This guy is timeless. Sixty years ago he could’ve been
honky-tonking with Hank Williams, 20 years ago he could’ve been singing
behind an episode of Twin Peaks. This weekend, with music that’s
been described as “life-giving,” Petunia is bringing his surreal,
avant-country swagger to Halifax.
Saturday and Sunday night you’ll find the last real McCoy crooning
at The Company House. Petunia will hit the stage with his guitar, his
weird horn and his god-given pipes, ready to yodel the night away.
Having performed over 700 shows over the last five years, he’s poured
his heart out from every bar to street corner across North America. But
he’s willing to wring his ticker a little more.
Petunia plays the kind of songs you have to whistle at after they’re
over. If you’re lucky, maybe he’ll even tell you about the “ugliest,
bitterest, coldest, dreariest place” he’s ever seen. And he’s been
everywhere.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.