Let It Be is the new production of Beatles songs brought to life by a "crackerjack" Canadian band including singer Damhnait Doyle, Prairie Oyster's Russell deCarle, Triumph frontman Rik Emmett and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Craig. The show ran twice, once in Toronto and once in Ottawa and now it will be "wait and see" if it will become a full-time production.
Not that Rik Emmett needs the work. Some quotes from an Ottawa Citizen article follow:
Emmett, still best known as the frontman of Canadian hard-rock power trio Triumph, says he was interested as soon as he heard the other artists' names. "I thought this thing can't possibly be bad if it's got Russell's cool, calm presence," he said, also describing Doyle as enormously talented.
As for the material, virtually every musician enjoys playing Beatles songs, and Emmett is no exception.
"It's so great to hear all the Beatles harmonies fleshed out with all these people," he says. "Of course, we've all been in garage bands over the years when we were kids, and done Beatles covers in rehearsal or whatever, but it never sounds any good. But now, every part you want is there and it sounds great."
For Emmett, the project represents another tasty dish piled onto a plate already jammed with musical endeavours. After Triumph disbanded in 1988, Emmett went on to carve out a career as a solo artist, recording a half dozen or so discs of his own compositions, the styles ranging from jazz to singer-songwriter fare. A father of four children, now grown, the 55-year-old also teaches songwriting at Humber College and is active in the songwriting community.
Emmett is very active in the songwriting community, much to that community's benefit. May the Muse be with them all... and with the Beatles' songbook to work with, that shouldn't be a problem...
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