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SINGER-SONG WRITER COVER SONG STYLINGS IN FOLK COUNTRY POP |
IN THE FIRST PERSON Playing a variety of music, including light country, light rock + roll, and folk, My style has been compared to Chet Atkins (Whoa!), Gordon Lightfoot, and Don Williams. Some of my original works, and great songs by my acquaintances you have likely never heard of, are part of my repertoire. Willie P. Bennett, Delta Blues Master Leon Redbone, bluesman Wayne Buttery and other interesting people are part of my personal history. I have worked with the late Rick Fielding, and opened for Fred Eaglesmith, and Tom Cochrane in his early years. At a time when Jean Larrive guitars were beginning to make an impact, I worked in "The Millwheel Guitar Shop". We sold some exclusive handmade guitars by Larrive, David Wren and others, along with some production guitars on Toronto's Yonge St. Here David Wilcox, and others like children's singer Raffi (when he was singing in bars) used to regularly jam there regularly, and Bob Dylan dropped by for a while, after his Massey Hall gig. The founding performer of Fat Albert's Coffee House, which ran more than thirty years, I quite enjoyed regular performances there over many years. Ron Sexsmith often mentions his good times at Fat Albert's, and the excellent performers who came and went. Nancy White of CBC fame used to come there a fair bit. Bars, taverns, schools, Universities, coffeehouses, restaurants, lounges, churches, and seniors' homes are also part of my music experience. But the place to be, in those days, was Yorkville Village, an historically Bohemian area, and in fact, where I was born. The building still stands today. The Mynah Bird, a circus-like Yorkville club with a fire-eating, glass-eating, Jamaican limbo-dancer named King Ricardo, with its topless dancer window ( Canada's first ), was a starting-place for me and other musicians, with six-month stints. It was not unlike some of the places Bob Dylan started in. Fat Albert's and other clubs like it, were on the perimeter of Yorkville, and just a walk away. At the Zorba Club in Yorkville, I shared the stage with world renowned magician Doug Henning. I've performed in concerts featuring musicians such as Leona Boyd, Cedric Smith, Joe Grant of Tanglefoot, Shelley Posner shared the same stage. Representing the Orillia Folk Society, with a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, at his home town of Orillia, I played to a capacity crowd at the Orillia Opera House. The Ontario Government commissioned me to write a song about Canadian unity. I also did a concert at the Ontario Parliament Buildings. I am very fortunate to live next to a member of the local music group "North of Seven Country." These guys love their "old country" music, and it's the kind of music that lives on in this community of Snow Road Station. Another popular music style in these hills is sometimes refered to as "roots music", or "folk". This latter is certainly part of my musical roots. Bluegrass music gets top billing here as well, with the spectacular Abrams Brothers calling this home, and even have their own concert venue here. Among my neighbours are Juno Award winners Christine Graves, Jenny Whitely, Joey Wright, David Francey, Terry Tufts. All of this history influences my music, and it gives you an idea of the kind of music I do. I think you'll like it.
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