Listening to Brian Paul DG in concert is like catching up with an old friend. The tunes are unmistakably his own, but there’s a familiar comfort to them. His stories bubble up from a well of experience and ever-changing enlightenment. He’s a veteran song crafter and performer of 20 years, and his wide ranging and stream of conscious narratives had the audience laughing with a genuine understanding. 

Brian Paul DG (an abbreviation he’s long employed as his stage name, for his surname Di Giuseppe) performed at the Carlton Trail Ski Clubhouse, 10 km west of Humboldt. A capacity crowd laughed, visited and partook in a Humboldt history trivia challenge hosted by Brian Grest, and featuring Brian Paul in the centre of some community challenges.  

Like most folk and roots artists, he comes by his storytelling prowess honestly. 

“I’m a practitioner of storytelling traditions, of word and sound traditions,” Brian Paul explained in a pre-amble to his opening number. “I’ve done everything I can to explore and study those.” 

His fascination with narrative comes across in his expansive collection of over 500 songs, 5 professionally produced albums, and around 15 home studio collections. It also comes across in his choice of cover tunes, like his opener, Ian Tyson’s classic “Someday Soon” popularized by Judy Collins.  

He’s resisted performing covers for much of his career, but he confessed that he’d been enjoying exploring and carefully curating some of his favourite influences to perform. Those include the works of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and the folk staple “Poncho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt.  

His openness and connection with an audience is founded on a couple of premises – one that everyone is special, and that we are all artists, interpreting the world and expressing it in our own ways regardless of the vehicle. A second one is that you have to travel. His songs reflect that cascade of places, people and stories he’s encountered along the way. That makes his songs and storytelling organic and relatable.  

He honoured the late Leonard Cohen with a song he was penning, “To Be With You Again,” when he heard of Cohen’s death.  

His songs shift from serious to whimsical, sometimes within the same verse. It’s predicated on the belief that you best understand and absorb something if it’s fun, and many of his songs have a lighthearted spirit with repetitive and singable refrains. An example is the philosophical and off-beat “Hi Dee Ho, Hi Dee Hi” that incorporates mythical lore of the condor and the eagle in a natural circle of life. 

A similarly lilting sing-along is the imaginative fancy of his “Magic Rainbow Ripple,” an enchanting musical excursion for children and for adults.  

His stream of consciousness interpretations of songs and life included musings on education, Socratic thinking, music as community, kids’ views of the world, among others - all intertwined with songs that extended the stories.  

Brian Paul DG presents a tapestry of clever, heartwarming and inspiring songs and stories that have made him a return favourite at festivals, busking corners and concert stages. Get to know this important writer and performers at www.brianpauldg.com.