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Hugh’s Room is proud to announce another spectacular fall concert line-up. Book 3 shows in September, October or November before July 31, and receive one $10 ‘Customer Appreciation’ Coupon. |
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Saturday, September 5 Kevin Fox |
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Tuesday, September 8 Sara Kamin's powerful voice has been compared to incredible female artists like Jann Arden, Patty Griffin, Adele, India.Arie and Bessie Smith. A regular performer both in Canada and the UK, Kamin has shared the stage with Molly Johnson, Murray Mclaughlin, Jason Collett, Jill Barber, Jonatha Brooke, Ember Swift, Melissa Ferrick, Edie Carey, and Madison Violet. Her new album, "The Music in Me," is her most honest, authentic recording to date. Joined by Oliver Pigott (guitar, background vocals) and Lyndell Montgomery (violin), Kamin has created an album of well-crafted, soulful folk-pop tunes exploring love, heartache and the human condition. "Sara Kamin has a very natural way with a song and a voice that is lovely and pure." - Ron Sexsmith
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Wednesday, September 9 Doc MacLean & Big Dave McLean are pleased to announce that they will tour together again in 2009. Based on the overwhelming success of their 2007 Big Road Blues Tour, this year's concert adventure will be the most ambitious Canadian blues romp ever. A cool, One Hundred Dates are proposed. Back to Back. Coast to Coast. Yes, the Blues will be coming to Your Town! Mid-August through November 2009. A National Steel Century Tour. A Cool One Hundred. McLean and MacLean thrilled sold out halls from Halifax to Vancouver Island on their original, Big Road Blues Tour. Back by popular demand, don't miss this opportunity to hear them interact again, up close and personal in this all acoustic songs and stories presentation. Now booking and accepting expressions of interest from all parts of Canada. Bring the Blues to Your Town. Mid-August thru mid-November, 2009.
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Thursday, September 10 The beauty and mystery of Po Girl's music – a sound that has beguiled fans the world over - springs from the dynamic, improbable, mesmerizing bond shared by its two principal singers and writers – Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. Hailing from Montreal and Toronto respectively, both women left untenable home situations at fourteen, found music instead of bad ends, and lived to sing the tales. The interplay between these two stunning performers is truly something to behold – and after honing it relentlessly in 13 countries in the last 12 months, the ladies are set to release a true testament to their bond and to their tremendous growth as writers in the last years. Casual Po' Girl fans may not be ready for what they will hear… After adding the impossibly talented tickler/maker of all stringed things - Benny Sidelinger - to their number last year, Po' Girl holed up in Austin, Texas this June past making the record that will almost certainly change forever the way the band is perceived. "Deer in the Night" is set to be released in North America in April 2009, and in the UK/Europe May 2009. Many of the trappings of the trademark Po' Girl sound are still there – the echoes of speakeasy jazz, the western lament, the accordion-strapped ghosts of European folk --- but it's all delivered with a soulful clarity and depth only hinted at on previous records. It seems almost silly – and not very interesting – to trot out a long, endlessly hyphenated list of the many influences coursing through Po Girl's music. Suffice to say it's 21st Century roots music, urban roots – never derivative, not faithfully aping a beloved tradition. Teixeira and Russell don't re-hash the old forms, they reshape and reinvigorate them for new ears. Joined by Benny Sidelinger and fantastic new drummer JJ Jones, like genuine gypsies, these two wander and play. They move and move and play and sing. It's quite simple. Always restless, more often than not bone-tired, they write their flashes of sadness, their loss, their good love, their faint dreams of home into songs that matter deeply to them. Like any good art, they are little acts of self-rescue. So you should listen. You aren't much different from them, and who couldn't use a little rescuing these days? |
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Friday, September 11 Born in 1948, Ron Nigrini started playing as a teenager in 1965 with a duo called The Coachmen from Toronto. Two years later, he was a member of Dan's Heard. In 1970, Nigrini went solo, touring the coffeehouse circuit through the American Midwest, Texas, New Mexico, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Back in Canada in 1972 he wrote commercials for TV and radio with Michael Hasek, a singer on A&M Records. In July 1974 Nigrini signed a contract with Attic Records and recorded his first single, "Letters" and a self-titled debut album. Two years later, he recorded his own version of the Oscar-winning song "I'm Easy" from the movie Nashville. After a long absence he returned to the recording studio in 1983 and formed his own label, Oasis Records. His first single, "Baby I'm A Lot Like You", was a national hit in Canada and the most played Canadian single of 1984-85. Ron Nigrini is still performing in the Toronto area, with an occasional trip to France. He is releasing a new CD called Above the Noise in the fall of 1998. |
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Saturday, September 12 Sass Jordan was born in Birmingham, England in the early '60s to a French professor and an actress/ballet dancer. The family, which also included younger brother Daniel, traveled the world before finally settling in Montreal in the late '60s. Along the way, a particularly memorable voyage on a Russian tramp steamer to India marked the beginning of a young girl's exotic adventure that played out, in part, in Pondicherry where she attended a Catholic girl's school and studied the Tamil language. A very youthful Sass made her screen debut in the subsequent NFB documentary, The India Trip. Sass Jordan first made her name swingin' a mean bass and singing lead with late '70s Montreal New Wave quartet The Pinups, as she began carving out a reputation as a charismatic and exciting vocalist and performer. She embarked on a solo career in the mid-'80s, biding her time initially as she honed her writing skills by contributing material to recording projects by a number of high profile Quebec artists and by handling backing vocals for a variety of acts, most notably The Box. Between forays to New York to scope out the scene there, she became one of the first veejays in Canada as host and interviewer on a Montreal video show, the precursor to MusiquePlus. Her first album, Tell Somebody, filled with joy and naivete, was released in 1988 and brought with it multiple trophies, a Juno Award in Canada, and her first platinum CD. It was an impressive debut. Her singing and performing talents were enthusiastically promoted almost from the outset by some of the legends of the music world including Gene Simmons of KISS, members of the bands Cheap Trick and Van Halen and the late chart-topping composer Michael Kamen, whose recommendation led to an audition for a lead role as the terrorist in the film Die Hard 3 opposite Bruce Willis. Along the way, there was also a friendship with late counterculture guru, Dr. Timothy Leary. |
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Sunday, September 13 Mike Ford is a Juno-nominated artist whose concerts and recordings are garnering critical and popular acclaim coast-to-coast. Known to many as 1/4 of the eccentrically successful folk-pop-vaudeville band Moxy Früvous (with whom Mike has entertained countless festivals, theatres, clubs across North America and Europe and recorded 7 acclaimed albums), Mike is immersed in a whole new career phase with his rollicking Canada In Song project. In June of ’08, he released his most accomplished album to date, the sonically vibrant and thematically charged Canada Needs You, volume two - a 12-song musical journey through 20th Century Canada. His three solo albums, stars shone on toronto (featuring musical homages to Jane Jacobs, The Oak Ridges Moraine & Tooker Gomberg among others), Satellite Hotstove, and the MapleMusic Recording Canada Needs You, volume one (a Juno-nominated romp through pre-1905 Canadian History) are filled with provocative original compositions delivered in a multitude of styles. He performs to sell-out club crowds and festival mainstages across Canada. He has also recently graced festival stages as a ‘swing’ member of The Arrogant Worms, and has teamed up of late with multiple Juno-award-winning singer David Francey, writing and performing new ‘Great Lakes’ songs for their Laker Music Project. Canada Needs You, volume two is available through www.maplemusic.com and will soon be found on iTunes and in stores across Canada via Fontana North distribution. Mike is grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for their assistance in the completion of Canada Needs You volume two, and also acknowledges the generous support of FACTOR for their help in funding Canada Needs You volume one. He is also the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council Artist In Education Grant, enabling him to work with Toronto students in the creation of their own songs about the environment, community and identity. Mike lives in east Toronto with his wife Therese and step-daughter Jacqueline. He has worked in or visited every region of this incredible country and is dedicated to sharing his enthusiasm for Canada’s land and history with people of all ages. For further info visit www.mikeford.ca |
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Tuesday, September 15 Militant environmentalist and cultural activist, poet and singer-songwriter Zachary Richard’s roots are deeply planted in his native Louisiana. Inspired by the various styles of the region, his songs go beyond the limitations of any particular genre. Zachary’s style is uniquely his own. Zachary received his first recording contract at the age of 21. He was the last artist to sign with Electra records before the creation of WEA. That album, High Time, was lost in the maelstrom surrounding the merger and was not released until 2000 when the original masters were found in a vault in New York City and made available on Rhino Hand Made. It was during his early days in New York that Zachary made a discovery that would influence his art and effect the rest of his life. With the advance money from the record company, he purchased a Cajun accordion. From that moment on, he was swept up by the French language culture of Louisiana. Delving into the Cajun tradition, Zachary formed the first new generation Cajun/Rock band. It would be years, however, before Cajun music became popular outside of rural Louisiana. In the meantime, Zachary’s career led him to Canada and France. From 1976 until 1981, Zachary lived in Montreal, recording seven French language albums including two gold albums, Mardi Gras and Migration. Despite critical and commercial success in the French-speaking world, Zachary returned to Louisiana in the early 1980s and began another phase of his career, this time recording in English. He recorded two albums for Rounder Records, Mardi Gras Mambo and the perennial favorite Zack’s Bon Ton, before signing with A&M, and recording two albums at the label, Women in the Room, and SnakeBiteLove. Non-stop touring and the strength of these recordings guaranteed Zachary an international following. |
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Wednesday, September 16 An artist profile Andrea Ramolo: Discover Miss Uncensored — a “new” artist who sings tough and honest and gets to the point Andrea Ramolo has this old publicity shot which she doesn’t use very much any more. She’s wearing cowboy boots, cut-off shorts, she’s sitting on her guitar case by the side of the highway, and her sign reads: “Miss Uncensored.” That’s her alright: direct, to the point, funny, sexy, tough and vulnerable at the same time. At a time when many songwriters are examining their inner souls (and the fluff in their navels), Andrea gets to the point. Need a bunch of adjectives for this singer? Try some of these – they’re all accurate: Fearless. Raw. Emotional. True. Confident. And, most importantly, completely honest. She’s been all of these all her life. The daughter of first-generation Italian immigrants and now in her mid-twenties, she’s finally getting the attention she’s deserved for a long time. By the time Thank You for the Ride, her debut album, was released last year, she had a resumé that surprises most people who read it. It includes a dancing and singing role in an ABC movie with Tracey Ullman and Carole Burnett, and a starring role in what she describes as “the worst horror film ever made” in which she was ripped apart and eaten by zombies. Oh, yes, and two degrees (a Theatre major and her Bachelor of Education — yes, she’s a real teacher), Along the way, she’s served tables, taught school, sung with cover bands, toured with rock groups, become a solid rhythm guitar player, and continued her childhood dream of becoming an accomplished songwriter. Once Thank You for The Ride was finished, Andrea went into overdrive. There were two road trips to the Maritimes, a handful of folk festivals, gigs all over Ontario, and recording sessions for her friends including Cindy Doire, The Trews, Martha & The Muffins, and The Strip. She took home three Toronto Music Awards (for Best Folk Album, Best Female Folk Artist, and Best Blues Song). And she’s all over CBC Radio 3’s online programming. Finally— last October — she rocked out a sold-to-the-walls record release party at Toronto’s coolest bar, the Dakota Tavern. Thank You for the Ride is a collection of a dozen songs in which listeners can see their own lives and loves, successes and losses. Vocally, Andrea can happily be compared to Janis Joplin, a tougher Dolly Parton, or even Canada’s own Serena Ryder — but she has a unique sound that’s all her own. Finding time to discover Andrea Ramolo — now, rather than later when she’s broken through — is well worth the effort. You don’t find this kind of musical honesty very often. For further information, please contact: Richard Flohil & Associates 416 351-1323 rflohil@sympatico.ca On the web: www.myspace.com/andrearamolomusic www.sonicbids.com/AndreaRamolo Purchase your copy of 'Thank You For The Ride' . |
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Thursday, September 17 Wendell Ferguson is recognized by his peers as one of the top pickers in the country and known best as having one of the quickest wits in the game. A talented and funny guy to say the least." (Country Music News) What do you give an overweight, asthmatic 7-year-old boy for Christmas? Model airplane? Etch-A-Sketch? Erector set? Well lucky for us Wendell Fergusons' folks gave him a guitar. From the first time he heard Chet Atkins' recording of "Mister Sandman" he was hooked, and only one thing ever held his interest...the guitar. He'd already been taking lessons for 3 years when The Beatles came on the scene and he was soon hard at work lifting their licks, along with Ventures, the Stones, Les Paul and of course the aforementioned Mr. Atkins. Fast forward to today. Wendell has won the Canadian Country Music Association's "Guitar Player of the Year" 6 times. Along with 3 more wins for "Back-up Band of the Year," plus a Ontario Country Performer and Fan Association award for "Career Musician". To quote Ferguson "Not bad for a guy who hasn't worked a day in his life". Ray Materick is a songwriter’s songwriter. His name first emerged on the International music scene in the 1970’s when he garnered Top 20 Radio hits with songs like, Linda Put The Coffee On, which was one of the first Cancon radio standards. "Ray Materick is a man harboring a deep well of street-smart perception. He’s a writer able to tell the average man’s tale with the force of a jackhammer and the sweet words of a poet. His music stands up to – and sometimes over – the work of John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Graham Parsons. In short, it sounds like it’s already famous.” |
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Friday, September 18 Begin where all North American music starts...the Blues, give it to an ingénue who shakes it up by adding a little rock 'n roll, country, folk and jazz. Result: Something new, something old and That's the story you can apply to crossover artist Roxanne Potvin, the 23-year-old bi-lingual Gatineau, Quebec based singer, guitarist songwriter. "The Way It Feels," her vibrant new record produced by Grammy-winning Colin Linden, is a varied and powerful collection of songs — mostly originals — that range from hard-driving horn-laced R&B like "A Love That's Simple" to the intimate folk duet with Daniel Lanois "La Merveille." She may be young, but Roxanne certainly fits the description of that strange music industry term "buzz act" — people are talking about her, and so they should. "The Way It Feels," with its surprising list of guests in supporting roles, marks the emergence of a bright new artist on the Canadian scene. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Roxanne moved to the Ottawa area when she was two. Just like the old cliché, her home was filled with music; Dad played guitar, Mom sang, and aunts and uncles played all sorts of other instruments, and jazz and pop music was on the record player all the time. Young Roxanne soaked it all in — Stones, Pink Floyd, Billie Holiday, Beatles — and she sheepishly admits that the first record she ever got was the "Jive Bunny" soundtrack. However, accidentally catching Jonny Lang on TV was like being hit by lightening — "Man, he was SO cool!" she recalls. Lang led her, curiosity working overtime, to the music of B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters and dozens of others — from Howlin' Wolf to Aretha Franklin. At 15, she got her first guitar. "It was a white Japanese Telecaster," she remembers now. "It had a buzzing in the strings they couldn't fix, so I returned it to the store. And got another Tele, an American made cream one that I still play today. Cost me $675 and I paid it off in installments. I love it!" Once she had the basics down, she became a fixture at Ottawa's Rainbow Club, sitting in on the weekly jam sessions. One night, the bandleader talked to her before the first set: The regular guitarist hadn't shown up, would she play lead guitar for the evening? "I didn't have time to be scared. And afterwards, they gave me $50.00 — it was the first time I had earned anything playing music. I was blown away..." As her search for new and different music continued, she found herself influenced by subtler, lesser-known artists, including guitarist Freddy King and singer Dinah Washington. Roxanne is a woman of strong determination. She felt she had something to say, so in 2003 she wrote a raft of songs that, with hindsight, really set the bar high. With a new and original repertoire, she self-produced, self-financed, self-released and self promoted her first recording, "Careless Loving". It did exactly what she hoped it would: Notched her career upwards to another level, and built her reputation as a songwriter as well as a singer and player. Local writers (and campus and CBC radio) embraced the CD, and the word began to spread. As fans and industry people continue to discover her, she has been in continual demand for clubs, festivals and special events across Ontario and farther afield — Roxanne's schedule included a flying trip to France for a major festival last year, she's played the prestigious Toronto Women's Blues Review show twice (most recently last November at Massey Hall in Toronto) and recently she been nominated as Female Vocalist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards. On stage, Roxanne combines an easy going confidence and style with fire and a wonderful innocence that engages her audience wherever and whenever she plays. The new CD, "The Way It Feels," is a sterling example of the way the promise of a talented musician; singer and songwriter can be fulfilled. Producer Colin Linden — the Nashville-based Canadian guitarist and writer with no less than 60 CD production projects to his name — helped bring together a cast of support players that included, in addition to Daniel Lanois, Bruce Cockburn, Wayne Jackson of the The Memphis Horns, members of the Fairfield Four, and one of her favourite songwriters and singers, John Hiatt. What brought Linden and the rest of them to this project was the strength and breadth of her songwriting and the authentic power of her old school voice. "I can't say how thrilled I am that these people came together to play with me on my songs," she says, still shaking her head in surprise. "To cut a recording session with the Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns who has played on everything from Elvis's 'Suspicious Minds' to Aretha's 'Respect' — I mean, just how inspiring is that? And then to have John Hiatt in the studio in Toronto with me ... if I couldn't hear his voice on the record I'd think I dreamed that!" "The Way It Feels" is the fulfillment of a dream that started many years ago. It is a major breakthrough for a fresh new voice. And the way it feels, thank you very much, is just FINE.... |
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Saturday, September 19 "Rita Chiarelli… a voice that can growl at her demons or soar with the angels, a gift for lyric, an ear for melody and the heart to combine them." She is an accomplished singer-songwriter, a gifted vocalist and a skilled musician. Add to that a warm persona and a fine sense of humour and you have all the ingredients for an outstanding performer. Rita Chiarelli's style defies definition. Although dubbed the goddess of Canadian blues by CBC's Shelagh Rogers, Chiarelli is equally comfortable belting out the blues; delivering her original material, crooning an Italian folk song or wailing R&B or an Elvis Presley cover tune. At first listen it's her voice – that three octave range - that garners all the attention! But Rita's songwriting is also outstanding; three of her four JUNO nominations have been for albums consisting largely of original material. An accomplished entertainer , Chiarelli has been performing since the age of fifteen. As Ronnie Hawkins (with whom she toured in the early days) noted… "once in a lifetime you hear a voice so blue it makes the angels weep.. that voice is Rita Chiarelli". Beyond the blues arena, Chiarelli creates her own unique sound that is a blend of musical influences. Her songs shimmer with blues based rock undertones, jazz riffs, Cajun and country tinged melodies blended with a folk-roots flavour. Few can match the wide range of Chiarelli's vocal stylings and the consistently solid lyrics she pens. Rita Chiarelli is a gifted storyteller, lyricist and master of poetic imagery. After spending most of the 1980's working in Italy, Chiarelli returned to Canada where "Have You Seen My Shoes" was featured in Bruce McDonald's cult classic, the 1989 film Roadkill. Along with touring Canada, the USA and Europe during the 1990s, Rita Chiarelli released three albums on the Stony Plain and Northern Blues labels. Breakfast at Midnight was nominated for a JUNO in 2001. It, along with 1992's Road Rockets, has just been re-released by Rita's record company Mad Iris Records. Mad Iris also released the JUNO nominated No One to Blame in 2004 and Cuore... the Italian sessions in 2006. Cuore won Rita the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award for best solo World Music act. As CBC radio's Heather McLeod stated "I didn't understand a word, but my heart understood every note. This album rings with love and respect for Chiarelli's Italian heritage, and her skill as a singer and an artist. I couldn't bear to pry it out of my CD player." Uptown Goes Downtown Tonight... Rita Chiarelli with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra is Chiarelli's most ambitious recording project to date. Eleven of her songs were arranged and charted for the symphony, recorded in November 2007 & released in March 2008. You may have heard Rita Chiarelli in concert, but you've never heard her with a back up band like this one! Rita Chiarelli has a JUNO win and four nominations, and has won multiple Maple Blues Awards, Canadian Folk Music, and Toronto Independent Music awards. She is an honourary lifetime member of The Manitoba Blues Society, and the 2002 recipient of CBC's Great Canadian Blues Award. Her albums are distributed by Festival Distribution in Canada and Burnside Distribution in the USA. Chiarelli continues to tour incessantly, appearing at festivals and theatres across North America and throughout Europe. Rita Chiarelli is currently "road testing" her new original material which will be featured on the upcoming album Back to Blue. |
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FOUR NIGHTS ! Sunday-Wednesday, September 20-23 Half of the early-'60s folk group Ian & Sylvia, Ian Tyson retreated from performing and recording after the duo disbanded in the mid-'70s to become a rancher in the foothills of Southern Alberta, Canada. He quietly returned to music-making in the 1980s, releasing a series of albums that focused on detailed songs about the concerns of the working cowboy. Tyson was born in Victoria, British Columbia. As a child he was involved in rodeo, not music -- he didn't learn to play the guitar until he was recovering from rodeo-related injuries. In the late '50s, he began performing as a folk singer. In 1961, he met singer/songwriter Sylvia Fricker and the two musicians began performing together; they also married three years later. Ian & Sylvia and their band, Great Speckled Bird, became popular on the folk scene and released their self-titled debut album in 1962. In 1963, they released Four Strong Winds; the title track, written by Tyson, became a folk standard. Ian & Sylvia successfully recorded together through the mid-'70s. The duo also began hosting a television show, Nashville North, which became the Ian Tyson Show when the couple split up in the middle of the decade. After Ian & Sylvia's break-up, Tyson recorded Ol'Eon. He temporarily retired from recording in 1979 to work his ranch, but returned with Old Corrals and Sagebrush in 1983. In 1984, he toured with Ricky Skaggs and also released an eponymous album. Tyson released a third album, Cowboyography, two years later, and in 1991, he released another popular Canadian album, And Stood There Amazed, which contained the hits "Springtime in Alberta" and "Black Nights." Subsequent releases include 1994's Eighteen Inches of Rain, 1996's All the Good 'Uns and 1999's Lost Herd. Tyson released Live at Longview in 2002, followed by Songs from the Gravel Road in 2005. Sandra Brennan and Michael McCall, All Music Guide |
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Thursday, September 24 Singer/song-writer Big Rude Jake is a remarkable and distinguished figure on the Canadian music scene with a notable presence around the world. A true innovator, a deft craftsman of song and a powerful and compelling lyricist, he has been knocking audiences dead with his impassioned performances for some 15 years, in venues across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. While most jazz devotees of his generation appreciated it from an academic point of view, Jake found that he was drawn to the Jazz tradition for its passion and sensuality. He lamented the rise of the stuffy “jazz intellectual,” and longed for a return to a time when the style was, instead, rich in emotion, sensuality and desire. Thus was born his vision to bring Jazz back to its street-wise and rough-hewn roots. Part of the process was developing a stage persona that was evocative of strident passion and longing. In the first few years of his career, he actually avoided playing in jazz venues altogether. Instead, he performed his own jazz and swing compositions in rock venues and blues bars across Canada, where he hoped to find the kindred spirits who could appreciate his dream of a “Bawdy House Jazz” revival. Originally billed as “alternative music,” Jake’s vision caught the attention of media across the country. He made a splash in magazines and newspapers in every major city in the land, on TV and on radio, and performed live for thousands of people. His independent records were sold in the “rock,” “punk” and “alternative” sections in record stores, and he proved that Jazz and Swing, with the right attitude, could have as much street credibility as any rock, soul or hip-hop act in the country. Then came the rise of such U.S. bands as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and suddenly, Jake was swept up into the Neo-Swing movement that was all the rage across North America. Understanding that he needed to develop a more international profile, Jake moved to New York, where he marketed himself to American record companies. There, he signed with RoadRunner Records and began touring Europe and the United States. More importantly, while living in New York, Jake had a chance to work with some of the finest jazz musicians in the world, further developing his craft as a singer and as a song-writer, and acquiring a deep affection for the Jazz community. Eventually, he would grow beyond the “Bawdy House” Jazz of his beginnings and begin to pen tunes reminiscent of the smooth and sophisticated styles of New York Jazz artists from the 1950’s. Having thus sown his wild oats, Jake has returned to Toronto with a dream to make music, this time not for street urchins, but for all lovers of great music, with a special interest in targeting the newly blossoming Jazz scene that’s recently won the hearts of listeners of all ages across Canada. He has a new bag of all-original songs and a new album in the works, strongly influenced by his residency in New York and the friends that he made during those years. |
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Friday, September 25 By the way, Katherine is currently (yes - right now) recording her 3rd CD. Scott Merritt and Lynn Miles - when they're not trying to make Katherine laugh - are producing the recording. It's coming soon. Now here's K's bio... "I'm in love...with the music of Katherine Wheatley. A verse into her first song, I was hooked...I was totally unprepared for the absolute beauty of her voice and lyrics". FOLKSPOKE, Barrie, ON "Katherine Wheatley gave an absolutely transcendent concert. She is able to take minor observations in life and find their soul. On stage...she exudes sheer kindness and love." Arresting vocals, great guitar playing and vibrant lyrics mark her work. Every song evokes her uncanny depth of observation. With offhand wit and an infectious passion for performing, Katherine Wheatley has been captivating audiences everywhere she performs. According to the Ottawa Citizen "This is a performer to keep you on the edge of your seat.” Before she was a working musician, Katherine worked for the Canadian Geological Survey, gathering not just rock samples, but material for her songs. Then - music was her hobby. Now - as she travels between shows on North America’s highways where the rock cuts show the best of the earth’s history, geology has become her hobby. The landscape, as well as the characters she encounters on her travels, continue to inspire her songs. |
Friday, September 26 |
Friday, September 26 |
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Monday, September 28 Hello. My name is John Bottomley Lefty Singer is the third solo offering from Canadian musical chameleon Andrew McPherson. At ease in the producer’s chair, leading award winning, global fusion combo Eccodek, remixing artists from around the world and releasing provocative solo recordings, Andrew covers a lot of terrain. Andrew McPherson |
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Wednesday, September 30 The international music scene, like a menu of infinite pancake choices, can overwhelm you with its endless, dubious promises of fulfillment. Seedling Records recording artist A.J. Croce knows how you feel. He doesnt want you to fill up on empty carbs or predictable music. A.J.--considered one of our greatest young songwriters by David Wild of Rolling Stone--wants your ears satisfied, like they just ate the best pancakes ears ever ate, and with his tasty singing, songwriting, and musicianship, A.J. delivers. I know what youre wondering: can A.J.s music be categorized as easily as it can be digested? Consider this: each of A.Js five CDs has hit the radio charts in a different genre. His debut, A.J. Croce entered the top ten U.S. jazz chart in 1993; the follow up Thats Me in The Bar landed again in the top ten in 1995, but this time in the Americana and Blues chart; Subsequently, 1998s Fit to Serve placed again on the blues chart, but also on the AAA chart, and 2000s Transit garnered a spot again on AAA and also the American college radio chart. His single Dont Let Me Down, from his 2005 CD Adrian James Croce is the only song by an artist on an independent label to hit the US top 40 charts in 2005; and three of his songs remained in the European radio top twenty for six months straight during 2005. |
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Friday, October 2 The critical acclaim composer Jimmy Webb has received during his more than forty years of success is as remarkable as the accomplishments they honor: Webb is the only artist to ever receive Grammy awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, he is a member of the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and, according to BMI, his “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” has been the third most performed song in the last fifty years, with “Up, Up and Away” on the same list in the top thirty. Webb’s, “Wichita Lineman” has been listed in MOJO Magazine’s worldwide survey of the best one hundred singles of all time in the top fifty, and was singled out in the Oct/Nov 2001 issue of Blender as “The Greatest Song Ever.” Even singer/songwriter James Taylor was nominated for a Grammy this past year for "Best Male Pop Vocal" for his rendition of the song. The National Academy of Songwriters also named Jimmy as 1993’s recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award, although TIME Magazine was early to acknowledge Jimmy Webb’s range and proficiency back in 1968 when it referred to his astonishing string of hits, and commented on “Webb’s gift for strong, varied rhythms, inventive structures, and rich, sometimes surprising harmonies.” In 1999 Jimmy was inducted by actor Michael Douglas into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame as one of the State’s most celebrated sons, he was inducted onto the Board of Directors for The Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in early 2000, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for ASCAP. |
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STANDING ROOM ONLY ! Saturday, October 3 STANDING ROOM ONLY ! One of the most celebrated country-folk performers of her day, singer/songwriter Iris Dement was born on January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, AR, the youngest of 14 children. At the age of three, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music; during her teenaged years, however, she was first exposed to country, folk, and R&B, drawing influence from Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell. Upon graduating high school, she relocated to Kansas City to attend college. After a series of jobs waitressing and typing, Dement first began composing songs at the age of 25. Honing her skills at open-mic nights, in 1988 she moved to Nashville, where she contacted producer Jim Rooney, who helped her land a record contract. Dement did not make her recording debut until 1992, when her independent label offering, Infamous Angel, won almost universal acclaim thanks to her pure, evocative vocal style and spare, heartfelt songcraft. Despite a complete lack of support from country radio, the record's word-of-mouth praise earned her a deal with Warner Bros., which reissued Infamous Angel in 1993 as well as its follow-up, 1994's stunning My Life. Her third LP, 1996's eclectic The Way I Should, marked a dramatic change not only in its more rock-influenced sound but also in its subject matter; where Dement's prior work was introspective and deeply personal, The Way I Should was fiercely political, tackling topics like sexual abuse, religion, government policy, and Vietnam. In 1999, she collaborated with country man John Prine on his album, In Spite of Ourselves. Dement recorded four duets with Prine that earned her a Grammy nod the following year. |
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Sunday, October 4
Fieldtrip is a Montreal-based trio that is “shaping the future of Canadian jazz” according to Maurice Hogue of Winnipeg's One Man's Jazz. They have “already asserted themselves as one of the most promising, unique and exciting ensembles on the Canadian jazz scene” acclaims Cindy McLeod of jazzelements.com. Fieldtrip is comprised of Colin Power (alto saxophone), Patrick Reid (bass) and Mark Nelson (drums and percussion). Most recently, they were invited to attend the Banff International Workshop in Creative Music where they were honored to be selected by Dave Douglas to perform with him in the closing concert that featured Ingrid Jensen, Ambrose Akinmusire, Wayne Ted Quinlan is regarded as one of the most versatile guitar players in Canada. His skills are highly in demand as a jazz player, session musician, writer and educator. Ted is the Head of the Guitar Department at Humber College's Music Program in Toronto. As a busy sideman Ted has performed with Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Michael Brecker, Dave Holland, Maria Schneider and Dave Liebman. His debut CD " As If" received a Juno nomination for Contemporary Jazz. His other numerous recording credits include his performances on Doug Riley's "Con Alma", Radioland Records' " Tribute to Wes Montgomery", Phil Dwyer's " Road Stories", Dave Restivo's " Prayer for Humankindness" and Ted Warren's " First Time Caller". Ted is the recipient of the 1998 Jazz Report Award for Guitarist of the Year. Kirk MacDonald is one of Canada’s most exemplary musicians and composers. He started to play the saxophone at age 10, studying with Bill Loeb in Sydney, Nova Scotia, from 1969 to 1971 and later entering a High School Music Program under Terry Hill studying saxophones, clarinet, flute, music theory and composition. Kirk has worked with many leading jazz musicians including Claude Ranger, Dave Young, Sam Noto, Sonny Greenwich, Kenny Wheeler, Eddie Henderson, Harold Mabern, Walter Bishop Jr., Lorne Lofsky, Bob Mover, Pat LaBarbera, Phil Woods, John Taylor, and Ron McClure. Kirk has appeared on over 25 jazz recordings. In addition, he has recorded over 30 of his own compositions on C.D. Kirk’s awards include the 2002 Concours International de Soloiste de Jazz, 1999 Juno Award, the 1999 Jazz Report Awards Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, 1999 Jazz Report Awards Album of the Year, and the 1999 Montreal Jazz Festival Prix de Jazz. |
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Tuesday, October 6 In reviewing Patricia Barber’s 2006 album Mythologies, a song cycle based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses that she wrote as a result of receiving the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, JazzTimes celebrated her as “the most fearless, most intellectually stimulating and, by extension, most interesting singer-songwriter-pianist on the American jazz scene.” Likewise, DownBeat championed the album, calling it “brilliant” and proclaiming that her “noir, conspiratorially whispered alto is by now legendary.” And Don Heckman, writing in the Los Angeles Times, praised Barber for taking “her natural form of expressiveness into dazzling new arenas of lyrical creativity.” For her latest album on Blue Note Records, singer/pianist Barber applies that “natural form of expressiveness” to breath stimulating and intimate new life into the music of one of the Great American Songbook composers. A 13-tune collection that exhibits her austere power of singing, The Cole Porter Mix not only spotlights her artful interpretations of Porter’s songs but also features her modern-cool compositional prowess on three Porter-inspired originals that seamlessly fit into the set list. “Cole Porter has always been my songwriting idol,” says Barber. “I love his music and I’ve been singing his songs for so many years.” Barber’s band includes guitarist Neal Alger, who has been performing with her the past six years, and bassist Michael Arnopol, who has worked with her since 1980. “We’re like brother and sister,” she says. “We learned jazz together and played all those gigs in Chicago together when I was coming up.” Drum duties are shared by Eric Montzka and Nate Smith, who is in Dave Holland’s bands. Another Holland sideman and formidable leader in his own right, tenor saxophonist Chris Potter guests on five tracks. Barber plays piano throughout as well as contributes melodica colors to some tunes, including her gem, “The New Year’s Eve Song,” that closes the album
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Wednesday, October 7 Some say he was born into it, some that he was born with it, while others claim he has earned it. With one foot planted firmly in folk music’s traditional roots and the other reaching into its dynamic future, Nathan Rogers isn’t entirely sure what ‘it’ is; singer, songwriter, guitarist, throat-chanter, percussionist, revivalist, or innovator. Whatever it may be, “Nathan has the ability to turn the folk world on its ears.” Like many, it all started at home but what a unique home it was. Nathan’s first experience picking up the guitar was an attempt to copy the challenging riffs his brother David created after studying with celebrated virtuosos Don Ross and Preston Reed. His sister Beth demanded perfection in all vocals as any self-exacting classical voice teacher would, while his mother initiated him into the business side of the music industry. His father and uncle informed both his writing style and an ethos of Canadian people that shines in his lyrics. While others were hiding their braces behind their hands, Nathan was already up high on stages of all sorts. In winter, he traveled with and won solo vocal awards as part of the Appleby Boys Choir. Summers were saved for his first love - appearances at folk festivals and the opportunity to meet, perform with and learn from outstanding musicians. Before he even had an album in hand, Nathan’s reputed vocal ability had him singing on stage with such notables as JP Cormier, The Oysterband, Spirit of the West, John Cameron, Connie Caldor and James Keelaghan. |
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Thursday, October 8 Dan Hill was born in Toronto in 1954 to American Parents who, as an interracial couple, moved to Canada to escape the twin scourges of Racism and McCarthyism. They also believed that Canada provided a better environment to raise their family. Dan grew up listening to Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. He credits Sinatra as a primary influence in terms of delivery and phrasing. He began writing songs at age 14 and was playing professionally in small gatherings and coffee houses by the time he reached 17. More on every aspect of Dan’s life: family history, personal drama, and his international success as both a singer/songwriter is explained in riveting, often hilarious and poignant detail, in his newly released memoir: “I Am My Father’s Son” published by Harper Collins and in stores Feb 3rd. For more details on Dan Hill’s newly released book, “I Am My Father’s Son” (a memoir of love and forgiveness) published in Canada by Harper Collins click here. With respect to Dan Hill’s international impact as a songwriter click here. Regarding specific details related to Dan Hill’s internationally successful career as a recording artist click here. |
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Friday, October 9 At this very moment, The Undesirables are probably down at The Rogue Studios in their hometown of Toronto , Ontario , delivering the vocals for their new album, Traveling Show. They may well be singing on the duet they wrote with Dala, their favourite other Toronto duo, with whom they've been teaming up. It's just as likely they're planning their third tour of Australia with David Ross Macdonald, another co-conspirator, who, incidentally, will be opening for the duo at Hugh's Room when they officially launch their latest effort (Traveling Show) on Friday, October 9th, 2009. |
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Saturday, October 10
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Wednesday, October 14 Born of Danish parents in 1946 in Ottawa, Valdy (Valdemar Horsdal) began playing the guitar as a teenager, took piano lessons for five years, and learned orchestration from Professor Robin Wood, the dean of a music school in Victoria. In the mid-1960s, Valdy was a member of the London Town Criers. He went on to play with The Prodigal Sons in Montreal and later worked as a bassist for country singer Blake Emmons and for various groups in Victoria. In 1972 he signed with Haida Records, distributed by A&M. His first single was Rock And Roll Song that summer. By 1976 Valdy had recorded five albums and was second to Gordon Lightfoot in record sales for a Canadian folk singer. In August, he represented Canada at the International Song Festival in Sopot, Poland. One of the highlights of his career was his association with The Hometown Band, with whom he recorded Valdy And The Hometown Band in 1977. In 1978 he recorded a more upbeat environmental album called Hot Rocks. The title song refers to spent nuclear fuel. In 1982 he left A&M. Three years later he recorded one album for Duke Street Records. Over the years, Valdy has collaborated with other singer/songwriters, such as Max Bennett on Simple Life and Bob Ruzicka on Leaving Ain't The Only Way To Go and Easy Money. In 1992 he signed an eight year contract with the adult arm of the children's label Oak Street Music. His first album, Heart At Work, was released in April 1993. Double Solitaire was the first single. |
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Thursday, October 15 Singer/songwriter Emm Gryner was born in 1975 and raised in rural Forest, Ontario. After studying classical piano throughout her early childhood, she wrote her first song at the age of ten, and soon after formed a band with her two brothers, assuming vocal and bass duties. By her teens, Gryner was recording her own material on four-track, and at the age of 20 she relocated to Toronto, forming her own indie label, Dead Daisy, and issuing the 1995 LP And Distrust It. The Original Leap Year followed in 1996, and in 1998 Gryner signed to Mercury to release her major-label debut, Public. Although Gryner was dropped from the label the following year, she still went on to issue four albums -- Science Fair, Dead Relatives, Girl Versions, and Asianblue -- in that many years on Dead Daisy, the label she had founded in 1996. In 2005 Songs of Love and Death, a collection of old Irish tunes, came out, and that same year Gryner hooked up with New York musician Nathan Larsen to form the political glam ock band Hot One (with Jordan Kern and Kevin March completing the group). 2006 saw the release of Gryner's solo album, The Summer of High Hope, co-produced by Larsen, as well as Hot One's self-titled debut. |
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Friday & Saturday, October 16 & 17 Lynn Miles
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Sunday, October 18 Ken Whiteley is one of Canada’s finest musical statesman. He has worked with blues and folk legends from Pete Seeger to Lonnie Johnson. He has performed at countless festivals in the United States and Canada including Philadelphia Folk Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Winnipeg, Edmontonand Vancouver Folk Festivals to name a few. He has been called a “playing encyclopedia” for his depth and range of styles, covering everything from blues and gospel to children’s music. Now Magazine said his most recent CD of mostly original material, “Gospel Music Makes Me Feel Alright!”, “triumphs with impeccable arrangements and spot on delivery”. Drawing from the deep wells of many traditions, Whiteley creates something fresh that communicates themes of freedom, love, spiritual aspiration and social comment. His collaborations with brother Chris (The Whiteley Brothers) and old friends Mose Scarlett and Jackie Washington (Scarlett, Washington & Whiteley) have resulted in a wonderful collection of recordings, garnering high praise, successful tours and several awards. Whether performing solo or playing with any of his large circle of musical friends, as one critic has said, “with Ken Whiteley our enjoyment is virtually assured.” |
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Sunday, October 18 In 2009, Jeremy Spencer, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his founding role in Fleetwood Mac, will perform in the United States at the Chicago Blues Festival accompanied by a team of Chicago blues musicians, including Dave Herrera on guitar and Marty Binder on drums. Spencer had been out of the spotlight for decades when, in 2005, the promoter of the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway, Jostein Forsberg, convinced Spencer to perform publicly again. He paired the rock legend with some of the best blues musicians in Norway, some of whom had been playing together for twenty-five years. Their performance at the Festival was a huge success. Completely taken by the sympathetic backing provided by the Norwegian musicians, Spencer used the group to record his first album in 27 years, Precious Little, on Blind Pig Records, which Vintage Guitarmagazine said "may well be the pop music comeback of the past several decades." Jeremy Spencer followed this up with a 3-city tour in 2008, playing shows in St.Louis, Chicago, and Madison. Referring to the 2008 tour Art Tipaldi, senior editor for Blues Revue and Blues Wax, said, "In the past two years, I've seen Jeremy Spencer perform four shows at the Notodden Blues Festival and I can tell you that each show was better than the previous. Jeremy has lost none of the fire from those Fleetwood Mac days. His slide guitar still sends chills. Every note I've heard Jeremy play showcases his great commitment to the blues. I've seen him ignite the stage with a mixture of classic Chicago blues and smart contemporary songs. This tour is the music rediscovery of 2008." |
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Tuesday, October 20 Life threatening double pneumonia – a soul defining experience at the top of all others. Where Ariana lay bed ridden for months, gasping and fighting for her every breath. That's where the turning point was. The point where Ariana realized there's so much to live for, so much to make everything count. That intensity became her sound. With a musical message that is a fusion of everything in between the old and the new, the profound, the sad and the joyful. Join brilliant songwriting with intelligent and exciting arrangements played by a band of world-class musicians and you've got a sound whose time has come. All this from an 18 year old girl from a small Canadian town. "Ha, Ha" you say, rolling your eyes in your head because we've all heard Bio's promising stuff like this only to disappoint. But wait, time will tell and make a believer out of the whole wide world.
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Wednesday, October 21 By the end of every live show, Rose Cousins has you feeling something. Intimate vocals and warm guitar convey a passionate honesty that leaves you feeling like each of her songs could somehow belong to you. Since releasing her first EPs, Only So Long (2002) and Miles To Go (2003), Cousins has spent time carving a place for herself in the songwriting community in her adopted home base, of Halifax, NS, nationally and in the US. With her distinctive stage performance, audiences can find themselves in tears one moment and fits of laughter the next. Her style is beautifully captured in her latest release and first full-length recording If You Were For Me. While growing up on a potato farm on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, Cousins developed her musical ear listening to whatever her mother had playing on the stereo, record player or to her own clock radio. The second eldest of five children, Cousins would use her father’s cassette recorder to capture music from the radio and movies on TV, and play it by ear on the old piano in the living room. Though she journaled and wrote poetry as a young girl, she only ever composed instrumental pieces. Her first performances were singing with her mother and older sister in their small town church. Rose left the Island to pursue a secondary education, and on her first day, made friends with a fellow resident who owned a guitar and set out to learn how to play. On her 19th birthday, she purchased her first guitar. Two years later, in 1997, Rose played her first open mic in Halifax, and proceeded to play the circuit steadily for the next four years. On a mission to hone her skills, Cousins’ spent hours learning the works of her growing influences and performing them live (Patty Griffin, Joni Mitchell, Ani Difranco, Shawn Colvin, Sarah Harmer), while starting on her own material behind the scenes. She performed her own songs, with lyrics, for the first time in 2001. |
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Friday, October 23
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Saturday, October 24 This prolific songwriter/performer has previously released 6 critically acclaimed albums, which have won him a host of awards and nominations from both the JUNOS and the East Coast Music Awards. His seventh CD, When We Get There is in stores as of September 13 and early reviews say it may be his best album yet. In the spring of 2004 the country’s highest honours was bestowed on Gallant for his contribution to Canadian culture when he was inducted into the Order of Canada. “Gallant has garnered much respect for his hard hitting songs chronicling the lives of people dealing with tremendous adversity and serious issues. Songs like Peter’s Dream, Island Clay, Man of Steel and The Hope for Next Year, articulate the feelings of many caught up in desperate situations beyond their control, and at the same time celebrate the beauty of lifestyle and landscape with their strong poetry and stirring narratives.” While he says he is much appreciative of this kind of recognition for his work, Gallant feels the best part of being a songwriter is the moment of creation. “…when you really feel locked in with the so often elusive ability to convey a story or an emotion in a unique yet, hopefully, a universal way.” Other artists obviously believe in Gallant’s writing abilities as over 30 artists have recorded his songs internationally, the most recent being Jimmy Buffett. Gallant has also written for Feature films, theatre, documentaries, special events and television series, including Dawson's Creek and Joan of Arcadia. He co-wrote the theme song for the first World Acadian Congress, and for Pier 21 Canada’s immigration gateway. He was also asked to write a song for Halifax’s 250th anniversary which was then performed with a choir of 2000 voices on one of the two bridges spanning the harbour. As a performer, Gallants intense delivery reaches down to the very soul of his audience, moving effortlessly through stirring narratives, comic observations, and hard driving rhythms. He has toured extensively playing festivals and concerts accompanied by roots rock bands, symphony orchestras, and in acoustic settings. “We’ve been used to welcoming visitors from Canada’s east coast in recent years. The biggest impression of all, though, could be the one Lennie Gallant makes when word about him reaches beyond the dedicated seekers of transatlantic talent who investigated this Scottish debut!” - The Herald Glasgow, Scotland He has shared the stage with such accomplished songwriters as Lucinda Williams, Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Patti Griffin, and Ron Sexsmith and has represented Canada at songwriter events in Nashville, London, and Texas. “Our northern neighbor has given us some of the best songwriters living today. You can add Lennie Gallant to that list.” The Performing Songwriter, Nashville. Lennie Gallant is a board member of The Songwriters Association of Canada. |
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Sunday, October 25 Susan Werner's new release leverages ALL of her many talents, and adds "arranger" to her long list of musical accomplishments. * Ten pop songs by Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye, Paul Simon and others from a classic era of Songwriting (1960's-70's) Over the course of her colorful career, singer songwriter Susan Werner has cultivated a reputation as a daring and innovative songwriter with a killer live show. She boldly endeavors to weave old with new to create altogether new genres of music when existing ones do not suit her muse, and she regularly keeps audiences guessing and laughing simultaneously. Most of her work infuses traditional music styles and methods with her unmistakable contemporary worldview, constantly challenging listeners to experience music from a fresh and unexpected perspective. Susan Werner's new release Classics asks no less of her distinguished audience or herself. With Classics, Werner delivers entirely new string arrangements of mainstream popular songs by top songwriters from a "classical" pop era - the sixties and seventies. Drawing on her unique training as a classical vocalist (she has a master's degree in music history and voice performance), and the diverse talents of esteemed Boston Symphony and Pops players, Classics sets a mood that highlights elegance and sophistication previously overlooked in the first lives of songs like Paul Simon's A Hazy Shade of Winter, Marvin Gaye's Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed and America's Lonely People. Produced by Crit Harmon (Martin Sexton, Mary Gauthier, Lori McKenna among others, and 2007 Boston Music Awards Producer of the Year), and co-arranged by Werner with renowned Boston Pops arranger and pianist Brad Hatfield, Classics features ten songs chosen because they met three deeply considered criteria: the renewed relevancy of their messages for modern times, their correlation with her own worldview as a folk pop singer/songwriter, and their potential to blossom when performed with chamber music instruments. States Werner: "It seemed to me a chamber music approach to pop songs could reveal the poetry and impact of some of these lyrics in ways that groove driven arrangements completely overlook." In addition to re-fashioning each song for the accompaniment of string quartet, woodwinds, brass, classical guitar or piano, Werner invites listeners to enjoy the surprising connections between pop and classical music by incorporating the occasional quotation from the world of classical music into these arrangements. Werner's thoughtful piano-strings approach to Bob Marley's Waiting In Vain, with quotations from Erik Satie's Suite: Trois Gymnopédies was the impetus for the entire project. But she didn't stop there... "The Bach cello suite excerpt sounds like a great gust of wind somehow, which set up Cat Steven's The Wind perfectly," states Susan. "The Rodrigo quote filled out the Spanish classical guitar arrangement on Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood and the quotes from Vivaldi's Winter match the cold and frosty regrets in A Hazy Shade of Winter in a way that makes such sense that I really can't believe nobody did it before." Werner relishes the challenge of being a creative free spirit and says she's in an exciting new phase of doing themed projects. In her 2004 release I Can't Be New, she delivered her modern contribution to the Great American Songbook by writing originals in the style of Gershwin and Cole Porter, but from a present-day woman's point of view. It was for her work on this album that The Chicago Tribune called her "the most innovative songwriter working today." The album went to #1 on Amazon.com, the song I Can't Be New was included in iTunes Cabaret Essentials, and Werner appeared on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz and A&E's Breakfast With The Arts. |
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Tuesday, October 27 …is a musician, acclaimed non-fiction writer and novelist, and an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. His most recent novel The Ravine published 2008 was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; his previous novel Galveston was short-listed for the Giller. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Medal for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and was one of several of his novels adapted as a feature film. His non-fiction writing includes books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music; his next non-fiction book about his life in music will be published by Greystone in 2009. He regularly contributes book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines. His screenplays and story editing have won many awards, most recently the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV, and he is in high demand as a story editor for feature films and television in Canada and the US. Paul’s filmmaking talents as writer / director are evident in his BookShorts short film, Pavane, which he adapted from The Ravine; it was featured in the Moving Stories Film Festival, in festivals in the US, and broadcast on Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Reflections. As a musician, he currently plays in the band PorkBelly Futures; their self-titled second CD was released last year; the first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received. Paul has also returned to the performance circuit as solo vocalist on guitar. Paul lives and works in Toronto, where he teaches writing at Humber College and University of Toronto, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival. Quarrington is also an (extremely) amateur magician and a would-be mariner. |
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Wednesday, October 28 Maria Muldaur is coming full circle and returning to her roots with a new jug band album, Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy. The CD was recorded last month, and will be released by Stony Plain in Canada in late September, and on October 6 in the U.S. and foreign territories. The release will be followed by a six-week tour throughout the U.S. and Canada. |
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Thursday, October 29 Although I have loved being 26 for the last 8 years on my website, I figured a fresh update may be in order. It is really hard to decide which snippets of history and career are important for a biography. I used to have someone else write these for me…someone who could make my life sound like a great, poetic adventure. But in truth I can do that myself, because indeed this journey has been nothing less than magnificent. I suppose we start when I was born in 1973 on Prince Edward Island, Canada. From then on the most that I can say is that I have sung my way around this world. I have seen my life filled with every dream I could realize, and I have also been witness to the complete desolation and despair that life can bring. So rather than go into all the things I have done, and undone, let me just mention a few things I have learned ~ It does not matter what degree of fame or wealth we have, just so long as our work touches people. Awards, accolades, reviews - they are all meaningless. I have had to learn this the hard way, because there were times when these things did mean something. There was a time in my life when I really hoped that singing would take me to a place where I didn’t have to worry anymore…worry about money for my family, or feeling validated to anyone who thought I wasn’t good at what I do…I thought fame would bring more respect, more peace. I have to say, I was really wrong. What matters is self-respect and knowing that what you do, no matter what scale it is on, is real. And then, use that good work in service to the world. Music is one of the mediums I use in which I chose to express my deep gratitude for the life I have. I am also a mother of three children and that has been my greatest accomplishment. I am deeply in love with my life. I think the reason I can say that is because I am starting to get it. Starting to learn that my desires to ‘not worry anymore about….’ were coming from a place where I though that I was lacking something, when really it was all here. Right now. And it always was….like Dorothy and her slippers. She always had the power to get home safely, but she had to make the perilous journey first. My wish is that we all, in our own time, find that there is nothing to panic about, nothing to strive for or cling to, that we are home safe. All we have is this breath. So make it a good one.
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Friday, October 30 Betty Richardson is a powerhouse of a blues/RnB/soul singer Betty Richardson, sister of singer/actress Jackie Richardson, started singing professionally at age 15 with Dr. Music's Doug Riley and the Silhouettes. Betty has acted as an original Toronto and Australian company cast member of "Hair" and in many TV music/comedy series with Martin Short, Andy Williams, George Kirby and Ray Stevens. As a background vocalist with John Lee & the Checkmates at the Blue Note, Betty met Kingsley Ettienne, the group's keyboardist, and, before long, jointly formed "Formula Five", headlined by Betty and Kingsley, with Reggie Evans, Rodney Appleby and Liberty Silver. CBC composer Milan Kymlicka produced Betty's CD "Pulse Beat", featuring a song entitled "Special Love". This CD has had a lasting impact on radio and is still getting airplay today. For a short time, Betty and Jackie joined with Jackie's daughter Kim to form "The Richardsons", but their schedules prevented this group from lasting. The Richardsons occasionally perform in Greater Toronto and never disappoint their audiences when they do. Betty has completed numerous background vocal TV/Radio commercial projects of late and was recently hounored as resident "Background Singer Arranger" at a studio called "The Ranch". |
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Saturday, October 31 BETTY AND THE BOBS was formed as an extracurricular vehicle for a group of Toronto musicians and friends who had worked together in different combinations. The mandate is to do all the songs they have ever wanted to do, but would never get around to doing in their own bands. This includes a bunch of old tunes they grew up with -- country, blues, R&B, Beatles, gospel, old jazz, as well as some wacky original songs. THE PLAYERS: (photo left to right) DAVID MATHESON (piano, vocals…) - This guitar, dobro and banjo picking, accordion/keyboard playing, singer/songwriter and one-quarter of the Canadian folk group, Moxy Früvous - is our newest Bob. His songs are original, moving, quirky and perfect for this band. DAVID WOODHEAD (vocals, bass, mandolin) is best known for his creative instrumental work in the folk world, including recordings and/or performances with Perth County Conspiracy, Stan Rogers, Brent Titcomb, Valdy, and Loreena McKennitt. In addition to producing albums and writing music for film and television, he’s released his own CD "Sweets and Conundrums". In “Betty and the Bobs”, David gets to expose a rootsier side and do some lead vocals. KATHERINE WHEATLEY (vocals, guitar) plays at folk clubs across Canada and in Europe and is currently working on herthird CD. Hailed by critics as “a truly Canadian original” and a songwriter with “an uncanny depth of observation”, she always comes up with gems for the band to perform and for the audience to sing along with. SOOZI SCHLANGER (vocals, fiddle) is best known as the voice and fiddle that drives “Swamperella”, a traditional Cajun band with a devoted following and now a strong CD offering. As one of the Betties, she sings old-time country and forties jazz with unstoppable conviction. SUZIE VINNICK (vocals, bass, guitar, and mandolin) is the newest Betty. She has won many awards for bass playing, songwriting and singing. With “Betty and the Bobs”, this talented multi-instrumentalist can play anyone’s part, but it’s her voice, a voice “of spun honey and gold”, and her original rendering of classic songs that knocks peoples’ socks off. WENDELL FERGUSON (vocals, guitar) is the six-time Canadian Country Music Association Guitar Player of the Year and has traveled the globe accompanying a who's who in both the country field (George Fox, Shania Twain, The Dixie Chicks) and the folk arena (Quartette, Bob Snider, Cindy Church). As for his own hilarious tunes ? well - when the band has a "Wendell moment", everything stops for a sideways look at the world. RICH GREENSPOON (drums) has played drums with Oliver Schroer's Stewed Tomatoes, Njacko Backo, and Rare Air as well as on recordings in many contemporary styles, including world music and jazz. He's an esteemed drum teacher and has been busy in the last few years producing albums for other artists. |
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Sunday, November 1 Michael was born in South Orange, New Jersey on September 7, 1941 and raised in the Oranges, attending Our Lady of the Valley and Our Lady of Sorrows, Catholic schools that are the setting for some of his better known songs. He bought a guitar at fifteen (five dollars) and was soon playing in a group inspired equally by the Kingston Trio and Harry Belafonte. The act was called The Kalypso Kids and played a lot of VFW halls and psychiatric hospitals. The Kalypso Kids were the first to record a Michael Smith song: "Teen Dream". This recording, waxed on the spot, is lost in antiquity. College (St. Petersburg Junior, in Florida) saw a group called the Wanderers, a quartet organized by Michael, with gigs on the beach and at local coffeehouses. Michael began touring with a duet called The Talismen. "We hit every coffee-house in the world," Michael recalls. "Those were days when you got hired by the week and people stood in line. They didn’t even have to know who you were. It was Folk Music, and Folk Music was happening." Three years at The Flick in Miami followed, six nights a week. Michael did entirely his own material. "I would say the song was Fred Neil’s. People would say ’Oh, I hadn’t heard that one.’ I’d say ’It’s one of his better ones, don’t you think?’" At the Flick Michael met his wife Barbara Barrow, and they traveled with a quartet called the Baker St. Irregulars, signed a contract with Decca as Juarez, and produced a recording that you can still find in very out-of-the-way record stores. Michael and Barbara’s next recording was for Arista. It was called Mickey and Babs Get Hot, a title for which Michael takes the blame. They recorded an acoustic evening at The Raven Gallery in Detroit, called Zen. Steve Goodman had recorded "The Dutchman," and music lovers in Chicago were finding out about Michael’s songs. Michael and Barbara became regulars at The Earl of Old Town and Somebody Else’s Troubles and Holstein’s and No Exit and Orphan’s. They played the Philadelphia Folk Festival, worked with Corky Siegel and John Prine, taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music, organized a benefit in commemoration of their friend Gamble Rogers, separately and together continuing to record. Michael was asked to write the music for the Steppenwolf production of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, and with that production he toured for two years: Chicago, La Jolla, London, England. Finally Broadway, the Cort Theatre (the Marx Brothers played there) and two Antoinette Perry awards (Tonys) for Best Director and Best Play. Michael began to record for Flying Fish, produced by Anne Hills. They had met when Michael was playing bass for Bob Gibson (and writng a two-man show with him: The Women in My Life). Anne and he have worked together for quite a while, and that’s Michael’s bass on the Gibson-Paxton-Hills recording "Loving You." Michael’s last two records have been on Wind River, "the closest I could get to Flying Fish," says Michael. He began to tour more frequently, doing exclusively his own material. Michael, Margaret, Pat & Kate played Victory Gardens in 1994, and won four Joseph Jefferson awards, Chicago’s equivalent of the Antoinette Perry. This was Michael’s musical autobiography, and it won every Jeff it could but one. Our hero was encouraged. With Jamie O’Reilly, Michael created Pasiones: Songs of the Spanish Civil War, which played the Theatre on the Lake in Chicago and at veteran’s reunions in both San Francisco and New York. Hello Dali (songs about art), created by Jamie and Michael, played Theater on the Lake and Victory Gardens, followed by Scarlet Confessions at Victory Gardens (with Anne Hills). With Barbara Barrow, Michael created Weavermania, following in the footsteps of the Weavers. A highlight, if not the pinnacle of the Weavermania experience was a concert where Pete Seeger played onstage with them. You can’t buy that. Barbara created a show based on the music that Michael wrote for The Grapes of Wrath. Michael continues to tour, and writes at a "feverish" pace. "I feel so grateful to get to do what I do," Michael says. "I feel I was born to write songs." Michael Smith travels constantly, playing concert halls and house concerts, clubs and festivals. In the future: a new album of comic songs and a holiday CD/show collaboration with Jamie O’Reilly, "The Gift of the Magi". |
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Wednesday, November 4 GWEN SWICK can write a lyric that will sink into your heart like a tattoo. Her music is a shifting palette of folk, jazz, country and blues, and she sings with a mesmerizing voice that evokes a sense of wonder. Born in Winnipeg, she has lived in many cities and on military bases across the country. At York University, she studied viola da gamba and East Indian singing. She performs with her own group and has also been a member of the folk group Tamarack and, more recently, Quartette. |
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Thursday, November 5
That they have been described as a Blues Tour De Force comes as no surprise. Georgia-raised lead singerJOHN MAYS has had a storied career that began in the Southern gospel tradition, crossing over into Doo-Wop, R&B and Blues, not to mention a stint with the Godfather Of Soul JAMES BROWN. Hooking up Their indie debut CD "Fathead" was first released in 1995 and landed them the recording contract with Electro-Fi. "Blues Weather" followed in 1998 garnering a Juno Award (Canada's Grammy) for Blues Recording Of The Year. "Where's Your Head At?" was next in 2000, earning several Maple Blues Award noms, while"First Class Riff-Raff" received a Canadian Indie Award (2002) as well as a Juno nomination. "Livelier Than Ever!" was independently released in 2005, and captured the band in full throttle. FATHEAD was also the featured backing band for the late Chicago bluesman Little Mack Simmons on two critically acclaimed discs. FATHEAD has performed on main stages across the continent at high profile events such as Fredericton's Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, The Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival, The Montreal International Jazz Fest, The Toronto International Beaches Jazz Fest, Playing With Fire in Omaha, Nebraska, and Festival By The Sea in New Brunswick. They have performed in Washington, DC for the Canadian Embassy, at Buffalo's Lafayette Tap Room Blues Festival, at Virginia's famed Birchmere Theatre, as well as opening for blues icon B.B. King atMassey Hall in Toronto. FATHEAD is truly an original band with a sound immediately recognizable as their own. They have a ball wherever they play and it shows! |
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Friday & Saturday, November 6th & 7th
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Sunday, November 8 They've played everywhere from the Fernie Arts Station in the Rocky Mountains to the Lincoln Center in New York; they played in front of the Vimy Monument in France and trod the boards of the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, England; they sang in the Endicott Performing Arts Center when it first opened in 1999, and in Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire 900 years after it was built. But for everything there is a season, and 2009 will be the last for the iconic Canadian folk/roots band with the huge sound, the head-snapping harmonies and stunning vocal blend. Winner of "Best Vocal Group" at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards, Tanglefoot has become an institution over their two-plus decades. Their accessible, infectious music grounded in the mythology, folklore and history of early Canada has earned them an international reputation as champions of grass-roots Canadiana. |
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Monday, November 9 Mister Mann is the solo project of Spirit of the West’s front man and songwriter John Mann. After 11 albums and countless tours of the UK, Europe and North America with Spirit, December Looms is a return to Mann’s stripped down Alt Folk roots. Mann pens beautiful melodies with emotionally honest lyrics that capture the intimate moments of his hometown of Vancouver, its occupants, the fragile details of their dysfunctional love and the loss of a city’s innocence. If Damien Rice was Jeff Tweedy and Jeff Tweedy was Josh Ritter, you’d come away with something kindred to December Looms. John Mann is also an actor of stage, film and television and currently can be seen on the CBC TV drama Intelligence, as CSIS Director, James Mallaby |
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Wednesday & Thursday , November 11th & 12th Tom Rush is a gifted musician and performer, whose shows offer a musical celebration...a journey into the tradition and spectrum of what music has been, can be, and will become. His distinctive guitar style, wry humor and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the rib-aching laughter of terrific story-telling, the sweet melancholy of ballads and the passion of gritty blues. Tom RushRush's impact on the American music scene has been profound. He helped shape the folk revival in the '60s and the renaissance of the '80s and '90s, his music having left its stamp on generations of artists. James Taylor told Rolling Stone, "Tom was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences." Country music star Garth Brooks has credited Rush with being one of his top five musical influences. Rush has long championed emerging artists. His early recordings introduced the world to the work of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor, and in more recent years his Club 47 concerts have brought artists such as Nanci Griffith and Shawn Colvin to wider audiences when they were just beginning to build their own reputations. |
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Sunday, November 15 Since its inception in 2002, Le Vent du Nord has exploded onto the folk music scene. The group’s first recording, Maudite moisson! , was awarded the Juno for traditional album of the year in 2004 and was nominated for the same award by ADISQ. Their second album, Les amants du Saint-Laurent, was also nominated by ADISQ in 2005 in addition to being chosen album of the year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. 2005 was also the year that saw the group being rewarded as North American traditional artist of the year in Austin, Texas. Their show was nominated for an OPUS award and was named Show of the year by the American radio-concert series Bound for Glory. The group also appeared on the top-ten charts of a few radio stations, as high as #1 on CIBL Montréal and #5 on BBC3 in the UK, ahead of such well-known artists as Youssou N’Dour and Peter Gabriel |
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Wednesday, November 18 About Mike Stevens: Mike's solo act is as unique as his career, inventing looping techniques copied by many in the musical world and captivating audiences everywhere. For the past eight years, Mike has become more recogniseable in his home country of Canada, equally for his talent and his journeys to the most remote corners of the frozen north. Mike has taken instruments and set-up lending libraries in some of the most desperate places on the planet to offer a creative choice to at-risk native youth. Through this work, Arts Can Circle was born. About Matt Andersen: |
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Thursday, November 19 Born outside Montreal in Sweetsburg, Quebec, Lynn Miles grew up in a musical home. Her father played the harmonica and listened to his jazz collection while her mother was a lover of both opera and country music. Miles’ mother recalled once that she knew when Lynn had finally fallen asleep in her crib: Lynn stopped singing. During her elementary school years, Miles learned guitar, violin, flute and piano. She began performing in public at around the age of sixteen and when she was in her early twenties she studied with an opera singer to strengthen her voice and enrolled for a time at Carleton University in Ottawa where she studied classical music history and theory. Years later, Miles put this training to good use while serving as a voice teacher at the Ottawa Folklore Center. While at the center, she taught voice to many students including a then fourteen-year-old Alanis Morrisette. The lessons came just prior to the making of Morrisette’s first album.
Though Miles had been writing her own songs since the age of 10, she didn’t end up recording any of her own material until 1987 when she cut 9 original compositions for a demo at Happyrock Studio in Ottawa. An avid reader and music-lover, those early recordings were inspired by the books she loved to read, and the music she listened to on the radio. Miles continues to draw inspiration from music and literature to this day. On her latest album (Love Sweet Love) for example, the opening track, “Flames of Love,” was inspired by a long period of reading Sufi poetry. "I’m fascinated by the way the Sufis write about love," Miles says. "Their love is spiritual, and I reinterpreted it and wrote ‘Flames of Love,’ about jumping in the fire, Lynn Miles letting go and not being afraid and letting it get hot and not caring about what other people think. Just really going for it." The idea – and the song itself – is exhilarating and exciting, yet full of hidden corners and alleyways from where the joy can be blindsided without notice. But as Miles notes, "You don't learn from happiness." |
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Friday, November 20 PorkBelly Futures takes writers, rockers, classical musicians and does the only logical thing. It creates a sort of alt. country blues band. |
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Saturday, November 21 Over four decades the contributions of John Sebastian have become a permanent |
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Sunday, November 22 Ken Whiteley is one of Canada’s finest musical statesman. He has worked with blues and folk legends from Pete Seeger to Lonnie Johnson. He has performed at countless festivals in the United States and Canada including Philadelphia Folk Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Winnipeg, Edmontonand Vancouver Folk Festivals to name a few. He has been called a “playing encyclopedia” for his depth and range of styles, covering everything from blues and gospel to children’s music. Now Magazine said his most recent CD of mostly original material, “Gospel Music Makes Me Feel Alright!”, “triumphs with impeccable arrangements and spot on delivery”. Drawing from the deep wells of many traditions, Whiteley creates something fresh that communicates themes of freedom, love, spiritual aspiration and social comment. His collaborations with brother Chris (The Whiteley Brothers) and old friends Mose Scarlett and Jackie Washington (Scarlett, Washington & Whiteley) have resulted in a wonderful collection of recordings, garnering high praise, successful tours and several awards. Whether performing solo or playing with any of his large circle of musical friends, as one critic has said, “with Ken Whiteley our enjoyment is virtually assured.” |
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Thursday, November 26 SUE FOLEY: Sue Foley is considered to be one of the finest blues/roots artists working today. At 16, she embarked on her professional career as a bandleader, lead guitar player and vocalist. For the past 20 years she has made her mark as a notable Canadian songwriter, producer and prolific recording artist. She has recorded with, shared the stage with and opened up for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, George Thorogood, Tom Petty, Joe Cocker, Rufus Thomas, Bill Doggett, Pinetop Perkins, Joe Ely, Chuck Rainey and Lucinda Williams – to name a few. In 2000, her home country honoured her with her first Juno Award (Canadian equivalent to the Grammy): Best Blues Album for her CD "Love Comin’ Down." Since 1999 she has received a record-setting 18 Maple Blues Awards, and three Trophée de blues in France . Sue also received a nomination for the prestigious W.C. Handy Award for best contemporary female artist in 2002. There are 11 CD’s in the Sue Foley catalogue: five from legendary Austin-based blues label Antone’s, three on New York independent Shanachie, and three on Ruf Records, from Germany, and Justin Time Records, in Canada . In the spring of 2006, Ruf Records released the live DVD " Sue Foley , Live in Europe ." When not touring or raising her son, Sue is busy pursuing artistic and financial independence. She founded her own company, Guitar Woman Inc., and has plans to launch her own record label. Her most passionate project to date is her "Guitar Woman" book. Since 2001, Sue has been writing and conducting interviews with the world’s finest female guitar players, including such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson, Rory Block and Sharon Isbin. The book’s release is scheduled for 2009. A supporting tour and film documentary will follow. More information is available on www.guitarwoman.com. PETER KARP: Many artists get sabotaged by rave reviews that compare them to legendary performers they'll never have the chance of surpassing. How many singer/songwriters once called the next Dylan have faded into obscurity, or found their struggle to present their own unique music hampered by the unrealistic expectations such comparisons cause? All that said, singer, bluesman, folkie, and songwriter Peter Karp should be a lot better known than he is. It's tempting to say he combines John Prine's wordplay, Joe Ely's rocking instincts, Billy Joe Shaver's fatalistic outlook, Tim McGraw's good looks, and an expressive tenor that combines the fire of a young Steve Earle and the lazy drawl of Mose Allison, but that wouldn't be right. Karp is his own man, an artist who blends roots music styles into something that combines and transcends blues, country, rock, honky tonk, R&B, swamp, swing, and jazz. He may record for Blind Pig, a San Francisco-based blues logo, but he's no more blues than he is country. He personifies the amorphous Americana movement, freely shifting styles to keep listeners guessing, and dancing too. His lyrics combine working-class angst with college-educated insight, and a deadly sense of humor that keeps things from getting too dark. The 12 tunes on this album are all winners, each full of their own singular charm, even though they can easily fit into familiar industry pigeonholes. "I Ain't Deep" is a nasty blues-rock tune given a '40s swing feel by Popa Chubby's slide guitar work and the hook is a real winner -- "I ain't deep, baby; I'm just down." On the country rocker "Rubber Bands and Wire," Karp introduces several dissolute characters in an effort to win back his lady love, implicitly telling her, "Hey, compared to these guys I ain't so bad." His off-hand desperation and the surrealistic humor of the lyrics give the tune an unexpected twist. "Goodbye Baby" hinges on a cleaver turn of phrase -- "I can live with mine, but not your lies." It's a kiss-off song so full of self-depreciating humor that it makes breaking up sound easy to do. The song smokes along on a Waylon Jennings' stomp accented by Karp's sizzling harmonica work. Karp's B-3 gives the fatalistic "Runnin'" a jaunty sanctified feel; self-destruction seldom sounds this appealing. He follows it with "The Grave," a spooky slide guitar workout that advises people to keep their darkest secrets to themselves, no matter what friends and lovers say. He sounds like an old sad soul as he meditates on mortality and life's compromises. Every tune is arranged to give maximum effect to Karp's vocals. His lithe tenor is playful, macho, insouciant, innocent, and worldly, telling jokes that make you wince when you laugh. The backing musicians are all top-notch and every track smokes with understated virtuosity. So why isn't this guy a star? - J. Poet - |
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Friday, November 27 Scott Merritt Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including Down By Law, The Fisher King, Coffee & Cigarettes, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Short Cuts. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart. Lyrically, Waits's songs frequently present atmospheric portrayals of grotesque, often seedy characters and places – although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best-known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists—for example, "Jersey Girl," performed by Bruce Springsteen; "Downtown Train" performed by Rod Stewart; "Ol' '55," performed by the Eagles; "Martha" performed by Meat Loaf; "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six" by Bob Seger; and "I Don't Wanna Grow Up," performed by The Ramones. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations. Waits currently lives in Sonoma County, California with his wife and three children. |
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