Maple Blues Lauds The Crooked Road

The December issue of Maple Blues Magazine had this to say about PBF’s latest recording…..
This quirkily named supergroup was formed by four close friends: Canadian Brass trumpeter Stuart Laughton, novelist Paul Quarrington, veteran drummer Martin Worthy & classically trained bassist Chas Elliott. Hanging out at the yet-to-be-renovated Gladstone Hotel, they performed songs that drew on their diverse backgrounds, calling themselves ‘a thinking person’s bar band’. Rebecca Campbell joined as a vocalist for the self-titled second CD. Meanwhile, Quarrington had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and, as was his fashion, went into overdrive mode, recording his solo CD among his diverse other projects. Many of his new songs were too personal for a Porkbellys album and most of them are outside the scope of this column as well, although you’ ll enjoy the fishing song, “Big Ol’ Bass”, with Colin Linden on dobro and “Hey Hollywood” will stay with you for days. Quarrington had been the lead vocalist for the band and wrote many of their songs. One gap has been filled by Worthy & Campbell, who now share vocal duties. As for the writing, Quarrington and his passing dominate the disc. Three songs were written by him, three were written with Worthy and another about him. The CD opens with Worthy’s rollicking tribute. He had been with Quarrington on the day the diagnosis was delivered. They were sitting in the back yard and Quarrington brought out a lot of wine. The song is “I Ain’t
10 MapleBlues December 2010
Leaving (‘Til The Wine Is Gone)”. Two of Quarrington’s are excellent rockers, “Nothing Costs A Nickel” had been on the set list for a long time but never recorded and “It Deals With You”, which came to him after watching a game show. Martin Worthy and longtime producer/ collaborator David Gray contributed “BooCatDo”, which all cat lovers will relate to. It and the opening song point to Worthy as the one picking up the torch. He has big shoes to fill. He does have help, though, and that includes the full band: Teddy Leonard continues on lead guitar and Chris Brown replaces the late Richard Bell on keyboards. The concluding song is by Quarrington & Worthy. “The Crooked Road” is the route to the journey’s end, gently & beautifully sung by Worthy & Campbell over a couple of acoustic guitars. No other song would have sufficed. There’s lots more at www. porkbellys.com.