Beloved Canadian roots balladeer Scott Cook is coming to the San Juan islands for Memorial Day Weekend. He’ll be bringing his guitar, banjo and keenly observant verse to the Orcas Island Grange on Sunday, May 26. Islander Mandy Troxel will open the night. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., music starts at 7 p.m. There is a$15 suggested donation ($5 accompanied minors) at the door, or at brownpapertickets.com. Reservations are helpful: email houseconcertsandsuch@gmail.com.

Cook will be at the Shaw Island Community Center on May 24, and the Lopez Island Grange on May 25.

A storyteller and songwriter with a rare personal warmth, Alberta’s Cook has managed to distill the stories collected over eleven years touring across Canada, the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia into straight-talking, heart-forever-on-sleeve verse. Painfully honest and deeply human, his tunes weave threads of folk, roots, blues, soul and country over spacious fingerstyle guitar and clawhammer banjo arrangements.