August 2007
Check out my
two-page spread in the September 2007 issue of the
mother-of-all-guitar-magazines, Guitar
Player. They contacted me about a year
ago, the interview happened earlier this summer,
and the piece came out in the September '07 issue.
The writer, Anil Prasad (who's interviewed more
musical luminaries than you can shake a stick at,
including Genesis, David Sylvian, and Alex
Degrassi) was wonderful to work with, and did I
mention it's a huge thrill to see my name on the
cover of Guitar Player magazine? Especially when
the cover-boy is none other than Alex Lifeson of
Rush (the first concert I ever attended
was a Rush show at Fort William Gardens in
1974).
March 6,
2007
The spring issue
of GalaxieMag, the online magazine of
CBC's national continuous music network, features a
list of 40 "Artists to watch," from whom their
staff and programmers "expect great things in
2007." The list is inernational and diverse, and
includes such names as Loreena McKennitt, Celine
Dion, Finger Eleven, Wolfmother... and Art
Turner!
November 3,
2006
Sonora is #2 on CBC Galaxie's
Instrumental channel for November!
October 17,
2006
I received a
wonderful review today in Taylor Guitars'
Wood
and Steel magazine. Jim Kirlin is a beautiful
writer who "gets" my music in a way I'm not sure
even I do! Definitely a rare thrill to read
something like that about one's own humble musical
efforts. Thanks so much to folks like Jim and
everyone at Taylor Guitars for letting folks know
there's something out there besides P. Diddy (or is
it just "Diddy" now? Or "P"? I can't keep track).
Anyway, the magazine is available now in guitar
stores planet-wide, and on the web, where you can
go directly to the review by clicking here.
September 15,
2006
Big news! My new
CD, Sonora, just hit the #6 spot on
U.S. New Age Radio (newagereporter.com), getting
regular airplay on close to 400 stations south of
the border. It's also up for a Western Canadian Music
Award for
Outstanding Instrumental
Recording. If you're a member of one of the
five western Canadian music industry associations
(MARIA, ARIA, SRIA, Music Yukon or Music BC), I
hope you'll exercise your right to vote (actually,
you can do so right here and now, in the
comfortable glow of your own computer screen, by
visiting http://www.westerncanadianmusicawards.ca/awards-art.html and clicking on the "Vote
Now" button).
And if you happen
to be hanging out in guitar stores this fall,
you'll see Sonora featured in the upcoming issue of
Taylor Guitars' Wood and Steel magazine.
Thanks again to
you all, and have a wonderful fall!
Cheers,
Art
April 17,
2006:
Thanks to all who
attended my sold-out CD release concert at the Folk
Exchange Saturday night. What a great audience! And
what a thrill to get the chance to play with such
fabulous musicians in such a beautiful venue. Hats
off to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, their employees
and volunteers (especially Morgan Hamill, Damon
Mitchell, and Lyn Stienstra) for making the night
such a spectacular success. For those of you unable
to get tickets, I do have another Winnipeg show
scheduled for April 29th: an intimate house concert
at the Poulter-Friesens. This is currently my only
local show scheduled for 2006, and Pam & Kevin
are fantastic house concert hosts (a total class
act), so book your seats now by e-mailing
pampoulterfriesen@mts.net, or calling Pam at
257-3579. Tickets are $15 (worth it for Pam's
tiramisu alone...). A bit further down the road
(and a bit further east) I'll be playing at Falcon
Trails Resort (on the south end of Falcon Lake) May
27th. The show is free for guests of the resort,
and let me tell you, this is just about the most
beautiful spot in the province. Check them out at
www.falcontrails.mb.ca. Meanwhile, Sonora (and my
other CDs: Story Water, Red Havens Rising, Jade,
and Six Strings North of the Border 2) are all
available from my website at www.artturner.com, or
from CDBaby.com as well.
Well, that's
about it for now. Enjoy the beautiful spring
weather, and I hope to see you at another show very
soon!
Cheers,
Art
March 26,
2006:
My new CD,
Sonora, is all done, sounding
awesome, and should be back from the manufacturer's
down east by the end of next week (those who
pre-ordered will get their copies very soon after
that). And if you'd like to come help me celebrate
the release of Sonora, join me Saturday, April
15th, 8:00 p.m., at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Folk
Exchange, 211 Bannatyne (corner of Bannatyne &
Main) in Winnipeg, where I'll be performing tunes
from the new record with violist Richard Moody and
bassist Gilles Fournier (these guys are incredible
players, so you won't want to miss this show). I'll
be hanging out afterwards signing CDs and sharing
snacks and drinks, so come on down! Tickets are
available at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store
(231-1377) for $10 in advance ($12 at the door).
The Folk Exchange is a really sweet, intimate
venue, but it only holds 60 people, so get your
tickets while they last.
February 14,
2006:
Happy Valentine's
Day! Of course today is a special day, in that I
get to share the box of Bernard Callebault truffles
I bought for my wife (it's all about sharing the
love, isn't it?), but yesterday was a pretty big
day too. I got a phone call from my old pal Will
Ackerman (you know, the world-famous guitarist who
founded Windham Hill Records back in the day). We
talked about surfing and snow removal and how much
Will is enjoying performing these days (in the wake
of his 2005 Grammy-winning album and all). He asked
if I'd be interested in playing some Canadian dates
with him and fellow Grammy-winner David Cullen. I
said I thought that was a swell idea (when I picked
myself up off the floor). Look for details on the
gigs page in the coming months.
Meanwhile, I just
got hired to play the Dawson City Music Festival in
the Yukon this summer (can't wait to play the land
of the midnight sun!), and will shortly be part of
a mini TV documentary piece on the house concert
phenomenon that will air on CBC/Newsworld.
Also, a Lebanese
family has recently opened an awesome restaurant on
Ellice Avenue called Shawarma Time, and I have
become a part-time shawarma pusher, striving to
keep them in business by flogging as many
shawarmas, spinach pies, zatars, tabouli salads and
ataiefs as possible to friends, family, and other
musicians (I've already succeeded in getting James
Keelaghan and his wife hopelessly addicted to the
place). Speaking of, the clock on the wall says...
"It's Shawarma Time!" Gotta go.
Cheers,
Art
January 19,
2006:
Back from a crazy
week in New York City with my fabulous friends the
Wailin' Jennys (I was in NYCity shooting the photos
for their new album, due out in the spring). It
also looks like I'm going to be working on James
Keelaghan's new record as well, which is pretty
neat (James and the Jennys are all awesome human
beings and tremendous performers, so a gig like
that is always fun)... But the big news is, the
first sound samples from my new CD, Sonora, have
landed on the albums page! Hugh Marsh's
stunning violin parts have been recorded, and
Michael Manring is in the wings. It's going to be
an absolutely beautiful piece of work, right down
to the album graphics. I'm very excited with the
results so far. I've also added sound samples for
all four of my albums, and easy-to-use Paypal links
to purchase any of my previous albums, or to
pre-order
Sonora
(due out in April 2006). Thanks so much to those
who have already got their pre-orders in. If you
haven't yet, there's no time like the present
(pre-orders really help relieve some of the
financial pressure involved in producing an
independent recording project)!
Time to run out
and get lunch for Lyn, and maybe pick up a copy of
the new Fingerstyle Guitar magazine, which has a
transcription of one of my tunes in it...
Stay warm!
Cheers,
Art
November 30,
2005:
Hey folks. Hope
you've all been keeping well, and are snugly
burrowed into your cosy, fur-lined winter dens (for
those of you who, like me, live in that most Nordic
of populated climes) for the season. I've got some
big news to pass along, including how you can
participate in the creation of my brand new
CD...
First off, the
popular American guitar magazine Fingerstyle
Guitar
will be publishing a transcription and recording of
one of my tunes in their January issue, along with
a short profile. But the really big news is,
indeed, I've got a brand new CD coming out in a few
months (my fourth now -- hard to believe), and I
can already say with confidence that it's going to
be the best work I've ever done, and then some.
All-new material (including Matrika, Canterbury,
and
Chicken
Man, for
those of you who've been requesting them), and
featuring the return of uberviolinist Hugh Marsh
(perennial Bruce Cockburn and Loreena McKennitt
bandmember, and soundtrack artist on recent
Hollywood films The Kingdom of Heaven, Veronica
Guerin, Armageddon, and the soon-to-be-released
The Lion,
the Witch, and the Wardrobe) and fretless bass
demigod Michael Manring (known for his work with
John Gorka, Alex DeGrassi, and the late great
Michael Hedges). The guitar parts are 90% complete
now, Hugh begins work on the violin bits next week,
and Michael will come on-board when he returns from
touring in Japan and Costa Rica after Xmas. I can't
remember the last time I was so excited about
making a new record!
So this is where
you come in. We still need to raise about $5000 to
complete the production and manufacturing, so now
would be a great time to place your pre-orders for
the new disc. $20 per disc, anywhere in the world,
postage and taxes included, and you get them before
anyone else. Order 10 or more and get your name in
the liner notes. Or, if you'd like to make a cash
contribution to the project (contributions like
these are how many great independent recordings
actually get made, believe it or not), anything
over $500 gets you your own special section in the
liner notes, 20 signed CDs, and my eternal
gratitude. Plus, any of you guitar players out
there can have a PDF version of the transcription
of my tune, To Leave the Heart
Behind,
for free, whether you pre-order a CD or not. Just
drop me an e-mail and ask for it. It's
yours.
Also, anyone who
pre-orders any amount at all will receive a
downloadable link to an mp3 of Matrika, a duet with the amazing
violist Richard Moody, and the first completed tune
of the project.
Pre-orders and
contributions will be gleefully accepted in the
form of cheque, money order, or Paypal payment, to
the address below. Don't forget to include your
name, address, e-mail address, and the quantity of
CDs you'd like to pre-order.
Thanks, and happy
holidays to you all!
Cheers,
Art Turner
Redtail Records,
485 Craig Street, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3G 3C2
e-mail/paypal: redtail@mts.net
July 2005:
Just got back
from the Canterbury Folk Festival -- perhaps the
best-kept secret on the festival circuit. Held in a
beautiful park in the middle of a storybook town in
the rolling hills just outside of London, it's a
free event (not too many of those left around!)
with great crowds, great sound, five wonderfully
shaded, breezy stages, and an increasingly
impressive roster of artists. Smack in the middle
of the region's record-breaking heatwave, the day
of my performances was mercifully temperate (sunny
and hot, but not at all unbearable), which was a
bonus considering I played two workshops and two
concerts in the same day. The whole thing was a
blast, but I'd have to say the highlights were
horsing around with Lenny Gallant and his band in
the "Tunes From My Past, East and West" workshop
(Lenny's guitarist, Jamie Alcorn hails from Nova
Scotia, where the vast majority of my rellies
reside, and you know what they say: get two
maritimers together away from home and all hell
breaks loose!) and the evening mainstage concerts.
There's nothing like the feeling of having played
well, being warmly received by a great crowd, and
having the Artistic Director (who, in this case, is
just about the most wonderful guy in the world)
meet you backstage to rehire you for the 2007
festival. Can't wait to be back! Another highlight
of the trip was a visit from Toronto luthier
Tony
Karol,
who drove two hours down to Ingersoll just to have
me play a couple of his lovely guitars. But the
piece-de-la-resistance was getting to spend the
following day with my wife Carolyn touring
Niagara's wine route. We visited six or seven
wineries in one day, had a fabulous lunch
overlooking the vineyards and Lake Ontario at
spectacular EastDell Estates (where we picked up a
stunning Pinot Noir to bring home), tasted the best
white wine of our lives (a Chardonnay Musque from
Fielding Estates), even spent an hour whipping
around the Burlington Ikea (needless to say, we
slept like logs that night).
Road crews have
been ripping up the street in front of my home
studio for the past six weeks, so I was thrilled to
see them putting the finishing touches on the new
asphalt the day after we arrived home. Now all I'll
have to contend with are the wailing Skilsaws of
summer before getting back to work on my fourth
album, which I'm very excited about, and hope to
release in the springtime of 2006. Bass demigod
Michael Manring will be back for this one, as well
as Lenny Gallant's amazing fiddler, Englishman Sean
Kemp, and some other surprises as well. Meanwhile,
look for some exciting new shows in 2006. Will keep
you posted!
Cheers,
Artß
July 2004:
The Winnipeg Folk
Festival was a treat ("Third time's a charm," they
say), if a trifle on the Congo-esque side of the
temperature/humidity spectrum. I played the longest
guitar workshop of my life (nearly two hours) on a
stage that felt like the inside of a giant armpit
(albeit an incredibly musical one). Must have been
40 Celcius up there, with no air moving at all.
Awesome workshop though. Eric Bibb was a real
treat! The following day (after rushing off to play
a War Child benefit on a bison ranch 80 km. away
the night before) my solo concert produced my first
ever standing ovation/encore in a festival setting.
I was so flustered I completely forgot how to play
two tunes I must have played a thousand times.
Amazingly, nobody seemed to notice!
Getting ready to
fly down east for the Ottawa Folk Festival in a few
weeks. I'll have a busy time there, with three
workshops in one afternoon (definitely a record),
including one with the very talented Joel Kroeker.
Joel has a record deal with Bruce Cockburn's label
now, and has an incredible buzz going. Nice fella
too.
Midway through
September I'll be heading way east -- all the way
to Nova Scotia -- for a wee holiday with the
rellies, a spot of fly-fishing for sea-runs on the
Margaree, and a couple of gigs, including a house
concert at George Rezsanyi's. And, speaking of
George, some of you may have heard of the Six
String Nation Project. Brainchild of the intrepid
and visionary CBC Radio host Jowi Taylor (Global
Village), a bunch of shockingly impressive
Canadians (including the likes of David Suzuki and
Michael Ondaatje) are getting together to build a
guitar that encompasses, symbolizes and expresses
that most ethereal and enigmatic of concepts, the
Canadian Identity. What they're doing is nothing
short of attempting to build the Canadian heart
& soul into a single musical instrument, using
bits of the Bluenose, Pierre Trudeau's paddle, the
Haida's sacred Golden Spruce, etc. (perhaps even
the Last Spike?), and have a bunch of folks (like
Stephen Fearing, Nicky Mehta and myself, for
instance) play the guitar as part of a national TV
series (I can't begin to express how emotionally
moving this project has already been for me, and I
haven't even laid hands on the guitar yet)! There's
way more to it, and you can help shape the project
(hey, it's all about you) by visiting
sixstringnation.com and offering your thoughts,
ideas, and stories. Declare yourself a citizen of
the Six String Nation! Did I mention George (who is
famous for building guitars for folks like Sting,
Keith Richards and James Taylor from all-Canadian
woods grown in the woodlot behind his house) is
building the SSN guitar? There, now I did.
Hope you're
enjoying the fabulous summer weather, and that
you'll come out to one of my gigs soon, somewhere
in the Six String Nation.
Slainthe,
Art
June 2004:
Well, it's been
quite a year! My new record, Jade, made Winnipeg
Folk Festival Artistic Director Rick Fenton's top
ten list for 2003, my last record, Red Havens
Rising, hit #1 on CBC Galaxie's Instrumental
Channel for June 2004 (a bit of a time-warp, I
know, but welcome to the weird and wonderful music
business!), and the summer 2004 issue of
Penguin
Eggs
(Canada's Folk, Roots, and World Music Magazine --
sort of like our version of Dirty Linen) published
what may be the most outrageously positive review
I've ever received (see the Reviews page). To top it off,
I've been talking to the editor of the American
magazine Fingerstyle Guitar about doing a master
workshop of one of my tunes in an upcoming issue,
and I'm playing my third Winnipeg
Folk Festival this July, where I'll be
guitar-workshopping with Eric Bibb, Michael Jerome
Browne, the Wailin' Jenny's flatpickin' bombshell
Cara Lovely Luft, and the Dry River Boys. Later in
the summer I'll be playing my first Ottawa
Folk Festival, so I'm looking forward to
that.
Hope to see you
out there at one of the summer festivals!
All the
best,
Art
November 2003:
Redtail Records
and Festival Distribution are pleased to announce
the release of Art Turner's new album.
Jade, Turner's third release in
seven years, is his first full-on solo fingerstyle
guitar record. "Except for a brief first-track
sendoff from fiddle sensation Hugh Marsh, this one
is all Art, all the time," jokes Turner. "With the
possible exception of my first pro stadium
supercross race back in the early eighties, this is
easily the most terrifying thing I've ever
attempted -- albeit with less bruising and getting
sprayed with mud, that sort of thing -- not to
mention the total absence of 35,000 screaming fans.
So quieter, really. Cleaner. And with less of the
whole tractor-pull kind of vibe. Yes." Meanwhile,
Jade is being sprayed with high praise from some
very credible sources. Jurgen Gothe, host of CBC's popular
national drive-home show Disc
Drive, had this to say:
"Here is the high
art of the solo guitar: big, bold, atmospheric;
percussive, lyrical, full-frontal, tranquil;
meditative, incendiary... and I'm only three tracks
into the CD!
In the heart and
hands of Art Turner, we hear the hegemony of
Hedges, the fleet fingerwork of Fahey, the blaze of
Basho, and lyricism of Lang, even a ripple of Ross;
I'm hearing them all ringing through the steel
here. Plus, as always, most assuredly, there is
plenty of Art Turner to these tunes.
This is a rich
menu; almost too much for a single sitting; now and
again you have to stop, take a deep breath, ground
the delicious guitar tensions by putting your hand
on something solid for a minute, then you can
venture on into the landscapes Art Turner explores.
There is
astonishing technique, sure, but it never obscures
what, once the last note rings into the atmosphere,
can perhaps best be described as white-fired
passion: a love for a good melody, a delight in
sheer sonorities.
So the sonics and
the moods and the melodies and the deliquescences
come together into a program that satisfies the
soul as it dazzles the ear; from introspective
soul-jigsaws to summer-night top-down red-line
driving, humming-to-it-in-the-back-of-your-throat
tunes you've never heard before, yet they seem so
very familiar. Because they tap into what we're all
hearing; Art Turner merely brings them into the
little circle of light that surrounds our
nightfire.
Favorites? David
Essig's soon-to-be-a-major-standard Berkley
Springs, in the Don Ross arrangement, the one that
always makes me think it's Turlough O'Carolan.
(That composer is represented by his own song of
the big hill and the little one, which Turner lays
out neat and clean). And the swirling, shifting
Good Hands, one of those solo journeys that dares
you to follow along, if you can hold on.
Some are
amorphous and some are clockwork-precise; all
arrest the ears and some can stop the heart. Great
studio sound throughout. Extraordinary stuff, this
Jade, start to finish.
Art Turner takes
his time with these things: three discs in how many
years? is hardly profligate. That's another of the
good things about his work.
And underneath it
all, never very far from the surface, the
sure-handed skills of one hell of a steel-string
picker. I for one am very glad Art Turner is out
there, doing it to us. For us."
-- Jurgen
Gothe, Disc Drive, CBC Radio Two
***
Obviously, I'll
be washing Jurgen's car (or grooming his cats) for
the rest of my life. :)
So, to all of you
who've been waiting for this, Thanks for your
patience.
And if you
haven't yet pre-ordered the new CD (or you've
pre-ordered but haven't paid yet) there's no time
like the present. My wife's Birkenstocks aren't
getting any cheaper.
To make it easy,
$20 includes shipping, handling and taxes for any
destination in North America ($25 outside of North
America). You can send a cheque or money order
payable to Redtail Records (address at the bottom
of this page), or, for you Paypal fans, just go to
my Merchandise page and click away on
the appropriate Paypal icon.
I am now
officially thrilled to announce that one of my
tracks (Invitation to Circumstance from
Red
Havens Rising) has indeed found its way onto that
remarkable compilation project I told you about by
Borealis Records: Six
Strings North of the Border II. It's a chance to show
off Canada's wealth of acoustic guitar talent in a
3-volume series that will eventually be available
as a box-set. Volume One featured the likes of
Bruce Cockburn, Don Ross, Stephen Fearing, Ken
Hamm, Bob Evans, David Essig, and Doug Cox (wow).
Volume II includes tracks by Colin Linden, Dave
MacIsaac, Terry Tufts, Alex Houghton, and about ten
others (including myself). This is one of those
times, like when I hear snipits of my tunes on CBC,
that I stop worrying about the crazy impossible
business of trying to build a music career and just
feel really grateful and honoured to be a wee part
of the great Canadian acoustic music scene (humble,
yet vibrant critter that it is). The CD was
released just before Christmas, and it is without
question the finest acoustic guitar sampler I've
ever heard. If you can't find it in your record
store, you can e-mail me at redtail@mts.net and
I'll set you up.
Cheers,
Art Turner
redtail@mts.net