What do musicians do when it is their birthday? They usually play for an audience. This is a gift to themselves. They enjoy sharing their time with people that appreciate them.

Ken Whiteley is no different. He just turned 75 and hosted his party at Hugh’s Room.

Hugh’s Room

It was clear that Ken has a lot of friends, because Hugh’s Room was packed this evening. I ended up talking to a few people who have been following Ken for decades and felt honoured to be in this room with the man and his family. Ken has two nephews in the band and other members of his family in the audience.

The drinks were flowing and all we needed was a cake to make this a real party. Well, there was cake and it was served to anyone who wanted a piece.

The Show

With a heartfelt bow, Ken wanted to warm us up and use our voices because I think he expected a few sing-a- longs this evening. So we headed off to New Brunswick for a couple of tunes and by the end we so glad he started us off that way.

The third song was a brand-new song called, “Everybody’s got to be tried”. This was a song about struggle and his humane way of singing it, made us all feel connected.

We all got a history lesson about a much younger Ken who started in band with some pretty original names. He was in Tubby Fats which switched to Original Sloth Band, and they kept changing their names constantly over time. We were privy to some stories of the day he was playing in Yorkville during the height of the folk movement. Bob Dylan even checked him out multiple times back in those days.

When Ken was engrossing us in these stories he was laying out so many different name, I couldn’t keep up with them all.

Of course, at a good party you have to bring on a couple of friends to play with you. We got to witness his friend, Mark Stafford on Harmonica.

What I found fascinating was how Ken could play just about any instrument he picked up. He grabbed a mandolin and actually could shred on that thing!

He had three different guitars, and an Autoharp. I guess he needed all these instruments because he has a long retrospective career to draw from. We are talking over 50 years’ worth of material

His style was just as diverse, with gospel songs, children’s songs, blues, folk and variations on those themes.

Oh, Happy Days was a song that brought us joy, unless you were a guitar strap, (You had to be there).

What brought Ken, joy was an old friend who played on his first solo project in 1979 was Jody Golick who played a velvety smooth saxophone.

Ken finished the evening off with a gospel number called, “I feel alright”.

The Birthday Boy

The music Ken played was fantastic. What made this evening really special was at the halftime mark, his band mates, shared their stories about Ken. It was very clear how much this man helped shape these people on stage with him. The stories were open and honest and sometimes very funny. They made fun of him because he never really sticks to his set list and lives in the moment.  He owns a thermos older than half the people in the building. Even Ken’s wife shared that she had no idea who she was marrying all those years ago. Her gratitude was truly felt because of how rich her life has been because of her husband. There were plenty of hugs and letting this man know he does affect the way people are in this world because of his guidance.

The audience understood this as well. Plenty of them have been following Ken for a very long time. At the end of the evening, he even had the entire audience stand up and hold hands for the final song. That is the essence of Ken Whiteley.

My own personal story is that I first saw Ken a couple of year ago when he was playing a Christmas concert with the Sultans of Strings. Ken had his moment in the spotlight. He stood on this riser, and it was a beacon of light coming out of him as he performed. It was obvious to me that this man was meant to be a performer. He has a way of giving the audience exactly what they needed.

So, happy Birthday, Ken. Keep jumping high and I hope someone buys you the coolest guitar strap ever!

P.S. I spoke to the Saxophone player, Jody and he wanted me to relay a message. He came from Montreal to be at this party. He is in a band called The Steven Barry Band.  They have been playing for 50 years and would love to come to Toronto and play Hugh’s Room. Getting the room should be the easy part. I just wanted to put it out there when they do show up that Toronto music fans also show up and show this band a good time. I think we can pull that off.