At age sixty-nine, Jim Byrnes has recorded a career milestone, which, given his history with numerous Juno Awards and Maple Blues Awards, among many other accolades, is saying a lot. But, if you listen just once through ‘Long Hot Summer Days’, it’s easy to be convinced that there simply isn’t anyone alive today who loves a good song more than Jim does. It was a very special group that came together at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver to record for a week last spring. Steve Dawson (Producer and guitars), Chris Gestrin (keyboards), Geoff Hicks (drums), Jeremy Holmes (bass), and a horn section containing some of Vancouver’s finest – Malcolm Aiken, Jerry Cook and Dominic Conway with guest appearances by The Sojourners on harmony vocals and Monkeyjunks and Steve Marriner on the harmonica, virtually guaranteed that a very special recording was in the works. Warm and weathered. Soaring and bright. ‘Long Hot Summer Days’ is a masterwork from one of Canada’s best-loved musical icons.
