Life’s Soundtrack: running with the blues of Poppa Dawg!

So I will say it now I’m a very temperate runner, I don’t like to run in the cold or the heat! Basically, I like to run in the fall and the spring! Anyway, last week was out because it was too hot and for several of the days I was outside most of the day! So today, when the weather was a little cooler I figured I better run. When I was coming home it seemed like it was pretty nice in the shade but forget it when the sun was out in full force. So I tried to plot out a course that would be in the shade for a good portion of the run. As the run progressed, the sun was behind some clouds a lot of the time that I was in the open! Anyway  I ran for a little over 4o minutes and just under four miles, which calculated to 10:19 per mile pace! The good thing is that my knee and left leg felt pretty good! The soundtrack for the run was a blues album that is number 49 on the Roots Music Blues chart What You Got from Poppa Dawg.

Rick ‘Poppa Dawg’ Halisheff is a Canadian bluesman of the first order.Poppa and his band ‘Dogskin Suit’ have been playing the Canadian blues scene for the last ten years. During that time,they have won awards ranging from ‘Best Local Band’ and ‘Honour in the Arts. Their music is on the air world-wide including the nation-wide CBC radio favorite ‘Saturday Night Blues’ with Holger Peterson.
Poppa and his band have shared the stage with the likes of:JUNO award winners Jeff Healey, Donnie Walsh and Chuck Jackson (Downchild Blues Band), Jim Byrnes, Powder Blues, Fathead, and other greats such as Sonny Rhodes, Tony Coleman (B.B. King), Donnie McDougall (The Guess Who), Danny McBride (Chris DeBurg).

Poppa plays the “Blues”. all types of blues ranging from low-down Chicago blues to up-town Rock’n’Roll, classic covers to rockin’ originals.If you’re a straight up hard-core blues fan you’ll love Poppa’s ability to channel Albert King and Howlin’ Wolf. If you like the swinging blues of Duke Robillard, JW-Jones and Little Charlie Baty, Poppa does those too, and he can play those slinky grooves that remind one of Dr. John and then hit you with the hard edge of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Since I was traveling slow tonight, I enjoyed the album. A few of the tracks that stood out include: “It Takes a Real Woman”, “Shannon”, “deepest Shade of Blue” oh hell, they’re all good and all different! Both Poppa’s growling, smoky vocals and his smoking guitar make this album a treat! You know blues make the best running music for me, I guess it’s something like a misery loves company thing! So check him out!

Here’s “Ronnie’s Song” from the album, I can’t get away from those instrumentals… but they work great on runs when I  just zone out and don’t worry about the lyrics!

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