Hank Williams
The Show He Never Gave

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An old fashioned supper for an old fashioned guy.
Served buffet style

Baked ham, with a touch of sweet pineapple and brown sugar
Scalloped potatoes
Steamed green and yellow bean
Warmed tea biscuits and butter
Oven baked cheese manicotti
Four bean salad
Creamy coleslaw
English cucumber and cherry tomato platter
Sliced fresh fruit
Lemon sateen cake
Tea and coffee

Ryan Cook (Hank Williams)
www.ryancook.ca



Ryan Cook is a rather unusual suspect in the world of honky-tonk singer/songwriters. Raised in a large dairy farming family in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Cook did just about everything he could to outrun the expected outcome of cowboy culture and country music. In fact, he began screaming in punk rock and death metal garage bands as a teenager and helped shape a popular Yarmouth music scene along with acts like Brian Borcherdt, Paul Murphy (Wintersleep), and Aaron Wallace (Sleepless Nights).

In his early twenties, Cook worked as a student music therapist in a retirement home and took requests to play traditional country music. He began digging up old cassettes and records, and to his amazement, found himself falling in love with the “hayride” era of George Jones, Ray Price and Hank Williams. Several years later, after recording demos of his own songs and showcasing his music across Atlantic Canada, Cook entered the studio with his touring band Sunny Acres and released the award winning debut LP “Hot Times”.

Produced by Scott Ferguson (The Rankin Family) and Ryan Cook, "Hot Times" is a bouncing collection of harlequin characters and slapstick stories, with a brooding undercurrent of grief and discord. Some of Cook’s inspiration can be attributed to obscure performers from the 1950’s and 60’s, such as the vintage sounds of Little Jimmy Dickens humorous novelty songs. While Cook’s Little Doves, Sharpest Knife and …Between The Buried and Me reveal the darker side of small town life, summoning the subtle nuances of Cook’s punk and heavy metal background. “Hot Times” was released on February 29, 2008, with special guest appearances from award-winning bluesman John Campbelljohn, Konrad Pluta, and members of Prince Edward Island’s Nudie and the Turks.


Brad Reid (fiddle, guitar)
bradreid.ca




Brad Reid has been working on a budding music career for the past 7 years, since completing the 4-year jazz program at St. FX University in 2002. Although he studied the saxophone first, his interests and the demands placed on him as a working musician led him towards the other woodwinds (flute and clarinet), and also to the fiddle, guitar, and bagpipes associated with his Cape Breton roots.

In the fall of 2002 he started working as a side musician in numerous house bands aboard luxury cruise ships, and in 2008-2009 held a position as musical director on one of these ships. Sailing the seas primarily during the winter months, Brad returns home to Halifax for the vibrant summer music scene.

He has had the opportunity to perform with Joel Mason and his touring Elton John tribute show, Johnny Thunder (formerly of the Drifters), Eddie Holman (“Hey there Lonely Girl”), Australia’s Michael “Banjo” Young, local country artist Rylee Madison, emerging songstress Kim Wempe, along with various other artists, events and venues around the Maritimes. Brad’s versatility of styles and instruments continues to open many doors for him, and led to the recent release or his first traditional Cape Breton fiddle album, “The Conundrum”. He now brings this versatility and experience to the stage for you in “Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave”!


Adam Pye



As a resident of Halifax Nova Scotia, Adam has studied Double Bass at Dalhousie University and has been an active member in the alt country group The Moonshine Ramblers. He can be found playing at late night jam sessions, the Halifax farmers market or any of the local bars. Adam's playing continues to inspire bass players young and old, with plans for a career in performance and teaching, his passion for playing bass is infectuous to all observers.


Andrew Sneddon (guitar, steel guitar)

Andrew Sneddon is pleased to be making his debut appearance at the Live Bait Theatre. A versatile musician, a Songwriter and Multi-Instrumentalist, Sneddon has been playing with many bluegrass, folk, and country groups in Halifax for a number of years. He can also be found working as a sideman for singer-songwriters or picking out rowdy alt-country bluegrass tunes in his band, The Moonshine Ramblers, who are currently in the studio recording their debut CD for release this fall. As a long time Hank Williams fan, Sneddon is enthused to be bring his music to life in this excellent production, so come out and enjoy the show.


Jennie Wood (Musical Director)



Jennie is very pleased to once again be acting as Musical Director in this her eighth season here at Live Bait. A regular (indeed, practically inescapable) face around the theatre, Jennie can be found working both on stage and behind the scenes in a variety of dinner theatre and mainstage productions. A graduate of Mount Allison and the University of Alberta with degrees in voice/composition and musicology, Jennie is also an award-winning composer; her recent work "Harvest Moon" was performed by the Vancouver Chamber Choir earlier this year in their tour of the Maritimes, and she continues to write and arrange music for voice, chamber choir and piano. Jennie is also an active church musician, and serves as the choir director and organist/pianist for Sackville and Upper Sackville United Churches. In her spare time, she offers private lessons in piano and voice to those poor souls brave (or foolish!) enough to keep on coming back week after week, acts as director for amateur and community theatre projects (including Garnet and Gold's 2009 production of FAME, Showcase Production’s 2007 "Lucky Stiff", and Tantramar Theatre’s Fall 2009 run of "The Buddy Holly Story"), and studies part-time at Mount Allison in the Religious Studies department.