Masters had a historical tour

Matt MastersWhile performing one of 100 shows in Alberta to celebrate the province’s centennial, Matt Masters (BA’02) covered a tune by an old Alberta cowboy, Kerry Regan. When he asked the audience in Hinton if anyone knew who he was, one woman stuck up her hand and said she had gone to school with the late troubadour.

“For me, Regan was a face on a record; but for this woman, he was a classmate and buddy.”

Masters has heard more anecdotes about wild rose country and the people who live here over the past several months than many people hear in a lifetime. Something the country and western performer and history grad thinks was the best part of his centennial tour. “My last show was at Fort Calgary on September 1, and I sang a song about John Ware [one of Alberta’s most famous cowboys]. An 81-year-old cowboy came up to me and said he had worked at the Bar U Ranch, and he had met Ware as a kid. He knew the person I was singing about first hand,” marvels Masters.

Known as Matt Burgener offstage, he picked up a guitar and learned to play as a teenager. Being a guy who listened to bands like the Flaming Lips and Pavement, turning out as a country and western singer was far from his mind. Looking back, though, he says he should’ve guessed considering the first song he learned to play was “Help Me Make it Through the Night” by Kris Kristofferson. “When I started writing songs, one after another turned out to be country songs … much to my frustration,” jokes Masters. “But that’s just what came naturally.”

After graduation and two years in Toronto, Masters returned to his roots. Moving back to Calgary was meant to be a temporary plan, but he came up with the idea of the centennial tour—100 shows across the province to mark the 100 years—while chatting with a friend. Months of planning went into the tour, but it’s one that Masters has learned a lot from.

“I write and sing about the people of Alberta. And the more Albertans I meet, the more I want to sing about them, represent them, and tell their history.”

Masters played shows at every kind of event, from homecomings to rodeos, and from fairs to sports days. He even played at a fishing derby, which turned out to one of his favourites. The one common element across all 100 shows: everyone made him feel welcome.

With phase one of his personal centennial project over, Masters is now moving on to phase two. He plans to collect 100 songs from across the province, written by and about Albertans. Ten songs from each decade will be published together in a centennial songbook that he then plans to donate to schools across the province and country. “I’m still not an expert on Alberta music, but I know that it reflects the unique and distinct characteristics of Albertans. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last several months, it’s that we’re pretty good storytellers.”

By Leslie Strudwick

Matt Masters is looking for songs by Albertans to publish into a centennial songbook. Find out more on his website: www.mattmasters.com.