Vintage Wine celebrates British Invasion’s 60th anniversary

Band leader and Montreal musical treasure Craig Morrison discusses his musical life and love of performing

By Irwin Rapoport

April 11, 2024

Montreal’s Craig Morrison, the well-known and respected ethnomusicologist, author, teacher and musician, is presenting his 24th Annual Roots of Rock & Roll Concert on April 13 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall at Concordia’s Loyola Campus.

This year’s theme is I Want to Hold Your Hand – The 60th anniversary of the British Invasion, an era of music loved by people of all ages. The eleven performers include the popular retro party band Vintage Wine (Morrison, Gary Sharkey, Ryan Fleury, Dave Lines) and special guests – vocalists Samantha Borgal, Rosalie Cerro, Angela Galuppo, and Laurena Segura; guitarist Gerry Kandestin; and multi-instrumentalists Terry Joe and Banjo Rodrigues, and Pat Loiselle.

Expect classic songs from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, The Hollies, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and many other famous bands and singers. Morrison, who taught music at Concordia University, will give brief spoken introductions on the background of the songs and the era.

“The concert is fittingly at British teatime, 3 pm,” states the press release for the concert, presented by 7 Nights Music. “Each year, the concert features a different theme, chosen to offer audiences what Morrison calls ‘educational fun.’”

Expect classic songs from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, The Hollies, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and many other famous bands and singers.

States Morrison: “Nostalgia, yes, but I also share an overview of a particular phase of the development of music, with a mix of hits and historically important lesser-known songs.”

This year’s concert theme is seminal for Morrison. “When I was a kid, I was one of the 73 million people that watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in February 1964,” he said. “That thrilling experience changed so much for me, for music, and the culture in general. They, and all the acts that followed in their wake – the British Invasion – created a soundtrack that seemed indelible for decades but is now receding into the mists of time. We are doing this concert to keep it vital. Creating and producing these concerts is a labour of love and a family reunion of musicians and friends.”

Morrison, who taught courses on The Beatles, Soul Music, Rock & Roll and its Roots, Psychedelic Music, British Popular Music, and one called Musical History Tour, knows his music and the songwriters, singers, and musicians. He has lectured at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Cummings Centre and local libraries, to name a few.

Montreal Gazette columnist Bill Brownstein wrote: “He may be the hippest prof around.”

Morrison has a very dedicated following, and his concerts, be they at Concordia or venues such as the Wheel Club in NDG, are typically sold out.

Drummer/vocalist Gary Sharkey says: “In the 20 years Craig and I have been together, we have accomplished magic. The team of players is a great asset, and the energy is amazing. We have been blessed with incredible talent on stage; the women are fabulous, as are the rest of the musicians that contribute to this fantastic annual show.”

‘… the British Invasion – created a soundtrack that seemed indelible for decades but is now receding into the mists of time. We are doing this concert to keep it vital.’

– Craig Morrison

Vocalist/music therapist Samantha Borgal has participated in nine previous editions of the Root of Rock & Roll Concerts. “This show is great musicians having a great time that energizes everyone in the hall,” she said. “It always brings something joyful and familiar. Where else can you listen to music you love while learning a little of something new?”

Fans look forward to these concerts and have said of them: “You and your musicians were enjoying the concert as much as we loved it in the audience,” “This is a tradition that we always look forward to!” and “You and your band and guests put on an amazing show each and every time, providing first class entertainment and musical excellence.”

Morrison, a native of Victoria, BC, has made his home in Montreal since the 1980s. The press release provides a quick background of this musical treasure: “At first playing in the metro for coins, while playing the bar circuit with his band and teaching evening courses at McGill, he revised his master’s thesis for publication. Go Cat Go! Rockabilly Music and Its Makers was published by the University of Illinois Press. Since then, he earned a Ph.D. from Concordia University with a thesis called San Francisco Psychedelic Music and wrote a second book, an A-to-Z encyclopedia, American Popular Music: Rock and Roll, published by Facts on File. A love of music was instilled in the family home where growing up, Morrison was entranced by his mother’s record collection and learning old songs by pumping the pedals of a player piano. All of his early bands practiced in his home. His dad once said, ‘If we hadn’t had a basement, you never would have become a musician.’”

Here is a clip of Vintage Wine and friends performing California Dreaming:

Westmount Magazine had an opportunity to chat with Morrison:

WM: What do you enjoy about performing? How do you feel being on stage, especially with audiences that love to hear you and your friends play?

Morrison: The hard work is done beforehand, with the selection of songs, the rehearsals and all the other organization, so when it is show time, we get to share with the audience what we have prepared. For us on stage, making music is a precious experience, each of us playing our parts with a heightened awareness of what the other players and singers are doing, listening to everything as it happens. As the leader, I have to be on top of the arrangements and give cues when needed.

There are also spontaneous moments, so we need to go with the flow. I love performing, and even though I’m concentrating, it’s very enjoyable.

We are there to uplift ourselves by invoking the Muse and hopefully uplift the audience as we do so. We are magicians, but though we hold the wands, we don’t own the magic. We are there to serve. It is glorious but also humbling to be able to do what with do and have it well received.

‘For us on stage, making music is a precious experience, each of us playing our parts with a heightened awareness of what the other players and singers are doing, listening to everything as it happens.’

– Craig Morrison

WM: What are some of the first songs you heard? What led to you learning how to play the guitar and other instruments?

Morrison: I grew up in Victoria, BC, and I heard a lot of music at home. My mother had a small record collection of Dixieland, vocal groups (Ink Spots, Mills Brothers), some pop singers, British music hall, Welsh choirs, and the comedy of Spike Jones and his City Slickers. She also bought a player piano, and I learned a lot of old songs like Mississippi Mud by pumping the pedals as the rolls went by. I was listening to the radio when I was an infant, and more consciously since I was about nine years old.

I had a teacher in elementary school who had us sing, standing at our desks while she played piano: old folk songs and some tongue twisters for fun. Songs like On Top of Old Smokey, Down in the Valley, and Can She Bake a Cherry Pie Billy Boy. My older brother played upright bass in the school orchestra and got a guitar. I took piano lessons and played clarinet in the high school band and, after watching his first bands practice in our basement, I followed my brother’s lead by getting my own guitar at the age of 14.

Here is a clip of Vintage Wine and friends performing Purple Haze:

WM: When did you know that you wanted to pursue a music career? How would you describe the road from busking to playing with bands and teaching music at McGill and Concordia?

Morrison: Just out of interest, I took a couple of classical music courses and some music theory and ear training classes in my first two years of university, and then I got serious. Just before my 20th birthday, with my parents’ permission and support, I went to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music.

It was primarily a jazz school then, and though rock and roll was my main interest, over four semesters, I learned about how music works. There were no schools then for rock or popular music. I’ve been playing in bands since I was in my late teens in the early 1970s. So when I was busking, I already had a lot of experience and by the time I moved to Montreal in 1984, I already had a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Victoria and a Masters in Ethnomusicology from York University in Toronto.

WM: As a professor, how would you describe your teaching methodology? What did your students bring to the table?

Morrison: My goal in teaching is to inspire students by showing them how everything is connected. Each song on the listening list can reveal insights about its cultural context: the time period, the musicians and their contributions and backgrounds, the state of the music industry and technology, race relations, migrations, geographical factors, etc. The music can be a window to see a larger world. I illustrate my lectures with recordings, slides, film clips, and I use some of my guitar, piano, and singing to highlight aspects of what to listen for.

‘I have an undying passion for music, which I do not take for granted. What I know comes from curiosity and study. I’m an ambassador for music: I want people to cherish it and I want to keep alive worthy songs and styles and the reputations of deserving musicians.’

– Craig Morrison

WM: Without a doubt, you know your subject from A to Z – singers, bands, songwriters, musical techniques, etc. Is this something that comes naturally to you? Have you had the opportunity to see some of your favourite bands and singers perform and to interview some of them?

Morrison: I have an undying passion for music, which I do not take for granted. What I know comes from curiosity and study. I’m an ambassador for music: I want people to cherish it and I want to keep alive worthy songs and styles and the reputations of deserving musicians.

I make a point to attend concerts and have seen thousands, from local bands to legends, including Louis Armstrong, Janis Joplin, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, violinist Stephane Grappelli, the Byrds, Chuck Berry, Joan Baez, the Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Sandy Denny with Fairport Convention, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, and Duke Ellington. The list is very long. I have interviewed over 160 veteran musicians, mostly pioneers of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll but also of country, jazz, blues, folk, and rhythm and blues.

Here is a clip of Vintage Wine and friends performing Nadine:

WM: As a performer, how do you prepare for concerts? Do you find it easy to remember the words of songs and the music?

Morrison: For the songs I perform, I choose ones I like. I look for something special in them, a combination of admirable musical components and lyrics. In order to learn the songs and understand their essence, I write chord charts with indications of other aspects (bass lines, rhythmic accents, guitar figures, etc.). We use them in rehearsals.

Then, we vary the songs to a smaller or greater extent to suit our own tastes and abilities. The more the songs get played, the more they become second nature.

WM: Vintage Wine has been together for many years. What brings the band together, and would you say you are as tight as The Doors?

Morrison: Speaking of The Doors, I interviewed Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist. Ronnie Hawkins (another one I’ve interviewed) once said that three things hold a band together, and any two will do: good music, good friends and good money. We are good friends, we play good music and sometimes make decent money. So it works. We can be tight, but don’t compare ourselves to other bands – we just do our best.

‘I want to keep performing, whether it is my Annual Roots of Rock and Roll concert, playing smaller theatres, dances in night clubs and private functions, participating at Hillbilly Night at the Wheel Club, in duos in restaurants, or solo at seniors residences. Anywhere!’

– Craig Morrison

WM: Which songs would be on your Desert Island disc and why?

Morrison: Songs and albums that mean the most and inspire me by The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, early blues musicians, saxophonist Sidney Bechet, and a couple of classical favourites, like the sublime Schubert String Quintet.

WM: And finally, do you ever foresee a time when you would retire from the stage?

Morrison: Not as long as I am able. I want to keep performing, whether it is my Annual Roots of Rock and Roll concert, playing smaller theatres, dances in night clubs and private functions, participating at Hillbilly Night at the Wheel Club, in duos in restaurants, or solo at seniors residences. Anywhere!

Two more clips of Vintage Wine performances – Red Red Wine and I Walk a Lonely Mile