Catahoula brown

Catahoula Brown is the old blues spirit inside Bridgewater musician Chris Weagle. He's been a factory worker, a political cartoonist, a dog-breeder, and a father. His debut CD, 'Cur Dog Blues', recorded @ Redfish Audio and released in January 2005, is a collection of gritty songs about trains, frustration, and love. They rise out of musical traditions that have been part of North American life for many generations. Catahoula Brown's music has been shaped by artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson, Steve Earle, and Murray Stewart, but his earliest musical influences came from his father who loved to play and sing Hank Snow and Jimmy Rodgers tunes. Weagle remembers being no taller than the guitar when his father taught him to play, "Hawaiian-style", with a slide since his hands were too small to make the chords. Like so many Maritimers, Weagle's parents left families behind to look for work in Ontario, but his mother brought him back with her to live in Nova Scotia when he was ten. He remembers his grandmother's farmhouse by the railway tracks in Hebbville. And he remembers her Catahoulastories of the hobos who came it her door and were offered a cup of tea, maybe some apples from the orchard. "The Hobo's Lament" comes right out of those stories, and when he sings the song, Catahoula Brown becomes the hobo, guitar strings become the rails and the harmonica makes its own lonesome sound. In 2003 Weagle performed at an East Coast Music Awards showcase, and since then he has shared his tunes with audiences at venues like Seaside Folk and Ginger's Tavern. In April 2005, at Folk Fiesta in Mahone Bay, Catahoula Brown won a chance to take his act to the 20th annual Folk Harbour Festival in August 2005. Chris Weagle's notions of the blues aren't the kind you can get from a book. He learned his life lessons on the production lines of the factories he's worked in since he was a teenager, making fiberglass, plastic, and tires. "I thought I was too smart for school" he remembers. The necessities of keeping a job and supporting his family have often meant a postponement of his musical goals, but Catahoula Brown doesn't like to rush things. He knows the blues take their own time. Catahoula Brown's music is true blue - old as the Appalachians and surprising as hail on a hot summer day.

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