Harwill serves up flavourful Catfish
Troubadour’s latest disc draws inspiration from late sideman
Being true to yourself doesn’t always make for an easy career. Ask Tim Harwill, a Thors bybased singer-songwriter who admits he sounds a bit different each time he hits the studio.
“I play the music that moves me and I don’t think too much about where it’s going to fit,” he says. “I suppose that’s one reason more people don’t know who I am.”
Harwill’s publicity material dubs him the “12-string troubadour.” You can hear elements of folk, country, rock and blues in the five albums he’s put out since 1998, pointing to that industry catch-all, Americana. While his new disc, A Tribute
To Catfish John, leans more toward country, it’s not without other influences, like a take on the jazz standard All Of Me. Blame it on “Catfish” John Peterson, Harwill’s late sideman, friend and mentor who inspired the album.
“He had a tremendous effect on my life and career and really changed how I view music. He gave me a greater appreciation for what my job was when I was wandering down the highway. He taught me a greater respect for the traditions I was a part of and the audiences I played to, and to exercise some care for my own talent.”
Peterson was a bassist, guitarist and singer who had been performing some 30 years when he joined Harwill as a sideman in 2002. For the next four years, they criss-crossed Western Canada, playing well over 400 gigs. Peterson died of cancer in 2009, and has been missed by Edmonton’s music community since.
It was Peterson who introduced Harwill to the 12-string guitar — which has become the singer’s regular axe — to the harmonica and to jazz standards like All Of Me.
Harwill’s love of roots music goes back to his rural Manitoba upbringing when he was raising on country, blues and rock. He had his first band at 15 and made his first recording with a trio called Harwill after moving to Alberta in the early 1990s.
The latest album features his regular band with bassist Fred Larose and drummer Paul Martineau and guests like fiddler Alfie Myhre. Guitarist Mike Beley will backup Harwill for the CD release show on Thursday at Jeffrey’s Cafe & Wine Bar, 9640, 142 Street.
The cover charge is $10. You can find Harwill’s music at itunes or get copies of the limited edition CD at the gig.
AYMAR ’ S ROAD SONGS
Toronto’s Jay Aymar is also married to the troubadour lifestyle, which explains the title track on his recent fourth release Passing Through.
“It’s inspired by my times on the road,” Aymar says. “Most of the tracks are new songs, but they just come from trying to survive as an artist. I used to write fiction, but now it’s pretty closely rooted in the experiences I have, the people I meet and talk to.”
When the singer-guitarist makes his overdue Edmonton debut on Thursday, he will be tapping into songs from that album and others, and a quietly penetrating acoustic folk sound that takes in tinges of country, blues, even Celtic.
After some 20 years of making music, Aymar’s songs are starting to win him notice in some impressive corners of the industry. He was nominated as Emerging Artist of the Year in the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards, and four years ago he was thrilled to have a song covered by Ian Tyson, My Cherry Covered
Rose, that wound up on Tyson’s Yellowhead To Yellowstone album.
Growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Aymar began playing guitar at 16, but music remained pretty much of a hobby until 1993, when he entered a CBC competition and won the chance to record a five-song demo.
Jay Aymar opens for The Threads at the Haven Social Club, 15120-A Stony Plain Road, on Thursday. Tickets are $8 in advance from www. yeglive.ca or $10 at the door.
P I NEO’ S TR IO, WORKSHOP
One of Alberta’s finest folk-blues artists, Calgary singer Steve Pineo is back in town on Friday with his Blue Monday trio, playing material from their recent release
Hard-wired To The Blues. And for guitar nuts, there’s a followup workshop Saturday morning.
Uptown Folk Club hosts the show at Expressionz Cafe (9938 70 Ave.) on Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance at Myhre’s Music or Acoustic Music Shop, $15 at the door.
The workshop covers acoustic guitar styles and songwriting and runs on Saturday at Expressionz at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $5 for members, $10 for non-members.