December 8th, 2006
Has anyone else noticed how the pace of life picks up as the holidays loom? We've already had a record snowfall in Edmonton, Santa is having parades in towns from Toronto to Texas, and any second now there will be more ho-ho-ho than reasonable people can cope with!
It's a great time for remembering friends, helping people discover new music, discovering some for ourselves, and preparing for what's going to be a VERY busy 2007.
HOLGER PETERSEN - President, executive producer, a&r director, etc., etc.
DUKE ROBILLARD NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY
Congratulations to Duke Robillard, who has been nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Traditional Blues Album" category for his Stony Plain album, Groove-a-Rama (SPCD-1316).
As always the title of the category is a bit of a misnomer - other nominations include Bronx in Blue by Dion (without The Belmonts!) and a retro-soul album by James Hunter, called People Gonna Talk. Others in the category include Ike Turner and Tab Benoit with Louisiana's Leroux.
HARRY MANX, KEVIN BREIT COLLABORATE ON EXCITING NEW PROJECT FOR STONY PLAIN
Two of the most innovative, exciting guitarists have collaborated on a new project for Stony Plain, titled - most aptly! - In Good We Trust.
The collaboration has created a special session; the tunes came one after the other - featuring brilliantly lucid improvisations from both artists, who reveled in their easy-going musical relationship.
Harry Manx, born in the UK, began his career in Canadian music as a rock and roll band roadie, spent years in Japan and then India, and emerged back in his homeland with a unique guitar style - a subtle mix of blues and Indian music - and the mastery of the mohan veena, a guitar/sitar hybrid instrument created by Indian musical guru Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
In recent years Kevin Breit has earned an international reputation as a result of his sterling work on recordings by Cassandra Wilson and, later, on Norah Jones' two multi-platinum hit albums. He toured extensively with both artists, playing in Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Africa and South America. He is also one of Canada's most in-demand studio players, appearing on CDs by hundreds of artists, including Serena Ryder, k.d.lang, and even Celine Dion and Anne Murray, as well as dozens of independent and alternative rock and jazz performers.
A previous collaboration between the pair, Jubilee, was released in 2003 on the NorthernBlues label, and earned enthusiastic critical response and two Juno nominations.
Stony Plain expects to release In Good We Trust in early spring next year.
MARIA MULDAUR GETS READY FOR STONY PLAIN RELEASE NAUGHTY, BAWDY AND BLUE
Naughty, Bawdy and Blue - that's the title of what will be the third in Maria Muldaur's series of classic blues releases for Stony Plain. The first two - Richland Woman Blues and Sweet Lovin' Old Soul - were both nominated for Grammy Awards.
It's a tribute to the vaudeville blues divas of the twenties, and this time Maria is accompanied by James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band, one of the best traditional jazz outfits working in the US today. Classic tunes - and rare ones too - by such greats as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace, and Ethel Waters are recreated with the usual style, panache and slyness that only Maria can bring to the suggestive vaudeville era blues featured on this album.
The CD was produced by Maria Muldaur and Ron Howard (who heads the non-profit American Music Research Foundation). Naughty, Bawdy and Blue will be released worldwide on Stony Plain next Spring.
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