Way up north

TALKEETNA — The one man band, Gordie Tentrees is coming back to tour Alaska. The folky and comedic singer/songwriter will start his journey on Tuesday in Anchorage. He will perform across the state, hitting places like Girdwood and Homer before coming to Talkeetna this Saturday at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar at 7 p.m. Tentrees will play with a variety of instruments and push the boundaries of musical genres in what he promises to be a one of a kind performance.

“It’s a lot of noise for one guy,” Tentrees said.

Blurring the lines between folk, blues, country, rock, comedy — and even hip hop at times-— Tentrees makes it a point to make each show different. He said that he is prone to change his mind mid-set and play what ‘feels right’ with the audience. He considers a set a success if he makes that connection with the crowd and everyone walks out happy, including himself. He calls his style “Yukon root music,” he said. “No two nights are the same.”

A lot of people living up north can relate to his music, according to Tentrees. He said that Alaska and Canada are very similar. He grew up in the Yukon and said that like Canada, Alaska is cold place with long, dark winters — a place filled with “really creative people that are rough around the edges.”

“I like it that way,” he added.

Tentrees said he likes to come to Alaska during the winter because that’s when he can be with the “real people.” Just like home, tourists overrun Alaska during the hours of the midnight sun, but after summer comes to end, the locals remain and those are the people Tentrees relates to best. He said that he considers Alaska as a part of Canada based on the “humor alone.”

Tentrees has toured much of the world. He spends a lot of time on the road, typically touring 150 days out of the year. He said that in 2012, he played 142 concerts in 148 days in 8 countries. He went from the Yukon to New York and across Europe, from Amsterdam to Italy, making it home in time for Christmas. He’s a got a family now so he likes to find a balance between the road and his home, feeling sad whenever he leaves one or the other.

“They feed each other,” Tentrees said.

Tentrees has been playing music for about 15 years. Growing up, he drew a lot of inspiration from a variety of sources — “made from what stuck“ — hence his range of styles from set to set. Over time, he’s experimented with and expanded his sound. He considers the last 5 years his most significant in terms of changes and developments. He even took singing lessons to see what he could really do, how much range and far he could go. He said that with his concerts, he often likes to “jump off a cliff” at the beginning to throw off the audience, then work his way back up to make it feel worth it in the end.

“I just give myself up and I try to be as honest as I can. I just let myself go with the show, at that moment in the room. It’s pretty fun.”

The Denali Arts Council (DAC) will be the host for Tentrees’ Talkeetna concert. Tickets are $17 for DAC members and $20 for non-members. They can be purchased at the door or online at www.denaliartscouncil.org. After playing in Talkeetna, Tentrees will play at a private show in Palmer to conclude his trip. If you want to attend the Palmer show, contact Tentrees at gordietentrees@hotmail.com.

For more info and to see his Alaskan tour schedule, lookup Gordie Tentrees on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/GordieTentrees.