Last Thursday saw the first return of Buck 65 aka Rich Terfry to Fredericton since Sept 11, 2001. Since then he has signed with Warner and has seen his career catapult forward leaving him with Juno nominations, ECMA awards and legions of fans in Europe and Australia.

A native of Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia his eclectic blend of hip-hop, folk and alternative has helped bring him success on a growing international level. In fact, for the past three years, he has been in talks with Radiohead on a potential collaboration.

Once a solo performer, Buck 65 now has the companionship of a backup band adding a fresh live dimension to his show. The band has benefited from Rich's extensive touring schedule as they were far more impressive than just one year ago at his ECMA weekend performance.

The night started off low-key as Matt Mays casually took to the stage accompanied by just a harmonica and an acoustic guitar. He quickly showed why he has become a new member of the Warner label as his songwriting and performance caught the crowd's attention. The majority of his latest CD has a country sound, but his chart-topping single breathes a little bit stronger and shows signs of rock influence.

Around 10:30 pm, Buck 65 got started, leading off with 'Wicked & Weird.' He later confessed he chose to start with his hit single after being invited to a Christina Aguilera show while in Australia, where she led off with 'Dirty' and had her fans eating from her palm for the rest of the show.

Although not as energetic, flashy and wardrobe-trendy as Christina, Buck 65 thrives on jokes, witty comments and an overall amazing stage presence. He constantly kept fans humored and on their toes with his barrage of singing/rapping, turntable scratching, story telling, crowd interaction (including kisses) and fancy footwork.

He blessed the crowd with some new more bluesy material ('Abandoned Cars of Inverness County'), some slightly older material ('Pants on Fire' and 'Roses and Bluejays') and staples from his latest album Talkin Honky Blues including 'Soar' and the Sarah song.

A couple unexpected highlights from the show included two cover songs. The Woody Guthrie 1939 hit 'Talkin Fishin Blues' displayed some great story telling which could easily be mistaken for material of current day. However, when Rich started in with a cover of the 1972 hit 'Popcorn' by Hot Butter, I could barely control myself. The light show and energy of this seventies hit was nothing short of brilliant.

Finally the intimate encounter with these two rising stars came to an close as Buck 65 ended with a rising rendition of his second single, '463.' The video for this single has recently surfaced on music video stations across Canada displaying Buck 65 in full baseball attire while managing, batting, pitching and running the bases.

In talking with Rich, his happiness with the video quickly became transparent. Once scouted by the NY Yankees, his passion for baseball often leaks into his music. In fact, '463' is the scorekeeping for a double play in baseball (second base to shortshop to first base) and in Buck 65's eyes is one of the "most beautiful things to watch." As such, it only seems fitting that '463' provided the finishing touches for a captivating evening of beautiful music making.

For more information on Buck 65, check out www.buck65.com .