Interlake songwriter soars to new heights

In 2011, a decade before a pandemic renoviction caused Bobby Dove to fly the coop from Montreal, the swaggering trans troubadour snuck onto the bill for an annual birthday tribute to another folk singer with identical initials.

“I was not on any list of any kind to play, I just knew it was going on, and I was absolutely, as they say, feeling myself,” recalls Dove of the Bob Dylan show.

At the time, Dove was mostly busking and playing with an outfit called the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers.

Dove (who uses they/them pronouns) waltzed into the venue without a ticket, telling the doorman they were a performer before being waved backstage. Behind the curtain, organizer Mitch Melnick knew something was amiss, but decided to cut the young songwriter a break, putting Dove right in the thick of the all-star bill.