The Complete Recordings Of Hezekiah Procter back over for a run of shows
11-06-2024Canadian singer/songwriter Andrew McClelland, better known under his performance name, Li’l Andy, has produced a project of some considerable ambition and vision and has done so with unqualified success; this is a project that really deserves to be properly recognised for the triumph that it is. “The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter” is a box set comprising two vinyl albums and a novel. So far, that’s not that outstanding, but it’s the way Li’l Andy has immersed himself and his artistry in this project that is so exciting.
The novel, ‘The Complete Recordings of Hezekiah Procter’, is a biography, written in liner note form, of a fictional old-time country musician, living and working in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th Century. The novel tracks Hezekiah’s life as the son of a businessman reduced to manual work by the loss of the family’s savings, a situation that impacts heavily on the young Hezekiah and his politics and faith. Born Henry Fortescue Procter, Hezekiah is the name he adopts when he later becomes an evangelical preacher and the author paints a fascinating picture of a man both religious and dissolute who rises to success on the back of his part in a traveling medicine show.
What is particularly enjoyable about this novel is the depth of the author’s research and the way he gets under the skin of his characters. You very quickly forget that Hezekiah is a completely fictional character and find yourself drawn into Procter’s story and his rise to prominence with the Hash House Serenaders, the group that he fronts and records with – and who are all based on the personalities of the musicians that Li’l Andy worked with when recording the songs that accompany the novel in the box set.
By the end of the month Lil' Andy will bring The Complete Recordings Of Hezekiah Procter over to Europe:
20/06: Norderstedt, DE - Music Star
21/06: Mannheim, DE - Altes Volksbad
22/06: Zürich, CH - El Lokal
23/06: Roding, DE - Tennis-Club
25/06: Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang w/ Slim Cessna's Auto Club
26/06: Braunschweig, DE - Das KULT
27/06: Schwalmstadt, DE - Hotel Rosengarten
28/06: Baars, NL - Speelplaats Baars
29/06: Rotterdam, NL - Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival
30/06: Rotterdam, NL - Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival
02/07: London, UK - Slaughtered Lamb
03/07: Bliston, UK - The Robin
04/07: Sheffield, UK - Greystones
05/07: Easton, UK - Maverick Festival
07/07: Beuningen, NL - Down The Rabbit Hole
08/07: Lint, BE - 't Groot Verzet
12/07: Bottelare, BE - 't Ketske