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You couldn’t slap the grin off my face.

This weekend, I went from being superfan in the seats to performer on the stage. Because I was invited to read in the Grant Lawrence and Friends night of stories and songs, on the Errington, B.C. stop of the tour.

Think The Vinyl Cafe with a rock ‘n’ roll spirt. Or The Prairie Home Companion with Canadian indie music. Instead of recording his live shows, Grant keeps it all in the room to be experienced by loyal CBC listeners and readers of his books — the same ones who line up an hour before doors open to get a good seat.

Grant Lawrence — author, raconteur, broadcaster, Smugglers frontman — tours his variety show to crowds who come to hear his comedic West Coast stories come to life. Add to that a rotating roster of Canadian indie music royalty like Joel Plaskett, Jill Barber, and members of New Pornographers, Stars, 54-40, Bedouin Soundclash, and Said The Wale — and you’ll see why these nights sell out.

Oh, and the pies. The locals always bake and sell pies, making a Grant Lawrence and Friends event ridiculously homespun and cozy.

What a lineup of award-winning songwriters this weekend: international recording artist Jill Barber, B.C. chanteuse Desirée Dawson, and the beloved and prolific Danny Michel from “the wilds of Ontario,” (Grant’s words). I got to hear them up-close from backstage, where I paced and practiced my bit.

That’s ten-year-old Grace, daughter of the married, musical couple, Grant Lawrence and Jill Barber. Grace joined her mom for a moving duet Jill wrote for her as a wee one (that was an itch under my eye, not a tear!). Solo and acoustic, Jill Barber’s voice curled and wrapped around each song like smoke.

My friend Cam texted me from the audience that Desirée Dawson is his new music discovery, and made him cry. She killed.

I’ve been following Danny Michel’s music and creative adventures since I first interviewed him for MuchMusic a lifetime ago. I would’ve travelled to Errington just to see the guy, let alone share the stage with him. He effortlessly played stories-as-songs and told tales of Highway 401 billboards and ape hugs with Jane Goodall before jumping into bed with her. (True, but you had to be there).

Grant introduced me in the second half with kind, blushy words. I pulled open the curtain and walked out. The audience was so damn quiet and engaged. Not a cough in the house. The scene was so still that I passed nervous and went directly to my zone.

I read from a story Grant helped pick out. One I wrote about the strangest open mic night on earth, making the whole thing overly meta — me reading about a reading, while slides of me reading were projected behind me reading.

Laughs landed in the right places, for the most part. When I referred to the audience “type” in front of me as “CBC Radio listeners dressed up like cartoon versions of CBC Radio listeners,” they took it well, god bless ‘em.

Grant’s tradition is to close each show with all the performers gathered on stage, leading the audience in a singalong. Danny played Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself, his single that became the 2022 CBC Song of the Year, and a refrain I definitely need to remember before and after each reading I do.

This one will be hard to top.

(Thanks to the people in the front row who offered to take pictures for me)