6 Guitars celebrates its three hundredth performance while in the High Performance Rodeo

Chase Padgett has performed his one-man show 6 Guitars almost three hundred times. In fact, he will celebrate his three-hundredth performance in Calgary, at Lunchbox Theatre, in the High Performance Rodeo Theatre Festival. Padgett describes the show as a combination of “music, comedy and characters. [Padgett] plays six different characters and each [character] plays a different genre of music on one guitar: blues, jazz, rock, classical, folk and country. Each character shares songs and stories from their lives.”

Does Padgett get sick of doing the same show over and over again?

“I don’t. There are things about the lifestyle that I get sick of. Not being at home. My life at home just increases in value to me every day. Even when I’m not here. But the actual doing the show part is pretty great. I still love all the characters. I still love performing it. There are certain sections of it now that are improvised on audience reaction, which keeps it fresh and dangerous for me.”

The ‘dangerous’ is what also engages the audience and is often what resonates. “People will contact me about a rock song I improvise in the show, it’s really memorable to them,” Padgett says. With this much success and this many performances behind him, Padgett feels a bit of fearlessness with his characters. “The material that I have on deck at all times has never been stronger. And because of that, it allows me to be fearless in the moment, to trust that I can take risks.”

Padgett even has a favourite character that he plays. “The old Blues player,” he says, “for some reason, that music is the one that resonates with me. As that character, I feel like I can, in a weird way speak from a place of honesty. To me, it contains the most reference to the most influential musicians in my life. Particular Buddy Guy and BB King.”

Padgett will also be performing Nashville Hurricane, his newer show at the Bert Church Theatre in Airdrie. The show is more focused on storytelling and Padgett says that it’s “an opportunity to take the storytelling element that is in 6 guitars and blow it out of the water.”

6 Guitars is part of the High Performance Rodeo, co-presented by Lunchbox Theatre and runs from January 9 - 28. More information can be found online. Nashville Hurricane will be performed on January 14th and you can find more information here.

Tagged as: 6 Guitars, Chase Padgett, High Performance Rodeo, Lunchbox Theatre