Big Hank Lionhart credits Port Moody musician Bill Sample for helping him navigate the B.C. music scene nearly half a century ago.
When Lionhart moved to Vancouver Island in the late 1970s, he heard Sample performing at a Victoria bar in a trio.
“He filled me in and even got me up to play,” Lionhart remembered.
“We were friends from that day on although I never worked with him again except in that jam, but we did cross paths all the time and kept in touch.”
From that encounter, Lionhart flourished with his group Uncle Wiggly’s Hot Shoes Blues Band — an ensemble that signed with RCA, created three albums (the first produced by Tom Lavin of The Powder Blues Band) and toured across Canada as the opening act for such R&B stars as Joe Cocker, Muddy Waters and The Neville Brothers.
In 1983, Lionhart pivoted to Big Hank and the Smokin’ Hot Toasters, which became a mainstay in Vancouver blues clubs, like The Yale, the Commodore Ballroom and the Sheraton Landmark Jazz Bar, for a dozen years.
Since then, they’ve written and recorded fresh material — sometimes using the technology FarPlay, to link the musicians virtually in Vancouver and on the island — and have toured the Pacific Northwest.
Now, with four of the original members, Lionhart is back on the road in 2025 with the seven-piece band, stopping in Port Moody on Saturday, Jan. 25 to play a mix of original tunes as well as R&B, swing and blues covers.
Lionhart said he’ll give the audience a bit of music history at the show, describing the composers or compositions, “and telling stories and a few jokes along the way.”
“We’re pretty excited,” he told the Tri-City News on Wednesday, Jan. 15. “This will be our first time playing in Port Moody and we’re happy to reunite with our fans.”
The first concert of the new year for Sample’s Inlet Theatre Music Series in Port Moody, which is co-organized with his partner Darlene Cooper, also a music veteran, the performance will be “pretty lively,” Lionhart said.
“We’ve got four singers, so our harmonies are good, and we’ve got two horn players, too.”
Said Sample, “I can’t think of a better way to kick off the new year at the Inlet than with this rocking, swinging, blues belting band — fronted by my good friend Hank Lionhart. Come get your groove on with Big Hank and the Red Hot Toasters.”
Performing with Big Hank are:
- Steve Cross
- guitar
- Mick Woodhouse
- bass
- Steve Ranta
- keys
- Dave Emery
- drums
- Jerry Cook
- saxophone
- Dave "The Duck" Rowse
- saxophone
For tickets to see Big Hank and the Smokin’ Hot Toasters at the Inlet Theatre inside Port Moody City Hall (100 Newport Dr.) on Jan. 25, you can visit Eventbrite.ca.
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