Jim Cuddy comes to Kitchener

Canadian icon Jim Cuddy is coming to Kitchener.

Cuddy is best-known for his time as the co-front man of Canadian Music Hall of Fame band, Blue Rodeo.

The velvet voluptuous voice also has a solo adventure in “The Jim Cuddy Band”, which will be playing Centre In The Square tonight beginning at 8 o’clock.

Cuddy says he’ll draw a bit from each of his three solo records.

“We do a few Blue Rodeo songs but slightly differently because there is a violinist in the band, and Annie is a very big presence; a little more soloing, but you know, just like a comfortable night of music,” says Cuddy.

He says despite performing for numerous decades, he still gets goosebumps from time-to-time.

“This year with Blue Rodeo, when we’ve toured so much, I can get on a stage and not feel any butterflies,” says Cuddy. “And yet a couple days before I started my solo tour, I’m awake at night a little bit and I’m thinking, ‘What am i going to do? How can I make this different? What’s going to be the format? Am I going to have enough voice to do it?’.”

About seven years ago, Cuddy was nervous he may not be able to use that voice anymore. He was diagnosed with a vocal polyp weighing down his vocal chords. But after successful surgery, he’s back and as good as ever, whether that be with Blue Rodeo, or The Jim Cuddy Band.

He describes the solo band as a pressure valve.

“Blue Rodeo is a fantastic thing we all love doing and it’s great to do it and it’s great to just have a little break from it. I think my solo band is done like that, it’s not a huge career obsession, it’s just for fun,” says Cuddy.

If you can’t make tonight’s show, “The Jim Cuddy Band” will be in Guelph on November 2nd playing the River Run Centre.