Mike Plume is back on the prairies on tour, and that brings him to Watson on March 22 for a show at the Watson Legion. Discover Humboldt reintroduces Mike with a profile prepped from his visit a couple years ago.
Mike Plume is a journeyman singer songwriter who has crisscrossed the continent performing his lyrically rich brand of roots-country-folk since the 1990’s. He’s lived in communities across the country both large and small, and his travels have endowed him with rich experiences that find expression in exquisitely crafted songs. Just give a listen to Plume’s 2009 classic “8:30 Newfoundland,” and you’ll get a sense of his qualifications as a homegrown troubadour and Canadian ambassador.
“For so much of my life, I grew up in small towns in New Brunswick or in Bonnyville, Alberta. There’s something about small towns, whether you call them a one-horse town or a one-light town, they’re just home to me and always will be.”
Plume describes himself simply as a singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar, telling stories in three-and-a-half minutes. He likens his music to that of John Mellencamp, Steve Earle, Corb Lund or Colter Wall. When you listen to the lyrics, you will also think of John Prine and John Hiatt, all infused with a Canadian sensibility.
“I spent so many of my formative years cutting laps up the main street of Bonnyville, so I tend to write with that eye – the eye of the small town observer,” Plume confesses. “I almost never sit down and say I’m going to write a song about … this. I’ll sit down and I’ll start playing chords and start singing a melody, and I’ll like the way that sounds. Then I’ll start singing random words, and eventually they start to make a sense, and you just finish the song.”
Plume is a firm believer of honing and recrafting songs over a period of time. He likens it to water running over a rock in a stream until it’s smooth and polished. That’s partially the concept behind the tunes on his EP “The Song Harvester,” a kind of reclamation project for some works that have been played often and others that had yet to see the light.
“I don’t throw anything away. If it’s just not happening that day, then it’s not happening that day. I might go visit it a month later and it still might not be happening. It might take a year or ten years in some instances, and I always go back to the songs. I visit every song I’ve worked on all the time.”
Mike has played in Watson before, and he likes the relaxed “kitchen table / backyard atmosphere” the place provides. It’s why he doesn’t aim for a locked down set list at smaller venues.
“I just sort of show up and start singing. It may not be the same stories every night, but I’ve got a lot of stories.”
Doors for the Watson show on Saturday, March 22 open at 6:30 with the show at 7:30. Tickets available at the Watson Pharmacy, Co-op Food Store, a Legion Member, or by calling Jim at (306) 387-7130.