The passage of time has done nothing to diminish Pat Temple’s vivid memory of musician Willie P. Bennett on one particular 1974 evening at Smale’s Pace, a then very popular London, Ontario coffeehouse now long gone.
“Dixie Flyers, a bluegrass band, was playing,” recalls Temple.
“Bert Baumbach, the band leader, said ‘We’re going to get Willie up to sing a few tunes.’ He grabbed a guitar and played solo between sets. He just blew everybody away. I couldn’t believe how great he was. Something resonated with me — his voice, his songwriting, everything.”
Fifty years on, Willie P. Bennett’s music continues to resonate, influencing countless musicians across Canada, Temple among them.
So much so that Blue Valentine, an annual tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter, debuted shortly after Bennett’s unexpected death in 2008.
On Saturday, February 10th at Jethro’s Bar + Stage at 137 Hunter Street West in downtown Peterborough, the 16th Blue Valentine tribute will take to the stage from 2 to 5 p.m.
Joining Temple is a number of local musicians, among them Al Black, Gary Peeples, Kayla Howran, and Washboard Hank, who organized the first few Blue Valentine events before Temple picked up the mantle.
VIDEO: Willie P. Bennett as the Festival of Friends in Hamilton in 1976
Born in Toronto, Bennett was a fixture on the 1970s folk music landscape, having released his first single “White Line” in 1969. As well as being a singer-songwriter, he was an accomplished harmonica player and mandolinist.
Yet, for all his talent, his comfort zone was as a sideman in bands fronted by others, such as Joe Hall, Fred Eaglesmith, and Temple, whose HiLO Players brought him into the studio for three albums in the early 1990s.
In 1996, Bennett returned to prominence when Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson formed Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, named after Bennett’s 1979 album of the same name. The group subsequently recorded an album featuring Bennett’s songs.
During a 2007 Victoria Day weekend concert in Midland, Bennett suffered a heart attack on stage. He played on but was forced to stop touring. Despite efforts to take care of his health, on February 15, 2008 he suffered another heart attack — this time fatal — in the Peterborough home he shared with local artist Joe Stable. He was just 56 years old.
“It was really sad for all of us,” says Temple.
“He probably would still be alive if he had gone for bypass surgery. I don’t know if he talked himself out of it or his doctor said he’d be okay with that. That’s a big decision for anybody to make, right?”
VIDEO: “Blackie And The Rodeo King” – Willie P. Bennett (1977)
In the 1980s, long after that initial introduction to Bennett, Temple, who was living in Toronto, was busking on a street with two others. Quite by chance, Bennett was walking by.
“He stopped to listen for a minute,” Temple recalls. “He asked ‘Where are you playing? Can I sit in with you guys?'”
“We were playing at Sneaky Dee’s. He showed up and played with us. At the time, I was playing a lot of minor key swing music — like western swing meets eastern swing sort of stuff. He really enjoyed trying to play the harmonica in minor keys. That’s a whole different thing on the harmonica.”
Beyond their musical collaboration that night and later with The HiLO Players, Temple and Bennett had a special friendship.
“He was a pretty complicated person,” says Temple.
“He was kind of flippant. He had his good days and his bad days — as we all do — but he was a great friend. He would do anything for you. I think that’s part of his legacy. He was good to his friends. He gave me a guitar. He gave me a mandolin. He was just that kind of person.”
Asked if he can narrow down to a few words what is at the heart of Bennett’s legacy, Temple comes back quickly with one word: soul.
“He had that thing, you know, but it was just pure soul,” he says, noting it didn’t hurt matters that Bennett was born at the right time, in 1951, to find himself squarely in the folk genre mix that dominated the Canadian music scene in the early 1970s.
“He hit that wave of singer-songwriter just slightly after it was getting radio play,” says Temple. “It would have been nice for him to be able to get commercial radio play but it wasn’t a game changer for him. He just did his thing.”
“I don’t really think he was really that interested in fame,” Temple adds. “I think he was kind of scared of it, as a lot of people are. He was kind of a shy person. But he was so great. His first two records (Tryin’ To Start Out Clean and Hobo’s Taunt) are amazing. The songs are so heartfelt — so beautiful.”
In total, from 1975 to 1998, Bennett recorded eight albums, the last of the bunch being Heartstrings, which earned him a 1999 Juno Award for Best Solo Roots and Traditional Album — proof that fame will sometimes find those who aren’t looking for it.
Of note, Heartstrings features the song “Blue Valentine,” adopted since as the name of his annual tribute. Featuring Russell deCarle and Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster, the video for “Blue Valentine” marked Bennett’s first foray into that medium — “A great song and a cool little video to watch,” assesses Temple.
VIDEO: “Blue Valentine” – Willie P. Bennett
The Blue Valentine tribute was staged at Jethro’s Bar + Stage last year. In previous years, it was held at The Garnet and, for the 10th anniversary tribute, The Black Horse was the venue.
“It was packed,” recalls Temple of that show, noting that people were asked on Facebook for their favourite song of Bennett’s, drawing “hundreds of responses from across Canada.”
Temple readily admits this iteration of Blue Valentine “will be emotional for me.”
“But I love hearing all the different voices doing his songs. It’s really, amazing. I think he (Bennett) would be a little embarrassed by all the fuss but, on the other hand, he would probably love it.”
Available for purchase at the 16th annual Blue Valentine will be Bennett’s last recording made in fall 2007, just months before his death. It was recorded in Winnipeg at producer Jaxon Haldane’s home. The songs were first heard on a Bennett legacy website that Haldane started in 2014.
“The songs are a real jewel — just Willie playing so well,” assesses Temple.
“We made up some CDs that people can purchase by donation. Any money that comes in goes toward gas for people coming in from out of town. The event is a break-even thing. We also like helping out the pub. It’s tough to run a music venue these days.”
VIDEO: “Patience of A Working Man” – Willie P. Bennett (1993)
Temple, meanwhile, is coming off what he terms “a great year”; one that saw him busy performing at festivals, including Lakefield’s Jazz, Art and Craft Festival where his band was joined by Peterborough-based fusion electric violinist Victoria Yeh.
“I’m still out there doing my thing,” says Temple.
“I’m working on possibly going to the East Coast this spring. I’m also working on a new album. I’ve got two or three songs cut. I’m hoping to get that finished this year.”
