Window On The West Performers

Barry Luft and Tim Rogers

Barry Luft and Tim Rogers began performing together in 1974, drawn together by their passion for music that expresses the spirit of the Canadian west.  They perform traditional songs (e.g., “Alberta Homesteader,” “Strawberry Roan”), tunes by Wilf Carter (e.g., “Pete Knight the King of the Cowboys,” “The Calgary Roundup”), more-recently composed songs (e.g., “Field Behind the Plow,” “The Rivers of Alberta”), and much more, all oriented toward telling Alberta’s story in song.  In 1983 they released an LP entitled Songs of the Iron Trail:  The Canadian Railroad Experience in Song which became a pioneer album in the heritage music movement.  This album of classic railway songs has won multiple awards being rereleased as a CD in 2007.  Barry and Tim have performed in numerous outlets throughout Alberta, with recent concerts at the Nickelodeon Music Club, Rocky Mountain Folk Club, Water Valley Celtic Festival, Foothills Bluegrass Music Society, Rocky Mountain Rail Society, and Glenbow Museum.

Barry is a multi-instrumental performer (clawhammer style banjo, guitar, autoharp, harmonica), currently working as a full time singer and musician.  He has released two solo CDs.  Tim is a writer and researcher in Canadian musical traditions who also plays guitar and sings.  Together, Barry and Tim offer a potpourri of music that paints a vibrant portrait of western Canadian life and history.

In a sense, Barry and Tim’s music is a throwback to the early days.  “We’re old fashioned and proud of it,” they’ve been heard to say.  But in this music, that does such a fine job of preserving the local and the Albertan, there is something that transcends current trends and dips into that great font of shared cultural experience.

Further information:  www.barryluft.com, www.irontrail.ca.

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