LOADING PLEASE WAIT...
Category:
-
Sep 21
Day Two of Philip Craig Painting Workshop
Please refer to Friday's listing to register.
-
Sep 21
Concert in the Harbour: Stephen Fearing of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
Another fabulous evening in English Harbour.
8:30 $20
Call for tickets or take a chance at the gate.
Multiple JUNO Award-winning Blackie and the Rodeo Kings member Stephen Fearing visits English Harbour with his first solo album in seven years: the highly anticipated, Between Hurricanes. The follow-up to 2006s acclaimed Yellowjacket, the album was co-produced by Fearing and John Whynot (Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo, Lucinda Williams) at The Woodshed Studio in Toronto, ON.
Born out of several life-changing events, Between Hurricanes is both the document and result of many significant changes for Fearing.
Between Hurricanes eleven tracks were shaped with the idea of crafting a solo record while not employing a traditional folk approach to the music. Fearing and Whynot put their focus on the fundamentals of the songs while subtly adding space and a mood that surrounds them. The minimal arrangements range from the finely honed piano, bass, and drum accents on As The Crow Flies to the ethereal synths on Cold Dawn.
The tale of a Cougar Helicopter crash in Newfoundland, Cold Dawn acts as a thesis statement for the record. Told in first-person narrative, the songs mood wraps around the story, giving added weight to every repeat of the refrain, Into the dark.
The hushed follows suit. Against the chirping of crickets, the song floats in sober meditation. No instrument presents itself as the lead as passing moments fade in and out of each other. The weight of the track is cut quickly by the shuffling blues of Keep Your Mouth Shut, which arrives with the subtly of a mack truck driving through a wake.
You stuck around until the lawyer cut the body open / A pound of flesh and then they paint it black, sings Fearing over blown-out bass and masterful guitar work. It's an all-out rave-up and the energetic high point of the record.
Keep Your Mouth Shut came out of a conversation with Tom Wilson of Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, says Fearing. We were talking about getting together to write some songs for Between Hurricanes and he said I should listen to Get Out Of Denver by Bob Seger. As it turned out, Tom was so busy organizing the Kings and Queens tour, that I knew he wouldn't be able to pull himself away from the phone. So, I just wrote it myself. The song is a tongue-in-cheek look at getting out of a sticky situation, Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover meets Johnny B Goode.
Between Hurricanes is Stephen Fearing's eighth solo album. Over the course of his celebrated career he has collaborated with a long list of artists that includes: Shawn Colvin, Richard Thompson, Sarah McLachlan, Tom Wilson, Colin Linden, and Margo Timmins. Recently, he produced Happy Here, the latest JUNO-nominated album from Suzie Vinnick.
