By Rege Behe

 

Tony Dekker doesn't hesitate when asked if there was a pivotal moment for his band Great Lake Swimmers.

"July 14, 2008," he says.

On that date, the Toronto-based group performed at an Ontario music festival, as the headliners Robert Plant and Alison Krauss watched from the wings.

"Being told by Robert Plant you have a good voice, or that he likes your songs, kind of made me stop and think," says Dekker, who performs with Great Lake Swimmers at WYEP Final Fridays at Schenley Plaza in Oakland. "And we played a good set, too, in front of what had to be our largest audience ever."

Nine years after Dekker started a solo career that morphed into the band, Great Lake Swimmers is garnering more fans and more attention, and playing larger venues. NBC news anchor Brian Williams and cyclist Lance Armstrong mentioned the band on their personal Web sites. The songs "Pulling on a Line" and "Palmistry" from the album "Deep Currents" are garnering airplay on indie radio stations.

But how does a band gain traction after years of playing shows at smallish venues•

Dekker ascribes it to old-fashioned word-of-mouth and what others might consider a blight on the music business -- file-sharing. Technology has enabled the band to transcend its Canadian roots.

"It's not just something that's specific to a region anymore," he says, "It's global. It's global word-of-mouth. People can share ideas, share music files and stuff, and I think it's good. It's good for music because you don't have to scratch far below the surface to find interesting music that doesn't have the machinery of a big record label behind it."

This from a folk-based sound that is "traditional without being traditional," according to Dekker. The music is expressive, but understated. While folk is the Great Lake Swimmers' baseline, the harmonics are derived from pop and rock.

"On a certain level, I don't feel like we're reinventing the wheel," Dekker says. "We're just using old tools to tell our stories, and we're not alone in doing that."

The songs themselves are gem-like in construct, glistening jewels that reverberate. But depending upon the light, the songs take on different aspects. Dekker admits he is hesitant to talk about the lyrics and their meanings, unless there is a clear narrative or theme, but embraces varying interpretations.

"I think that's kind of in the style that I write," he says. "I like a song to be more rewarding the more you sort of chip away it, or the more you try to figure out the puzzle. There's that moment of 'ah, right.' I like writing in a way that is rewarding for the listener who chooses to put some effort into it."

Additional Information:

WYEP Final Fridays

With: Great Lake Swimmers

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Admission: Free

Where: Schenley Plaza, Oakland

Details: 412-381-9131 or Web site

 

 

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments — either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Most-Read Stories