Discover your next favorite artist
Sat, May 16
|Vernon Jazz Club
Ray Lemelin & The Matinee Kings
Calgary blues lifer Ray Lemelin grew up in a Quebec family of musicians, learned his craft at the feet of legends at the King Eddy, and now leads The Matinee Kings — a four-piece that plays blues and roots the way it's meant to be heard: loud, soulful, and in a room small enough to feel it.
Time & Location
May 16, 2026, 7:30 p.m.
Vernon Jazz Club, 3000 31 St, Vernon, BC V1T 5H7, Canada
About the event
Ray Lemelin was raised in the Eastern Townships of Quebec in a family where just about everyone played something. After moving to Calgary, he walked into a Willie Dixon concert and everything changed. He got a haircut, bought a suit, picked up a Stratocaster and a tube amp, and never looked back.
He spent years haunting the King Eddy, learning at the feet of the blues players who came through town. Before long, he was the guy getting called to back up touring artists across Western Canada — names like Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Pinetop Perkins, Lurrie Bell, and Sonny Rhodes. His album with Tim Williams, "Neither Here Nor There," was named Album of the Year by the Acoustic Underground Blues Network, and he won Guitar Player of the Year at the Canadian Blues Music Awards in 2013.
These days, Ray leads The Matinee Kings and hosts the weekly Sunday night…