Ironwood Stage & Grill (2006) Ltd

What is Ironwood Stage & Grill owner Pat MacIntyre’s secret to running one of Calgary’s most successful music venues? It’s a simple one: good music, good food and good beer. He expounds on this formula from behind the Ironwood’s mahogany bar, just after a Friday lunch rush. “I wanted to run a bar much like the one run by the guy I first worked for in Halifax. He wanted people to leave having two or three beers, an agreeable meal and an awesome band. If you can combine the three, what a magnificent time!” After moving to Calgary, Pat tended bar and booked musical acts at a downtown pub for 13 years, purchasing the Ironwood in 2006. His love of original music made taking over the up-and-coming Inglewood music venue a natural move.

Musicians from jazz guitar legend Bill Frisell to Canadian blues-rock icon Colin James to local troubadour Tim Hus have since graced the Ironwood Stage, which is one of the city’s biggest club stages. While its guest performers represent a broad spectrum of styles, it tends towards the rootsy and twangy. As a way to sum up the Ironwood vibe, MacIntyre recounts the time it hosted American rock legend Dave Alvin. “There’s a guy I have reverence for to the Nth degree. He walked in and goes, ‘Yeah, this is my kind of place.’ I felt at home then. I felt like I did something right.”