By Thomas Perry, The Daily Press
The Sons of Maxwell -- Dave and Don Carroll -- may live in Halifax, but Timmins is still home and they are looking forward to their annual pilgrimage to the City with the Heart of Gold.
The duo will take the stage at Timmins High & Vocational School on Dec. 11-12 for their 11th-annual Christmas concerts.And, as in past years, fans can expect a few surprises.
"Every year we always bring something new to the table in terms of Christmas music and original stuff," Dave Carroll said."They are going to hear something new that we have written and something new that we have borrowed from the Christmas catalogue."
While he wouldn't get into specifics about the contents of the set list for this year's concerts, Dave Carroll did say that "over half the music is Christmas related and there is some traditional Celtic components, some back catalogue Sons of Maxwell stuff and some new ones I have written.
"We have our Instant Christmas CD and there are a few favourites on there that we always perform, there are some that are becoming standards."The concerts are unique for the Carrolls because of the number of friends and family members in the audience.
"I still have some great friends back in Timmins and I don't get to see them as often as I would like, so I enjoy catching up with friends and playing to friends who are in the audience and familiar faces," Dave Carroll said. "It's a real family affair."
He describes the concerts in Timmins as more of a conversation with the audience these days rather than performance to strangers."We can banter a little bit more easily and I feel like people know us personally, not just the music ... so it's a really warm evening.""
The atmosphere of getting set for Christmas starts by going to Timmins for us."Even though Don Carroll is a full-time firefighter now, the brothers still perform together as the Sons of Maxwell quite often.
"Most of my performances this year, even since United Breaks Guitars, have been with Don," Dave Carroll said.And you can rest assured that United Breaks Guitars will be on the set list for both Timmins concerts."With all the press that that song has gotten over the last five months I think it is something that will probably be in most any show I play ... forever," he said."I'm happy to do it, that song has touched a lot of people in the world."
Given the difficulties Dave Carroll has experienced with airlines this year, you might expect him to opt for another mode of transportation for this year's trip to Timmins.That's not the case, however. "We drove to Timmins once and brought our own PA and everything for one of those Christmas shows, but that's more risky than any flight you have ever taken," he said."I don't think we'll be doing that drive again."
As in past years, the Carrolls will be joined on stage by Timmins' own Carlo Delarenzie, formerly of Compass Rose, playing piano; John Park Wheeler, from Ottawa, on guitar; and Debbie Myles on the violin; with the rest of the band coming from Halifax. Bringing musicians together like this can sometimes present a challenge, but the Carrolls get the music to them in advance so that things should be nice and smooth ... just putting it together ... when we have the rehearsals."Article ID# 2185715