Oliver Swain said music has always been a part of his life.
Swain will be performing at Qualicum Acoustic Cafe on Friday, Jan. 27 at the Rotary House (211 Fern Rd., Qualicum Beach).
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. for the open stage performers. There is a brief intermission before Swain performs. The feature act will finish around 10 p.m.
Tickets are $7 and are available at Diva’s Kandy and Kakes in Qualicum Beach. There is a limit of four tickets per person.
Tickets are $5 for open- stage performers and youth can get in for free.
For feature acts and associated events information, contact Joyce Beaton at beatonqualicum@gmail.com. For open stage, mailing list and questions, email John Beaton at jabeaton@gmail.com.
Swain said he has always had an interest in music and he took some lessons growing up.
Then he said he started playing bass at the age of 13 and he never really looked back.
“This has been an incredible journey and incredible life in music for the last 25 years,” Swain said. “It has taken me all over the world.”
Over the years, Swain said he has performed around the world at festivals in places such as New Orleans and Denmark.
He said he has also backed up triple Grammy Award artists on huge tours.
But it was about five years ago, Swain said, after working on so many projects that he got to the point of having so much music come out of him.
“I just created a home for all of the original work,” Swain said.
Swain said he lived in Louisiana and the Appalachia region, and he spent a lot of time investigating roots music.
Swain said he is fascinated by a lot of different kinds of music from around the world, but he’s really intrigued by old blues music, bluegrass and cajun music.
With his most recent CD, Never More Together, he said he went into a lot of different directions from a song-writing perspective such as fusing genres.
Swain said he’s now working on another album which is in pre-production. He said he’s working with a lot of different kinds of rhythms.
He said he’s been listening to a lot of early African-American music.
For his performance in Qualicum Beach, Swain said, audiences will get to hear some of his new music, which he plans to release in 2018, as well as some old music.
“I can take an old tune and reimagine it out of something modern,” Swain said.
For more information on Swain, visit www.oliverswain.com.