a Che Guevarra t-shirt and experiencing the feeling you get when the people you thought would protect you, if you needed it, turn against you.

For those of you familiar with Rose Cousins, Matt reminded me a bit of what a male version of her would be... both are gifted story tellers, evocative song writers and talented musicians. Their raw emotions on display during the songs and their quick, intelligent wit in between.

Sadly, Epp is on the tail end of his CD release tour so you may not be able to see him live for some time. In the meantime, do get your hands on his CD, you won't regret it. Also featured on it are Eliza Gilkyson, Brandy Zdan, Amelia Curran and Jesse DeNatale. You can buy the CD through Matt's website: www.mattepp.com