Cape Breton summer concert series honours Jay Smith, reunite Slaine Mhath

For a generation of music fans, Jay Smith was one of the Maritimes' greatest guitarists.

"Jay was kind of like the first rock star I remember being friends with,” said Joe Costello, an organizer of the Makin’ Waves summer concert series put on at Wentworth Park in Sydney, N.S.

It's been a decade since the Cape Breton guitarist was found dead in his Edmonton hotel room while on tour.

Now, a tribute concert to the late performer has been planned in his hometown of Sydney as part of this year’s Makin’ Waves shows, from July 6 to Aug. 3.

"He was just a guy who could command the room,” Costello recalls. “Then [he] went on, of course, to be with Matt Mays & El Torpedo, playing with Gordie Sampson, writing his own solo material [and] just being known coast to coast."

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Slainte Mhath were one of the hottest local acts in Celtic music.

The band has rarely performed in the last 20 years.

However, the long-awaited reunion will take place with a Makin' Waves summer concert.

"We didn't think about it much, but all of a sudden, the response has been great,” said Boyd MacNeil, a Slainte Mhath band member. “We've heard from a lot of the people that came out to see us play during the years, and it's coming to reality again, so it's exciting."

Band members know nostalgia will be in the air.

"We're part of good memories,” MacNeil said. “We played during peoples' university years, so it will be nice to relive some of that again."

Organizers say the Jay Smith tribute will be bittersweet.

"Now 10 years after we lost Jay, for all of his friends who are spread out all over the country to be able to get back together in one place and celebrate the music and the life of Jay Smith, it just seems really appropriate right now,” Costello said.

The Slainte Mhath show is scheduled for July 13 while the Jay Smith tribute concert is set for July 27.