Juno-award-winning Winnipegger Steve Bell is anticipating his weekend Bleak Midwinter concert, pivoting after a blizzard postponed the show in December.
“I was so looking forward to it,” says Bell. “I was so disappointed when it was cancelled. We’re making it up. I’ll do a little bit of Advent, a little bit of Christmas, leading into why Epiphany matters. I got some new songs I’ll try out.”
The Bleak Midwinter concert is taking place at Grant Church at 877 Wilkes Ave. on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available and will be up until the concert starts.
Testimony Through Storytelling and Song
“I grew up with storytellers. My grandfather and my grandparents, they were missionaries in China and Tibet. When you’re a little boy and you’re getting these great adventures, my dad was a storyteller. He was a preacher, but his main technique was storytelling.”
When Bell started his career in singing and songwriting, he mainly performed in bars and clubs, without much talking at all between songs. It wasn’t until a pastor in southern Manitoba asked him to play for their church that a myriad of stories poured out between three simple songs. Bell has been weaving stories through song and word at each of his concerts since.
“I was having a conversation with an atheist woman who comes out to all my concerts. I was talking and said, ‘Why do you come? I’m pretty Christian and I know you’re not.’ She said, ‘It’s because you tell your stories. I love hearing them. I think about them. As long as you tell your story, I’ll come to your concerts.'”
This year, Bell is working once again alongside English poet Malcolm Guite.
“It’s going to be an interesting year. I’ve got a new project coming out, hopefully in the fall, called The Belle and the Bard. I’ve worked with Malcolm and written about 17 songs with him, or using his poetry, and we’re collecting them all onto one album project and a book. The book will be written by Brian Walsh. It’s mostly theological reflection bouncing off the songs.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chvnradio.com ’
