My guitar playing has been most profoundly influenced by Bruce Cockburn and Leo Kottke. The independent (alternating root / 5) thumb thing I got from Bruce, and much of the right hand percussion I got from Leo. Both players are unique with quite different melodic sensibilities, but both have a similar capacity to make the guitar the “whole band” which is why it is sometimes disappointing to see them perform with others – the magic of the “band in a box” is lost. 

See video below.

Drumheller Circle was written after seeing Leo Kottke perform live at the West End Cultural Center in Winnipeg. It’s a small, funky theater which seats perhaps 250 max and hosts the most amazing concerts. I already knew a lot of Leo’s material and was looking forward to discovering what crazy tunings and techniques he used to get his outrageous melodies, chords and unique percussiveness. I was quite surprised to discover that most of his material was written and played in standard or simple alternate tunings (drop D); Theme from “The Rick and Bob Report” (My Father’s Face/ 1989) is a particular example. Leo seems determined to wring every possibility out of these two familiar tunings.

At the time I was experimenting with all sorts of tunings to rescue myself from going to the same old places musically. But I went home that night with a renewed appreciation for the carrying capacity of standard and drop D tunings, determined to wrestle a few more tunes out of them. Drumheller Circle was the result of that determination.

When I first started to play the song publicly I didn’t have a title for it, but found myself telling the story of my early guitar days as a boy in Drumheller, Alberta. My father was a prison chaplain at the federal penitentiary in Drumheller and the inmates used the chapel Saturday afternoons to have jam sessions. Occasionally I was allowed to go in, sit in the corner and watch the guys play – some were quite exceptional. But I was quite eager to learn to play, myself, and when the inmates discovered this, they invited me to join their circle.

Not having a guitar of my own, I joined the Jr. Sales Club of Canada and started selling Christmas Cards to get the money to buy a guitar – Dad told me he’d match me dollar for dollar and I had my eye on a Hofner Acoustic ($120 w/hardshell case, strap and pick – ooooo!) After several months I had 60 bucks, Dad matched it and I started showing up every Saturday afternoon to sit in a circle with Canada’s most unwanted men who taught me to play the guitar. I was eight, I was in heaven and to this day adore those men for taking me seriously and investing in me.

Several months after I started performing this song, and telling this story, my manager Dave finally suggested I call it Drumheller Circle and I have ever since.

A few years ago I was invited back to Drumheller prison to perform a concert for the inmates in the same chapel I learned to play in. Obviously, for sentimental reasons, I was eager to go back and play there. It never occurred to me I’d know anyone, or that anyone would remember me after all those years. But I did. It was so very wonderful and so very sad to see old friends after all those years. It was the first time the awful reality of “life sentence” hit me. Is this really the best our “gospel” imagination is capable of?

Anyway - for those of you guitar players who want to take a stab at playing this song, click on the button at the top of the page to download the guitar tab (music notation). It’s perhaps easier to play than it sounds – you’ll notice the basic chord shapes are D, G, and A (in drop D tuning). Most of the song revolves around those three chord shapes. The greatest difficulty you’ll have is the thumb independence.  If you have any questions just post them in the comments below – I’m not much of a teacher but I’ll try to be of help if you’re having trouble.