Dave Clarke

Musical friends together again

It was great to see David Francey and his fabulous band – Chris Murphy and Jess Wedden – at the Chalet Bellevue in Morin Heights Friday, April 12. It was great to be able to join David, a longtime musical friend and former touring mate, on stage for two of the songs from his Juno-winning album The Breath Between. Some highlights for me: the title track of that great new album and some of our old favourites, including Hard Steel Mill, Paper Boy and Borderline – and of course, four-part harmony versions of Torn Screen Door and Red-Winged Blackbird from back in our early days.
Thanks, David, for the music and the friendship, and to Chris and Jess for welcoming me on board. Thanks too to SuperFolk Morin-Heights, the presenter of the concert and the best thing to happen musically to that community in a long time. You can check out their programming here.

You can see David with Chris and Jess in St-Damien-Buckland, QC, tonight and in Fredericton, N.B., on May 1. Don't miss them if they come through your town. 
Here are some more photos from Morin Heights. 
 

Catching up

Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes over recent developments. It was a thrill to play on David Francey's Juno-winning album The Breath Between, and thanks to everyone who came to the Steel Rail concert at the Festival de la voix April 7.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with David at his concert in Morin Heights as part of the SuperFolk series tomorrow, April 12. If you don't yet have tickets, I'm afraid it's too late – the show at Chalet Bellevue is sold out.

Dave and David Francey:
together again

One of the key relationships in Dave's musical life is his friendship and  collaboration with celebrated singer-songwriter David Francey.

Dave was an early champion of David's music, the two Davids toured together in the early 2000s and Dave co-produced two of David's Juno-winning albums.

Now the pair are reuniting for three tracks on David's upcoming album, including a beautiful new song called The Breath Between. Dave will also join David for two live performances in Ontario over the next couple of months, including a show at the Royal Canadian Legion in Huntsville on June 22 and a headlining gig at the Upper Canada Folkfest in Prescott on Aug. 27.

Dave and David have made some beautiful music over the years. Here's to more of the same!

R.I.P. Michael Wrycraft 

Like so many musicians in Canada, we were saddened to learn of the death of Michael Wrycraft, a brilliant album cover designer and a passionate friend and music lover. 

Michael designed the cover of two Dave Clarke albums, The Healing Garden and Reunion (shown here), as well as the most recent Steel Rail album, Coming Home. He was a larger than life individual and someone who made a profound contribution to the roots music community in Canada. 

You can read more about Michael's life in this Roots Music Canada article. He will be greatly missed. 

Music and more on Just Us Folk

Depending on whether you believe the prediction of Wiarton Willie or newcomer Lucy the Lobster, winter is nearly over -- or it's not.

No matter who's right, good conversation and good music can warm up the coldest day. There's plenty of both on Just Us Folk, the weekly show by Jan Vanderhorst devoted to roots and acoustic music.

On this week's show, Dave joins Jan for a discussion of his latest album, The Healing Garden. Jan, a longtime musical friend, elicits some interesting observations and plays music by not only Dave but Gurf Morlix, Ken Dunn and Mike Trask and Julie Aubé, among others. You can hear the show here. 

Thanks, as always, for the support, Jan!

A Dave Clarke day on Freewheeling Folk

That's the way venerable folk DJ Jim Marino is describing the January 15 edition of his Freewheeling Folk Show on 93.3 CFMU in Hamilton, Ont.

Jim is featuring Dave's band, Steel Rail, in the first half hour of the show, starting at 9:30 a.m. After 10, the focus is on Dave's music and a Martin Luther King tribute, with Dave speaking with Jim live starting at 11 a.m.

The show will also look at Dave's West Coast bluegrass band, Shearwater, at the end of the program.

You can read more on the Freewheeling Folk Facebook page here.

Jim's show is now in its 28th year at CFMU, the station at McMaster University. Thanks for the support, Jim, not only of Steel Rail and Dave, but hundreds of other folk artists over the past three decades.

The 'healing' part of The Healing Garden

A new article on Roots Music Canada delves into how Dave came to write the tunes on his latest album The Healing Garden.

The article, by the venerable folk DJ Jan Vanderhorst, is an up-close-and-personal glimpse into the creative period that followed Dave's illness and recovery a decade ago. In less skilful hands, that could be a little lugubrious, but the interview is a celebration of music and the musical friendship between Jan and Dave.

Thanks for the conversation and the article, Jan!

Dave on Dave on Chris

Thanks to Ottawa-based folk maven Chris White, who spent 40 minutes of his January 8 Canadian Spaces show talking with Dave about his latest album. The conversation touches on the Beatles, legendary Montreal folk venues of the 1970s, Dave's 1938 Martin D-18 guitar -- and, of course, the music on CFMA-nominated The Healing Garden.

If you have not been fortunate enough to encounter it, Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada's longest running folk music radio program and routinely features some of the best music in the country. His Jan. 8 show also features Christine Graves and Terra Spencer, both worth getting to know.

The discussion about how the Lennon-McCartney (but really Lennon) song Across the Universe ended up on an album of guitar instrumentals is particularly interesting.

Thanks again, Chris.

CFMA nomination!

We're delighted to announce that Dave is one of five nominees in the solo instrumental category at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Dave joins Olivier Demers, Maneli Jamal, Adam Young and Cédric Dind-Lavoie in the category Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year. Dave was nominated for his album The Healing Garden.

The CFMAs will be held on the weekend of April 1-3, 2022.

You can read about all the amazing nominees here.

Thanks to all the organizers and judges who make these great awards happen.

International recognition from the IAMA

Great news -- Dave's instrumental A Thousand Days Like This was a winner at the U.S.-based International Acoustic Music Awards, announced Feb. 12.  

The song, one of 12 on Dave's new album The Healing Garden, was first runner-up in the Instrumental category. Top prize went to another guitarist, John McMillan. 

The IAMA awards recognize excellence in acoustic music, and judging is based on performance, songwriting/composition/song choice, music production and originality/artistry. 

Musicians from around the world enter the IAMAs every year. 

A Thousand Days Like This was written on the verandah of Dave's home in Victoria, B.C. on a beautiful summer afternoon. The title was inspired by an old friend, the late pianist and music critic Eric McLean, who would raise a glass on particularly special evenings and utter an Italian toast: “Cento di questi giorni.”

If you'd like to see the winners in other IAMA categories, click here. 

And stay tuned for more news about Dave's new album, The Healing Garden, which gets its official launch this month.