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One of today's true innovators of guitar composition and technique, Don has emerged as one of the most respected musicians in Canada and one of the top guitarists in the world. In September 1996, he managed to do what no other player has done: win the prestigious U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship for the second time (he first won in 1988). The competition, held yearly in Winfield, Kansas, cannot be won only with immaculate technique, but the player's music must also display a high degree of emotion and intensity — hallmarks of Don's style. The son of a Scottish immigrant father and a Mikm'aq aboriginal mother, Don was born in 1960 into a musical family. He first started experimenting with the solo possibilities of the acoustic guitar at the age of eight. By age ten he was playing in alternate tunings and exploring "fingerstyle" technique, a right hand

discipline similar to classical guitar playing. Preferring to write original music and

develop a personal style, Don's self-taught journey on the instrument has encouraged him to follow his musical intuition. The result is an unclassifiable musical style that borrows from jazz, folk, rock and classical music. When asked, Don usually pigeonholes his music as "Heavy Wood"! For more information, see http://www.gobyfish.com

I can't quite explain it. All I remember is getting a banjo for Christmas when I was seventeen. The next thing I know, I'm going on thirty and somehow have managed to do nothing but play music ever since. When I first met Arnie he played me a tune called "Banjo Tramp." When I asked, "What's a banjo tramp?" he said, "You!"

So what Happened In between?

Lot's of good stuff. Playing in kitchens, bars, subways, sidewalks, stairwells, campsites, folk clubs, festivals, coffee shops, front porches, back porches, markets, bed, boats, cars and what not. I met all these new people, some of which were just like me and others that couldn't have seemed more different. Music was the common ground and they became my second family. The whole time I was wandering around Toronto with headphones in my ears, I became acquainted with a world of musicians most of whom I'll probably never meet but nevertheless seem like old friends.

Like a lot of other people who have come to this music from far away both in the sense of distance and time, I've spent a lot of hours wondering why it just seems to feel "right." All I can figure is that good music has no age and doesn't know anything about distance. I can also confidently say that a banjo, played right, is one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard, (especially if Kyle Creed is the guy playing it). Now here's something I just want you read. To me, it sums it all up better than I ever could.

" I think these musicians- I do it myself—each one is expressing his past, his present, what he should have been , and what he hopes to be. And he's expressing all of his sorrows, all of his happiness—if you study him close enough you can almost read his life. And I think when they're playing good, clean, honest music—banjo picking, guitar playing, fiddling—I think you're just as close to heaven as you’ll ever be."
Wilson Douglas- West Virginia Fiddler 1922-1999

Chris Coole plays in the Bluegrass Band "The Foggy Hogtown Boys" Their website is http://www.foggyhogtownboys.com/

Chris also teaches banjo in the Toronto area.

Email: [email protected]

My interest in banjo playing began after attending The Mariposa Folk Festival and Fiddler's Green Folk Club in Toronto in the mid 1970's. I was so impressed with hearing Michael Cooney and Ola Belle Reed that I was determined to get a banjo and become a singer of folk songs. I acquired a Stewart MacDonald Eagle banjo put together from a kit, and Pete Seeger's instructional book and was quickly able to handle the frailing style of playing.

Shortly after, I met Kurt Metzler who let me listen to his collection of recordings which opened up a new world of traditional music to my ears. I listened to music from the 1920's and 30's from the golden age of recorded stringband and early country music. Uncle Dave Macon, Charlie Poole and The North Carolina Ramblers, The Carter Family, The Delmore Brothers were among those included, as well as revivalists The New Lost City Ramblers- who were a major influence on my playing, and who were current exponents of this music they called "Old Time Music".

The following year banjo in hand, while waiting in line for tickets to The Mariposa Festival, some strangers with fiddles asked me if I'd play a tune with them. I sheepishly said that I was just a beginner and only knew two fiddle tunes, but I got out the banjo and my very first jam session was in the making. The realization that an instant connection could be made with total strangers through music had a profound effect on me. I started compiling a repertoire of fiddle tunes on the banjo in a more complex downpicking clawhammer style.

I attended other festivals that specialized in "Old Time Music" and thus became a part of a vast community of great players and wonderful people. I hung out with Pete and Ellen Vigour from Virginia who were, and still are inspirational to my musical development. The live presence of the music I was hearing was exciting and intoxicating, and gradually became absorbed into my very soul. I started performing with Kurt Metzler at various venues as "The Potatoe Pancakes" and we landed a job singing songs and playing instrumental music for a consecutive seven year stint in a pub.

I met my wife Kathy Reid within the music community and we began performing and playing music for country and square dances, clubs and festivals and music camps. We organized a weekly folk music performance with the goal of including good local performer's participation, and we named our duo "Ragged But Right". I met Chris Coole who quickly accumulated a repertoire of fiddle tunes on the banjo and together with Kathy on guitar and myself on fiddle, and later on Erynn Marshall on fiddle as well, performed as "The Extraordinary Stringband" and played southern style music for dances.

It was during our late night practices that Chris and I discovered that we had each composed some interesting banjo tunes of our own. We decided to record some of these along with some traditional music and the CD "5 Strings Attached With No Backing" was born. After encouraging feedback from the recording, we decided to do occasional club performances together. Volume 2 was recorded 3 years later. The Banjo Special featuring various styles of banjo music with Chris Coole, Chris Quinn, and Brian Taheny and myself is our latest recording project along with banjo extravaganza concerts.
Our newest recording THE BANJO SPECIAL is available now!

Email: [email protected]

More about Arnie and Chris: http://www.deepdownproductions.com/artists/banjo.htm

On paper, it doesn't look like it would work. They come from completely different backgrounds, and different sides of the street! When folk legend James Gordon moved in next door to pop legend Sandy Horne, it took a while before they tried working together musically. When they did, their combined experience and influences proved to be a very interesting combination. Now whenever their two busy calendars coincide, they are touring with their unique and appealing sound. Using his almost endless collection of original songs, James sings lead and plays guitar and piano. Sandy adds bass, vocals, and

hair to the proceedings, and sings a couple of her own songs in the process. This year their first recorded collaboration "One Timeless Moment" was released on Borealis records, and they've toured as a duo to Great Britain, the U.S. and all across Canada.

James Gordon and Sandy Horne cover a lot of musical territory in their new duo, with original songs ranging from the historical to the hysterical. They have discovered that their combined experiences with touring and recording in the folk and rock genres enables them to provide great insight to young people contemplating a career in the music industry. More at http://www.sentex.net/~gormorse/James%26Sandy.html

An Incredible Musician, Songwriter and Vocalist with 6 albums and several EPs as a member of the ‘SPOONS’. Since the SPOONS beginnings, they have earned 2 Certified

Gold Records, 2 Juno Nominations, and 7 Casby Awards. After a mutual departure from their record label, Sandy has been involved in 2 independent dance releases with Leon Stevenson (Extras). More recently she has adopted the acoustic guitar and has brought her vocals to the front line as founder of the ensemble known as ‘AMARIS’. Sandy Horne is now launching her career under her own name; writing, performing and recording a genre of music referred to as ‘Classical-Alternative’, initially developed and titled by Mishy and Nancy Rancourt. ‘AMARIS’ is excited to have recently been integrated as Sandy Horne’s backing ensemble. With shivers traveling throughout the line of your spine, you will be captivated by the intensity of Sandy Horne’s recent works. Sandy is now recording another CD. http://www.nancyrancourt.com/rock-alt-bio.htm.

James has spent more than twenty years toiling in the folk mines as a

solo singer-songwriter and with the ground-breaking trio Tamarack. He has

released over thirty albums, and has toured relentlessly across North America and

Great Britain. His classic "Frobisher Bay" was recently named "Favourite Canadian Song" in the roots category in a national CBC radio contest, and has been recorded by dozens of artists around the world. His new song "Funny Old World" was named of the "Ten Coolest Songs of the Week" by the Toronto Sun when it was released this spring.

He's written for symphony orchestras, dance and theatre works, film scores, written

family musicals as half of "Jim and Dave", and was heard on CBC radio across

Canada every two weeks with a new and very silly song for the Basic Black

program. Currently signed to Borealis Records, his retrospective double CD "MINING FOR GOLD" was released last year, and 2002's "One Timeless Moment" with Sandy Horne has given him a whole new sound and an enthusiastic audience.

Kathy Reid Naiman is a full time children's performer, and a member of Mariposa in the Schools, an organization dedicated to bringing quality musical experiences to school children in Ontario. She is also a member of the Children’s Music Network.

Her children's recordings " Tickles & Tunes " [winner of the 1999 Children’s Music Web Award for Classic Recording for Toddlers] and "More Tickles & Tunes " [ winner of a 1997 Parent’s Choice Silver Honor Award] and most recently "Say Hello To The Morning" , produced by Ken Whiteley, have become very popular with pre-school teachers and families with toddler's & young children. She has been teaching classes for

young children 6 months to 6 years old and their caregivers since 1982 in libraries in Ontario. She is currently running 17 classes a week, and all sessions have waiting lists. She has presented many workshops for teachers, camp counsellors, librarians and children’s musicians in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City.

More information at: http://www.interlog.com/~ragged/kathy_reid_naiman.html

Sourpuss is an Ontario based 5 piece acoustic band that plays roots and traditional blues and anything else that makes them feel good. "Kitchen Music" around the old cook stove. The set list includes a few old favorites, a couple of swing tunes and a bit of folk. Their music has won them friends and fans from Toronto to Peterborough and Oshawa to Bradford and one in Ottawa. The full band includes vocals, guitar, stand-up bass, harmonica and percussion. The band is fully house trained, obedient and will eat almost anything. More information, gigs, photos and sketches at www.sourpuss.com

This dynamic acoustic duo are a spin off band from Toronto's "Caution Jam". The Bluebudzz, who play classic blues, folk, and rock ‘n roll favorites, feature Mark Crissinger on acoustic guitar and Bruce Griffin on piano. Their new "Live at Jersey's" CD is an excellent representation of the show. Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman, Elmore James, the Bluebudzz travel through many genres as well as performing their own original material. The between song banter is hilarious and the crowd parties right along with them. Good times guaranteed for all!

For 33 years Morgan Davis has played the blues in Canada from Victoria, B.C. to St. John’s, Newfoundland, as well as in Europe and the U.S. Playing with a band for the first 25 years of his career, recent years have seen Davis make a successful transition to performing as a solo artist. His style is taut and tough, and relies on intensity rather than speed and pyrotechnics to make its point. He has played with, backed up, and opened for such blues greats as Sunnyland Slim, James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Snooky Pryor, Mel Brown, Elvin Bishop, Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Bukka White, Dr. John, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, John Hammond, Albert Collins, and many more.

Davis’ latest release "BLUES MEDICINE" is his first solo recording. It captures the music just as it is played live - singing and playing electric guitar. As always, a good dose of humour is present in his original tunes. His new CD "Painkiller" will be recorded this spring with plans for a release in fall 2003. Davis’ songwriting talent received international recognition when Colin James covered his composition "Why’d You Lie" (I’m Ready To Play; Bullhead Records 1982). Morgan will be at The Corner Coffee House on Saturday afternoon and evening, providing three hours of recorded Blues with instructional dialogue on the History of the Blues by a solo Blues concert. More information at: http://www.morgandavis.com

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