It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that Tennyson King enjoys being on the road.
One just has to look at the rock-and-roll, folk and blues-style musician’s website to get a feel for just how much time he spends touring, performing in venues large and small, all over the world.
King’s current road trip -- in support of his recently released album Good Company -- features more than 40 dates all over western Canada and Ontario, including a stop in Gravelbourg at the Cafe de Paris on July 26.
The run began in Creston, B.C. back on July 2 and wraps up in Cookstown, Ont. at the Gussapalooza Music Festival on Sept. 18, which will mark the end of his second tour this year.
It all makes for many a mile on the highways, but it’s all worth it if King and his travelling partners are able to connect with fans in the many communities along the way.
“Yeah, they've been going great,” King said during a stop in Kelowna on Saturday evening. “I think the overall vibe of everyone and the energy is just that everyone's happy to have live music back consistently. And my keyboard player and myself, we’re just really happy to play for people too, so it's been lots of good, good energy and positive vibes for sure.”
King is, in a word, a globetrotter. His musical ventures have taken him from large shows in Europe to performances of all sizes in southeast Asia and, of course, many a jaunt around North America.
That might mean very little time relaxing at home, but when you love the road as much as Tennyson does, it’s all fine and well.
“I love touring and travelling so for me it feels kind of like I'm back home in a sense, being in my groove and moving town-to-town,” King said. “And we've had a lot of great outdoor shows so far too, like a lot of music in the parks and things like that across B.C., so it's just wonderful to kind of play music in front of the mountains and everything.”
Of course, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have plenty of eyes and ears on his music. While Good Company is his first full-length album, King has a host of songs in his oeuvre, ranging from soulful ballads to rocking tracks all in his unique folk-rock style.
Bringing that music to people live just enhances the experience, King says.
“I love sharing music in person,” he said. “As much as it's great that people listen to my music through CD and digital platforms and play it on their own time, to me there's nothing like being in person and connecting with people in real-time through music. That's very important to me, just as a human who enjoys listening to music and getting music performed as well. It's super important for me to kind of be on the road and be in the communities playing.”
King’s visit to Gravelbourg won’t be his first, either. He was there most recently this spring as part of his first tour of 2022 and has had the Cafe de Paris on his radar ever since his first show there back in 2009.
“I love Gravelbourg, I played there for the first time that summer and it was it was such a cool town,” King said. “And everybody there had just such good energy and then the show was amazing, too. So I always try to make it a point to go back to Gravelbourg when I’m in that part of the world.”
Tennyson’s shows tend to have a more relaxed and laid-back feel, with the musician sprinkling in anecdotes from his world travels into his performance. The music itself is also heavily influenced by his experiences, as can be seen by his videos on www.tennysonking.com.
That all makes for shows that come off even better when in an intimate setting.
“I'm a huge storyteller when it comes to my music and my performance and I still try to do that storytelling connection on the big outdoor shows, but with the small intimate ones, it's just a little bit easier to connect with everyone,” King explained. “I think everyone also feels a little bit more vulnerable and open to connect in that way. So I do really enjoy those kinds of intimate shows where they’re eye-level with me and they can really feel the sweat and the sound and everything coming out.”
As for Good Company itself, the album was put together through 2020, both live and virtually as the pandemic took hold. King was able to work with Juno-nominated producer Ross Hayes Citrullo to put things together, with studio work in the fall of 2020 and the final tracking wrapped up in December 2020.
“it actually came about in a way because of COVID,” King said. “I was supposed to start writing and recording at the beginning of 2019 but I kept putting it off because I was just touring so much. I just wanted to tour and I didn't really want to settle, I didn't want to stay put in Toronto to make a record… So it was cool to actually have that time to work on the record with no pressure and stress of having to go out to tour, it all kind of worked out really nice.”
As one might expect, this won’t be Tennyson’s last time on the road. He plans to take October off to rest and write before hitting Australia and southeast Asia for a few dates in November.
“Anywhere warm during the cold months up here,” he said with a laugh.
The Dinner and Show with Tennyson King at the Cafe de Paris in Gravelbourg takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26. Space is limited, reserve your spot by contacting the venue at www.facebook.com/CafeParisGravelbourg.
For more on Tennyson King, including samples of his music and a host of music videos, be sure to check out his website at www.tennysonking.com.
