Pick of the Day: Billy the Kid

I don't know how much overlap there is between this blog and the print version of prairie dog with readers. But I did a preview of this gig for our Jan. 28 issue which hit the streets yesterday. It was kind of a last-minute rush job after some promised copy on another band didn't arrive in time so I didn't have a chance to line-up an interview with Billy the Kid (pictured).

I pulled some bio-stuff off the web that said the Vancouver-based artist was born Kristen Amber Pettinger (she celebrates her birthday Feb. 1, as a matter of fact) and that she'd had a troubled childhood with time spent as a runaway and in foster care.

If I'd spoken with her, I almost assuredly would've asked her at some point to talk about her stage name. Was it something someone hung on her, or did she adopt it on her own, and in either case what was the intent behind it.

Outlaw is the most obvious connotation. Or at the very least a scrappy survivor with a flare for the dramatic. Maybe even a bit of a folk hero. Anyway, that opportunity never arose.

In the last week, Billy the Kid has played Edmonton, Swift Current, Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and now Regina. That's a fair bit of driving, in pretty brutal weather. Touring in support of her 2008 solo CD The Lost Cause, she's plays O'Hanlon's Pub tonight on a bill with the local instrumental trio the Lazy MKs.

Other gigs tonight include Geoff Berner and Rae Spoon at the Club, Thornley at the Drink Nightclub, and in a real blast from the past, Kick-Axe and Queen City Kids are rocking Casino Regina.

Here's the video for Billy the Kid's 2009 song "These City Lights" (YouTube)