Musician and songwriter Steve Goldberger almost blushes when The Local suggests he is the glue that holds the Niagara region’s music community together.
Embarrassed or not, his new book and companion CD, both entitled In A Life, stand as a double testament to what he means to local musicians.
His 329-page memoir published by Friesen Press takes the reader back to Goldberger’s youth in suburban Toronto where he first picked up a guitar. That’s followed by his adventures across Ontario as the bass guitar player for the bluegrass-country band Black Creek in the 1970s.
As recounted in the book, that experience seemed to have kick-started a 50-plus year, almost Zelig-like music career in which the man known back then as the ‘Downsview Cowboy’ played with just about everyone there is to know in the Canadian music world.
Six degrees of Kevin Bacon? Never mind that - try four degrees of Steve Goldberger instead.
The book also sheds light on his Jewish heritage, the work that he continues to do for the family’s business in Toronto and his recovery from multiple open heart surgeries to fix what he refers to as his ‘bum ticker’.
Many are familiar with Goldberger’s work as both a leader and a sideman in the Niagara Rhythm Section and the Old Winos at various Niagara-on-the-Lake venues over the years. Before the pandemic, many of Canada’s best songwriters clamoured to visit NOTL to play with Goldberger and friends.
Not surprisingly, though the memoir is Goldberger’s life story, true to form he hands the spotlight to 15 of the musicians with whom he has collaborated through the years. Graham Lear, Gayle Ackroyd, Blair Packham, Wendell Ferguson and David Leprich were all eager to contribute humorous road stories to In A Life.
A veteran of 40 years playing in blues bands, Leprich first met Goldberger when the Niagara Rhythm Section was playing at the old Anchorage Hotel. He had no idea that Goldberger and his Black Creek bandmates had come so close to the brass ring of success until he read In A Life.
From day one Leprich was impressed with Goldberger’s accommodating and encouraging nature.
“Niagara has a pretty big, vibrant music scene with lots going on,” Leprich tells The Local. “Blues bands, acoustic music, open mics. Steve is the one guy who seems to pop up everywhere, all the time. He’s one of those guys who’s always been there. Everybody knows him.”
Singer-songwriter Brandon Agnew has forged a working relationship with Goldberger for the last few years, with the bassist coming on board as a member of Agnew’s Night Shadows band. Goldberger reworked Agnew’s song They Don’t Make ‘Em Like You Anymore, for the new 10-song release.
“Steve is so fun-loving, he’s a great player, but he’s such a great human,” says Agnew. “He plays a big mentoring role across Niagara, opening doors and creating opportunities. He’s seen the industry change over the years and loves to work with people who are doing their thing, having fun, and who have a good spirit.”
Agnew first ran into Goldberger at a gig by the older musician at the Olde Angel Inn over two decades ago.
“I was at an impressionable age,” Agnew remembers, “and I saw what he was doing, and I knew I wanted to do that. To come full circle now where we have projects together and we’re buddies, and to have him record one of my songs and mention me in his book, I feel so lucky.”
Laurel Minnes provides backing vocals on the album’s title track and a cover of the Little Feat tune All That You Dream, one of five covers on the collection. The leader of the vocal collective Minuscule calls Goldberger an incredible mentor.
“I always look to him for guidance as to what to put importance on,” says Minnes. “He’s had an interesting life and career in music. I want to get mentally to where he is, where one can recognize what’s important and what isn’t. Steve does not sweat the small stuff and I’m still trying to figure out what the small stuff is.”
Both Minnes and Agnew make mention of the vibe in The Shed, the recording studio built and rebuilt (after a devastating fire) by Goldberger in his Old Town home.
“Any time we’ve recorded there he has made it so easy, so fun, so low-stress,” Minnes raves. “That attitude shows in his music, too. He is so skilled and knows what to ask for. I always feel supported and appreciated in every way.”
Now 70 years old, Goldberger first thought about writing his story in 2008 but put that idea aside until COVID made live performances verboten. Prompted by his father's death and the loss of some friends in recent years, he decided to go full tilt into the project.
Goldberger’s prose throughout the book is indicative of his easy-going, gentle nature. It captures the feeling of sitting in The Shed just hanging with Steve and sharing stories.
And the multitude of photos, most taken by his wife Dory Karr, whom he met in 1975 during a week-long Black Creek residency at Toronto’s El Mocambo, add much to the experience.
Fittingly, the companion album comes across as somewhat autobiographical. It kicks off with the triumphant Glad That We’re Still Here, co-written with Karr.
“I love this old guitar and the song it wants to play,” sings Goldberger. “And I think back through the years it has shown me the way, how to hear a good old song and to make it all my own,” perfectly encapsulating much of what he has done throughout his career.”
Besides the Little Feat cover, Goldberger’s tenth solo release includes versions of Nanci Griffith, Randy Newman and Jimmy Webb songs.
The title track, originally recorded after his first open heart surgery and released on his 2002 album Gumbo Dreams, is as reflective as its name suggests. Long-time friend and rhythm section member Dave Norris plays drums on the new version, as he did 23 years ago.
Norris was living in Toronto and playing in the pop, rock and new wave scenes when he was asked to sub for a Valerie Shearman gig in Simcoe.
“Within a few seconds Steve, (guitarist) Erik Mahar and I all looked at each other and it just clicked,” Norris remembers. “We ended up playing together for decades.”
Like Leprich, Norris loved reading the book, especially the details about Goldberger’s days in Black Creek. Though he knew about the band from the posters adorning Golberger’s studio, he never realized how close they had come to breaking into the big time.
“And one of the things that blew my mind about the book is Steve’s memory,” says Norris, a member of Drastic Measures and the Pukka Orchestra back in the day. “Me? I’d need to be prodded with electro-stimulation to the brain to get those memories.”
Norris, Minnes and Agnew are all on board as guests for two upcoming Goldberger book and album release parties that mark his return to the Old Winery. The first one on February 28 sold out so quickly that another was added exactly four weeks later on March 28. That one is almost sold out, too.
“There will be a lot of familiar faces there,” Goldberger says of the two shows. “It will feel like a Rhythm Section or Old Winos gig. We’ll do a bunch of songs from the new records and some from the old ones, too.”
And Goldberger is excited to have been invited to read from his book in the atrium at the NOTL Public Library on Thursday, April 10, when he’ll also play a few songs from the album accompanied by guitarist Andrew Aldridge, who appears on three of In A Life’s songs.
Of the response to both the book and the new album, Goldberger remains flabbergasted.
“This is all so crazy and overwhelming,” he says. “I’m very surprised and pleased, to say the least.”