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 | | | NEWS | | | | Andrew White - Traces of Silver CD Release Tour New Zealand 2008Monday, January 07, 2008During the past year, musician Andrew White has being taking audiences across North America by storm with his technically amazing work on the fret-board and his soulful songs. He has toured both Canada and the UK, coast to coast with the critically acclaimed production, International Guitar Night, featuring four of the worlds most foremost acoustic guitarists. He was flown by the Canadian military to perform for the troops in the most northerly station in the world, CF Station Alert, 400kms‘ from the North Pole. His album Andrew White - Live was nominated for an East Coast Music Award in Canada and he and he has just recorded his eleventh album Traces of Silver released on Candyrat Records in Milwaukee. An impressive year for an artist who started his career busking on the streets of Auckland. Coming from humble musical beginnings, Andrew White is now an internationally acclaimed finger-style guitar virtuoso and is endorsed by Yamaha Guitars in Canada, where he now lives. Worldwide he has sold over 1-million albums and is represented by one of North America's most prestigious booking agencies.
Andrew White has toured internationally as a soloist and supporting superstars such as Irish folk rock group Clannad, The Corrs, Michelle Shocked, Tommy Emanuel, The Indigo Girls, Taj Mahal and many more. He also toured with Scots folk outfit Capercaillie and took a 50,000-strong German festival audience by storm in a pairing with New Zealand's own Brendan Power, the harmonica sensation from the Riverdance Orchestra. So far, he has recorded eleven albums, including Islands, a collaboration with Grammy-nominated artist David Arkenstone. Following a live broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, his album Celtic Gypsy, a stunning instrumental album featuring 16 hauntingly beautiful original tracks and recorded at Kare Kare Beach, was snapped up by Linn Records and distributed throughout Europe and North America. Andrew's first vocal album, Pray For Rain, features such artists as Karen Matheson (Cappercaille), Michael McGoldrick (Afro Celt Sound System), and Brendan Power (Sting, Ray Charles). Released on the independent Scottish label Vertical Records and produced by Capercaillie founder Donald Shaw, it is a skilful recording with a unique mix of styles, strengthened by Andrew's brilliant guitar playing and soulful vocals. In January of 2005, he released Andrew White - Live, recorded by CBC Radio Canada originally for the Atlantic Airwaves program and broadcast to over 2-million people.
Accompanying the release of this highly anticipated new album, Traces of Silver, are sets of transcriptions of both original instrumentals and songs from the CD. During his New Zealand tour he is also re-releasing two albums from his earlier discography, Conversations and Celtic Gypsy (Ode Records - New Zealand) which have had great consumer demand and haven't been available for some years.
Joining Andrew on his New Zealand CD release tour is violinist Gillian Boucher. From the small Island of Cape Breton in Eastern Canada, Gillian has toured the world as a solo artist and with various ensembles. Her unique musical approach and cross-over between traditional Celtic music and contemporary makes her a sought after working musician in Canada and abroad. She frequently accompanies Andrew on stage and her music can be found on Andrew's last two recordings. Please visit www.myspace.com/gillianboucher for a detailed biography as well as audio and video samples.
All tour date details can be found on www.andrewwhitemusic.com and www.myspace.com/andrewwhiteband.
Andrew White - Traces of Silver Tour Dates
Jan. 1-2 Tui Farm Folk Fest, TUI
Jan. 11 The Bush Lounge, KARAMEA
Jan. 18 Cinema Paradiso, WANAKA
Jan. 19 Red Cliffs Café, TE ANAU
Jan. 20 New Edinburgh Folk Club, DUNEDIN
Jan. 25 Hot Mamas, MOTUEKA
Jan. 26 The Mussel Inn, TAKAKA
Feb. 7 Bar Bodega, WELLINGTON
Feb. 8 Folk Club, LEVIN
Feb. 10 Century Theatre, NAPIER
Feb. 15 Eggsentric Café, WHITIANGA
Feb. 16 Nectar Lounge, THAMES
Feb. 17 Hauraki House, COROMANDEL
Feb. 20 Dogs Bollix, AUCKLAND
Feb. 22 Nisbett's Packhouse, KATI KATI
Feb. 23 Sawmill Café, LEIGH
Mar. 15 Forum North, WHANGAREI
Mar. 17 Globe Theatre, PALMERSTON NORTH
Mar. 18 Kapiti Live Music Club, KAPITI
Mar. 20 Le Café, PICTON
Mar. 22 Folk Club, BLENHEIM
Mar. 27 Penguin Club, OAMARU
Mar. 28 Easy Way Café, GERALDINE
Mar. 29 Harbour Light, LYTTLETON
All dates subject to change. Please check the calendar page on www.andrewwhitemusic.com for updates and show details. | | |  | | | | | Andrew White - Traces of Silver - CD New ReleaseSaturday, October 27, 2007Andrew White - Traces of Silver - CD & Tablature Release
Traces of Silver was recorded and filmed at the Silver Glen Resort in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2007. This CD was recorded by Rob Poland of Candyrat Records, Milwaukee, and is available exclusively from the Candyrat Records website. It is a collection of vocal and instrumental songs with a single duet performed with Gillian Boucher on violin.
Accompanying the release of this highly anticipated album are sets of guitar transcriptions available for digital download. You will find audience favourites like Spanish Gentleman, St. Patrick's Parade, and Holy Island which you can purchase in sets of three.
Since moving to Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2003, Andrew White has been taking Canadian audiences by storm with his intricate and mind-blowing finger-style guitar technique and soulful songwriting. His last album Andrew White - Live was recorded live by CBC Radio Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the Atlantic Airwaves program. During this past year he has toured Canada coast to coast and the UK with the renowned finger-style guitar ensemble International Guitar Night (IGN) and will be touring Italy in 2008 with the same line-up.
To date worldwide, over 1-million copies have been sold of albums including Andrew's compositions.
| | | | | International Guitar Night UK Tour Dates AnnouncedSaturday, September 01, 2007
INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT (IGN) is the longest-running "mobile guitar festival" in North America. Each year, IGN founder Brian Gore of San Francisco is joined by three of the world's foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a public concert setting.
IGN's first annual European Tour, featuring Peppino D'Agostino, Antoine Dufour and Andrew White, will take place in the fall of 2007.This tour is supported by a live recording on Pacific Music, Warner Canada.
IGN has teamed up with Acoustic Guitar Magazine and Sutherland Trading for a special guitar and string raffle in support of the first ever IGN tour in the United Kingdom. Audiences who come to the show have a chance to win a Stonebridge Guitar like the one that is played by Antoine DuFour and Brian Gore on the tour. Additionally, we will be raffling cases of Dean Markley strings at select venues throughout the tour.
Tour Dates:
International Guitar Night Fall 2007 UK Tour with Peppino D’Agostino, Andrew White, Antoine Dufour and Brian Gore
September 27, BBC Radio, SCOTLAND
September 28, Balmaclellan, The Glenkens, SCOTLAND
September 29, The Platform, Morecambe, ENGLAND
September 30, Alexander's (tbc), Chester, ENGLAND
October 2, venue tbc, Glasgow, SCOTLAND
October 3, Lemon Tree Arts Centre, Aberdeen, SCOTLAND
October 4, venue tbc, Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
October 5, Glenuig Guitar Festival, Glenuig, SCOTLAND
October 6, Ullapool Guitar Festival, Ullapool, SCOTLAND
October 7, venue tbc, Fochabers, SCOTLAND
October 8, Bein Inn, Glenfarg, SCOTLAND
October 9, Bein Inn, Glenfarg, SCOTLAND
October 11, venue tbc
October 12, Ards Guitar Festival Ards, N. IRELAND
October 13, Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford, ENGLAND | | |  | | | | | BRENDAN POWER and ANDREW WHITE 2007 tour dates announcedWednesday, January 24, 2007Harmonica sensation BRENDAN POWER and guitar virtuoso ANDREW WHITE to perform at various locations throughout the province during February and March of this year.
Andrew and Brendan met over two decades ago whilst both living in Auckland, New Zealand, however, it is only when Andrew moved to Britain in late ’98 that they started to perform together. Their debut performance was at the 1999 Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, and they have since toured festivals and clubs in Denmark, Germany, Scotland, England, and Ireland.
Brendan & Andrew's first album together is a live recording of their Feb 2000 Irish tour, imaginatively titled Live In Ireland which they will be promoting during their tour next month. Though a new combination, the duo’s powerful blend of passion and virtuosity have made a big impression on audiences. This is guitar and harmonica at it’s finest, a show one should make every effort not to miss!
“...the intense, tight-knit interaction between the two players suggests a true powerhouse partnership in the making." the SCOTSMAN
Brendan Power is a New Zealander who has developed a considerable reputation for his concert and recording work featuring the harmonica. Equally at ease on both the earthy Blues Harp as well as the sophisticated Chromatic Harmonica, he employs his own custom tunings to breathe fresh life into an often typecast instrument - especially in his original compositions, which feature on several of the 12 instrumental CDs he has released to date..
"Brendan Power reaches astonishing heights of technical brilliance..." The Guardian, London
Since arriving to live in London, England, in 1992, Brendan's stylistic flexibility and sympathetic ear have earned him some high-profile session work in a variety of musical fields. He has recorded and toured with pop artists Sting, Desree, Van Morrison, Mel C (Ex-Spice Girl), Paul Young and Shirley Bassey, classical guitarist John Williams, flautist James Galway, and Irish singer Mary Black, amongst others. He has twice toured as guest soloist in Japan, China and Russia (including two shows in the Kremlin) with the legendary Paul Mauriat Orchestra, played the Royal Festival Hall as soloist under Carl Davis, and played with Sting's band in several TV appearances. From 1996 to 1999 he toured Europe and Australasia as member and soloist with the band in the Riverdance Show.
Other session work includes numerous TV jingles and several Hollywood film soundtracks, among them Love Actually, starring Hugh Grant, Crossroads (Britney Spears), Shanghai Noon (Jackie Chan), The Next Best Thing (Madonna), and Pushing Tin (John Kusack, Kate Blanchett).
Since moving to Nova Scotia in 2004, Andrew White has become a familiar name among musicians and residents of Atlantic Canada. Originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England, Andrew and his family emigrated to New Zealand when he was 16 and quickly gained recognition as one of the country’s top acoustic guitarists.
His stunning and original technique never overpowers the music however, and the beauty of his unique style and compositions soon attracted notice outside New Zealand. He has toured internationally as a soloist and supporting superstars such as Irish folk rock group Clannad, The Corrs, Michelle Shocked, The Indigo Girls, Taj Mahal and many more..
Most recently Andrew was a member of International Guitar Night, a show that brings together the world’s foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a public concert setting. The show toured across Canada in the fall of 2006 to 23 standing ovations, including performances in Nova Scotia’s Chester Playhouse and Membertou Centre in Sydney.
“It is no stretch at all to describe White as the Art Tatum of the guitar.” The Chronicle Herald
This coming spring, Andrew will be officially releasing two highly anticipated albums. ‘Tales from the Wood’ is a solo-acoustic compilation of Andrew’s most recent instrumental material. The second album, ‘Angels and Devils,’ is a collection of ragtime/blues songs and instrumentals.
Joining both on stage with be special guest and local musician Gillian Boucher who’s debut violin album will be recorded by CBC radio in May 2007.
“...Boucher enthralls, not only with the serene beauty of her music, but with her stage persona and skills.” The New Zealand Herald
| | | | | ECMA Nominees announced!Wednesday, December 13, 2006CBC Galaxie Rising Star Recording of the Year:
Andrew White (Andrew White - Live)
David Myles (Things Have Changed)
In-Glight Safety (The Coast is Clear)
Rose Cousins (If you Were for Me)
Ruth Minnikin (Folk Art)
| | |  | | | | | INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT - ReviewSaturday, November 11, 2006Review by Stanley Fefferman for Showtimemagazine.ca
Featuring Andrew White, Antoine Dufour, Peppino D’Agostino & Brian Gore
Presented by Smallworld Music at Harbourfront Centre Theatre
The audience that dropped in to hear this international forty-fingered guitar-picking tune-up had a turned on night all right. The four composer/virtuosos originating from the U.S, Canada, the U.K., and Italy, collaborated in a program of solos, duos and a quartet, whose silky-steely harmonies captured and enraptured the house.
Brian Gore, founder of the IGN tour, opened the show with the mellifluous ripple of a Castilian-influenced composition of his own punctuated with rhythmic taps and thumps on neck and body of his Frantisek Furch Stonebridge guitar. His smile, as brilliant as his playing, magnetized the audience. He followed up with a composition played in a tuning that just happened one day while the pegs of his guitar fell against furniture. Gore’s music has that kind of happy acceptance. And humour there is in “Dutch Crunch,” a rhythmic tune celebrating potato chips with strums sweeping from the bridge up the fingerboard alternating with percussive chords.
Brian introduced IGN’s newest member, Antoine Dufour, who was in the audience at IGN’s concert in Montreal last year, got an audition after the performance, and was invited onboard. A winner in 3 major fingerstyle guitar competitions, Antoine’s approach, somewhat formed under the influence of Don Ross, mixes rock with classical, funky groove with folk. His composition “Funky-Tonk” tells you even by the title about the bright energy Dufour adds to the show.
Andrew White, now from Nova Scotia, bounced in under a black pork-pie hat with a raggish composition, elegant in its simplicity. He followed that with the best song in the program up to that point, a quick-fingered piece based on a Celtic drone highlighted with harmonics that puts him in a class with Tommy Emmanuel and Tony McManus.
The personality of the night was Peppino D’Agostino. Peppino fulfilled his claim that the solo fingerstyle guitar is a mini-orchestra. He opened with “Beyond the Dune”, a Macedonian- inspired composition in 7/8 time that progressed by a chordal melody full of the passion and drama of the Eastern Mediterranean. He followed that with the best single composition of the evening, his ballad “Close to Heaven”, a delicate, lacy number sonorous with bell-like tones.
Peppino also pulled off the virtuosic feat of the night with his arrangement of Brazilian composer Edu Lobo’s “Porteo”. Peppino blends Afro rhythms with the percussive beat of Flamenco ‘zapateados’, zingy slide runs and sounds that mimic the berimbao, a percussion bow used in capoeira, the Brazilian sport combining martial arts and dance. This Peppino accomplishes by ‘in-mid-flight’ tuning of his bass E string down and down and down again for a bass line effect, till he’s ready to bring all back home in perfect tune. We also liked the number Peppino wrote for his duo with Andrew White–who once lived in New Zealand–thus the title, “Kiwis and Tomatoes”.
The audience, which was composed of a large contingent of guitarists, rewarded IGN with several standing ovations. But let us give the last word to an audience member who was at her first guitar concert. Subhadra Vijaykumar, an international concert artist on the Carnatic violin who teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Mississauga Campus, had this to say:
Subhadra Vijaykumar: I have enjoyed it. I really like Andrew White the most. He is a mature player. He brings mastery to what he was playing. He had the audience very quiet for most of the time, which always is a sign that the playing is of a very high standard.
STM: What elements did you find in common with Indian music?
SV: I am a novice when it comes to playing the guitar, but it reminded me of good music. At times when I heard a phrase and heard it repeated, it would remind me of Indian music. Some series of notes and phrases, progressions and dynamics that they played are similar to Indian music
I also enjoyed the percussion. I had no idea, until I heard Brian Gore play his first number, that the guitar was capable of being a percussive instrument. In the end, he produced all kinds of remarkable sounds. I am looking forward to hearing more.
| | | | | ANDREW WHITE RETURNS TO U.K.Tuesday, September 12, 2006
For Immediate Release:
Andrew White, the acclaimed singer-songwriter and finger style guitarist, is returning to play his first dates in England and Scotland for several years. Best known in these parts for his 2001 Linn Records release ‘Guitarra Celtica’ and his 2002 Vertical Records release ‘Pray For Rain’, White has since gone on to record a live solo album with CBC Radio in Canada where he is now based. The visit follows on from sold-out tours of Ireland and New Zealand with Australia's guitar-magician Tommy Emanuel and successful solo tours of both Canada and New Zealand.
Andrew White will soon be releasing a highly anticipated new vocal album and in its anticipation his long overdue tour kicks off in Dargate at the end of September. The show moves to Scotland on October 5th with a date in The Universal (Glasgow). Andrew White will be joined on tour by Cape Breton fiddle virtuoso Gillian Boucher and on certain dates by harmonica sensation Brendan Power and the exciting young pipe duo Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson. He will join Beppe Gambetta for a night at The Ullapool Guitar Festival which promises to be one of the highlights of this tour.
For full tour dates and further info please visit www.ucmusiclive.com | | | | | 'White Hot Musician' - British-born singer-songwriter following his life-long dreamWednesday, September 06, 2006
The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, NS
By STEPHEN PEDERSEN Arts Reporter
A MUSICIAN’S lifestyle is full of opportunities to contribute to your self-destruction — and enjoy it along the way," says guitarist and singer/songwriter Andrew White.
He speaks softly with a hint of an Irish accent, though he was born and raised in England’s far north, just below the Scottish border.
"Music nearly destroyed my life — but it also saved my life, saved my sanity," he explains. "Every girlfriend I ever had I told, "never come between me and my music — you will lose.’ "
But that was before the arrival of Lily Rose, his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter with his wife, Cape Breton fiddler Gillian Boucher.
"Of course when Lily came along, to begin with, I was in shock," White said. "It took me a good two years (to get used to being a father). A child puts you so much in touch with your heart. It has affected my life and my writing. Now I can’t imagine life without Lily."
Because her mother and father are both working professional musicians — Boucher is currently playing in Mary Jane Lamond’s band and making a TV show called Celtic Angels produced by Charlie Cahill — Lily has already flown on over 30 international flights, and has been around the world two or three times. And she’s not yet four.
White has roamed the world with his guitar since he was 16, writing songs and stunning audiences with his flamboyant technique.
At the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival last month, a friend approached me on the waterfront stage and asked if I had heard Andrew White yet. I hadn’t.
"Don’t miss him," said my friend. "He sounds like three guitars!"
Then I heard him. And he does.
But when I asked White to define his style, he shook his head and said, "I don’t know what I am — an acoustic guitar player. I don’t think of myself as a musician. I feel a bit of an impostor. I can’t read a note of music."
For White independence and finding things out for himself have been a way of life since childhood. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in Northumberland County, England.
His father died when he was six. His mother remarried when he was seven, and he was sent off to the first of two boarding schools when he was eight.
It is not surprising that he disappeared from school once and ran away twice before he was 13. "When I disappeared they found me up a tree listening to the radio and reading The Lord of the Rings," White said. "When I was nine or 10, three of us ran away from Corchester School in Carbridge. We were caught by the police and beaten by the headmaster.
"At 13, I ran away from Rossall School in Lancashire. I planned it all out. I was going to go to a seaside cottage and catch fish. There was a big alert. The police were looking for me. The school was near Blackpool (on the West Coast). I got as far as Newcastle and just missed my bus connection.
"When I got home, my stepfather said, ‘I’m taking you back in the morning.’ I told him, ‘If you do, you’ll never see me again.’ "
That was the end of White’s formal education.
White’s first intense musical experience happened in the piano room at Corchester. He sat on the bench, looking at the keys. Instead of playing he hit the pedals with his feet and kept them down. "The sound was like lights in a far-off city fading away," he said. "I was actually into meditation."
White started playing the guitar at 13. He was fascinated by a recording of Ralph McTell singing, among other songs, his iconic The Streets of London.
"I fell in love with the music," White said.
"My brother had a guitar but he wouldn’t let me use it. After I ran away he shunned me. If he found out I’d been playing his guitar, he hit me. I knew I had to make the most of the time. I got some guitar chord books and started picking right away. I started loving hearing and playing music — listened to all the English contemporary folk singers — McTell, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.
"I was advised to keep playing. And that’s all I’ve done — playing and travelling."
At 16, White moved with his family to New Zealand. He entered a guitar competition at the Auckland Boat Show where he won $50, two dozen bottles of Coca-Cola and two tickets to see Bo Diddley. Not long after he secured a gig to back up Seals and Crofts at an Auckland Town Hall concert.
In 1977, White’s life took one of its most dramatic turns. At the Nambassa Festival in New Zealand, a music/arts/crafts show which he calls a "spiritual supermarket," he decided to go to India and to seek enlightenment through Zen Buddhist zazen meditation at an ashram. He stared at a wall for 14 months, accepting blows from a flat stick to concentrate his mind. Then, one day his teacher touched him on the head and he experienced a profound breakthrough in which, he says, his sense of self entirely disappeared.
The bliss he felt dissipated after a while, but after 10 years both in India and North America, White went back to England, removed his orange robe, put on blue jeans and a shirt and joined a band.
In the years since, always playing, always travelling, never until recently putting down roots, White wrote about 250 songs and made seven recordings. And the songs won’t let him alone.
"People think that when a song is recorded you’re finished with it," he said. "But a song is like a kid — it keeps growing. I’ve got about 250 ‘kids.’ Songs are living entities; every time you sing one it’s different. It’s a constantly moving, breathing phenomenon. When you record a song it’s like taking a photograph of your child.
"When you listen to a song, you’re listening to a photograph."
Being on the road all the time means you don’t have much opportunity to practise. But White thinks the new Yamaha Silent Guitar he has been demonstrating for the company this summer is the ideal answer. It’s electronic, a straight stick with removable bouts — empty hoops that give you the feel of a guitar but are not necessary to the sound.
"I’ve tried to sit at the back of the bus and play acoustic, but you can’t hear yourself. With the Silent Guitar you can plug in headphones and it sounds like you are playing in the Albert Hall. When you take it apart it fits into the overhead locker on a plane.
"You can strap it on and walk through a forest practising. Lily Rose can play outside and I can walk around with the guitar and watch her."
White met Gillian Boucher at a Celtic Connections concert in Glasgow six years ago. Lily was born in Ireland. They live in Cape Breton and when one is on the road, the other takes care of Lily, unless they are all on the road together.
White plans to be an at-home dad for most of September working on songs for his new album, while Boucher tours into the U.S. with Mary Jane Lamond. Upcoming concerts in the fall include gigs in England and Scotland, a pair of them with frequent concert partner Brendan Power, River Dance’s virtuoso harmonica player.
On Saturday, White will play in Halifax in a marathon concert in the Seahorse Tavern produced by The Music For Good Society to benefit the Nova Scotia Kiwanis Music Festival. It’s a 12-hour show beginning at 2 p.m. and also features Asif Illyas, Paul Lamb, Thom Swift, Georges Hebert and many others.
White’s life so far has taken many twists and turns, but one thing has never failed him — he’s always followed his dream. "That’s the secret," he said, "Follow your passion, follow your dream. I don’t have the financial rewards but that was never part of my dream. It is now. When it becomes part of your dream, it does start to happen.
"I’ve lived a remarkable life, been all over, visited the most interesting places — all because of a dream. One of my dreams is to play at the Royal Albert Hall. Meanwhile, I want to tour, record and keep playing. I want to build a house for my family, and pray for world peace."
| | | | | Exciting, fiery performances at the Folk Harbour FestivalTuesday, August 15, 2006The Chronicle Herald
By STEPHEN PEDERSEN Arts Reporter
THEY CAME IN GREAT numbers to see Joel Plaskett in the Mainstage Tent show Saturday night at the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival. It was a standing-room-only crowd and they were excited just to be there.
Plaskett gave them even more than what they remembered and hoped for, except they hadn’t quite remembered it as being so extraordinarily exciting.
What they didn’t expect, and what sent them through the roof before intermission, with Plaskett to follow first thing after, was Andrew White. His explosive, in-depth, multiple-voiced, orchestrally coloured, floridly ornamented style, in which one speaks not of phrases but of episodes, sewn together with scale passages as blinding as lightning flashes right between the eyes, staggered the ears while the mind battled with disbelief.
It is no stretch at all to describe White as the Art Tatum of the guitar.
White has roved the world, from Northumberland in England to New Zealand and all the way down to his current holding station in Cape Breton’s Inverness. Of one thing you can be sure — so long as he was able to play guitar, he could never have gone hungry.
White is a two-handed, ten-fingered guitar player who also uses the heel of his hand to get a single guitar to sound like three and a drummer. Hammering on, plucking off with the left hand as he plays notes and chords, throwing in artificial harmonics wherever, with fanatical resourcefulness, he can fit them in; shaking his guitar in the air to make the echoing tone shiver like the Northern Lights — he called on any of these techniques at any given time and all of them in his last tune, which drove the crowd out of its collective (and individual) mind.
His songs were also beautiful and he sang them in a clear, strong voice; tunes about Holy Island off the coast of Northumbria, settled by monks in 486; Martin’s Blues, which gave rise to another of his mind-boggling solo breaks; When Tommy Played Guitar, and a last tune in which he finished with an array of artificial harmonics exploding like a starburst firecracker full of bells.
It became clear long before his encore that White’s brain is hardwired into the guitar. He thinks not in words or images but in guitar sounds. Every aspect of his feeling instantly finds utterance there.
And then there was Joel Plaskett after intermission, playing songs from La De Da among others, with his dad, Bill Plaskett, Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival co-founder, backing him up on mandolin, guitar and vocals, and singing lead in the traditional Jim Jones, about being transported to Australia for crimes committed at home in England.
Joel’s songs ranged from She Made A Wreck Out of Me to Happen Now and Love This Town with a last verse especially written for his hometown of Lunenburg. Plaskett brings a rock edge of defiant energy to his acoustic repertoire. His songs are unique in every concert, even though he’s sung them many times before. But where other performing groups replay their tunes, he re-invents his on the spot. The spontaneity of this performance style makes them sound improvised, and they are fine, acutely trimmed, expressive songs. For each he immerses himself in the mood and truth of it, senses the crowd and picks his lines out their energy.
His set becomes an open feedback system with the audience. He even uses the bad kind of feedback that happens on stage sometimes when a guitar amp gets too close to a mike and we all plug our ears against the electronic shriek. In The Light of the Moon, a spooky tune which Joel played on electric guitar, muttering "this sounds good with a little acid," he got the feedback, rode it up and slapped it off with dramatic effect before it went ballistic. He juggles everything that happens, throws in one-liners without breaking stride, and plays the audience like it was an instrument.
Plaskett also talks to his soundmen all the time—a little less guitar for this one, for this a little more—the mark of a professional star-performer. He is so self-confident on stage that when he needs to adjust a drooping microphone, he does so with a simple gesture, never breaking the mood.
His was a difficult act to follow, but Winnipeg’s House of Doc brought it off as the final act of the night. Matthew Harder on guitar, Rebecca Harder on banjo, flute and whistle, Dan Wiebe on guitar and harmonica and Jesse Krause on double-bass, call their style of mixed country, gospel, bluegrass and original songs: "prairiegrass."
Everybody’s Gotta Wait in Line, Children Go Where I Send Thee, Standing at the Crossroads, Gravestones in Namaka were all played and sung with youthful enthusiasm and well-grounded musicianship. They began their career as an acapella quartet singing in church, and that is their sense of style: robust, a little rough around the edges, and always full of fire. | | | | | Andrew White to join fellow fingerstyle guitar virtuosos Brian Gore, Peppino D’Agostino, and Antoine Dufour for International Guitar Night 2006 TourTuesday, June 20, 2006THE INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT (IGN) brings together the world’s foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a public concert setting. Each touring season, IGN founder Brian Gore invites a new cast of guitar luminaries to join him for special evenings of solos, duets and quartets that highlight the virtuosity and diversity within the world of acoustic guitar.
After five U.S tours, the International Guitar Night made its first foray into Canada in January, 2005, with three successful concerts in Quebec. At the urging of the Quebec presenters, we have put together a special North American lineup of two Canadians and two Americans for a trans-Canada tour in November 2006. Dynamic fingerstyle guitarists Andrew White from Nova Scotia, Antoine Dufour from Quebec, and Peppino D’Agostino from California, will be joining Brian.
About the International Guitar Night
International Guitar Night is North America’s premier mobile guitar festival. Sponsored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, is the only production of its kind to have grassroots origins. Ever since its beginning in 1995 in a converted laundromat in the California Bay Area, IGN has featured the best performing guitar composers from around the world. Since the beginning, audiences have cherished the friendly informal ambiance of the performances. And participants have relished the chance IGN affords to express reverence for one another, and to collaborate rather than compete. The unique brand of “guitar positivity” the forum provides has helped make IGN the most successful guitar showcase of it’s kind in the US.
“With the International Guitar Night, Brian Gore has created a new niche for the myriad of styles that can be played by the unaccompanied acoustic guitar, as well as marvelous opportunity for virtuosos to interact and learn from one another onstage.”
~Michael Parrish,
Dirty Linen (100 th Anniversary Edition)
"A magical evening."
~Nikki Nelson
Cowichan Theater, Duncan BC
"The audience loved this show."
~Bruce Labadie
Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California
Please see Andrew's 'on stage' page for the complete International Guitar Night Canada 2006 Tour Schedule. | | |  | | | | | ANDREW WHITE voted an ACO listener MALE favorite artist for 2005!Sunday, January 01, 2006Thousands of radioioACOUSTIC listeners have made a special effort to add Andrew White to their “Radio Faves” list and as a result he has been voted by radioioACOUSTIC fans and listeners as one of the top four favorite male artists of 2005!
Please visit the radioioACOUSTIC website at www.radioio.com and show your support by rating Andrew’s new Live album!! | | |  | | | | | THE INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT - Live Concert RecordingSaturday, December 31, 2005Antoine Dufour, Peppino D’Agostino,
Andrew White and Brian Gore
Saturday January 14, 2006 8 PM
Unitarian Church – Victoria
5575 West Saanich Road – Across From Red Barn Market
THE INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT (IGN) brings together the world’s foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a public concert setting. Each touring season, IGN founder Brian Gore invites a new cast of guitar luminaries to join him for special evenings of solos, duets and quartets that highlight the virtuosity and diversity within the world of acoustic guitar.
After five U.S tours, the International Guitar Night made its first foray into Canada in January, 2005, with three successful concerts in Quebec. At the urging of the Quebec presenters, we have put together a special North American lineup of two Canadians and two Americans for a trans-Canada tour in November 2006. Dynamic fingerstyle guitarists Andrew White from Nova Scotia, Antoine Dufour from Quebec, and Peppino D’Agostino from California, will be joining Brian. The show in Victoria will be recorded for release on Warner Music and for the fall National tour.
Ticket $23 In Advance $25 at Door
Tickets Available at Gordies Music, Long & McQuade, Lyle’s Place,
Old Town Strings and the McPherson Box Office also by Phone at 386-6121 or through Pacific Music 598-1997.
Presented By Village 900, High-Tide Entertainment & Pacific Music
About the International Guitar Night
International Guitar Night is North America’s premier mobile guitar festival. Sponsored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, is the only production of its kind to have grassroots origins. Ever since its beginning in 1995 in a converted laundromat in the California Bay Area, IGN has featured the best performing guitar composers from around the world. Since the beginning, audiences have cherished the friendly informal ambiance of the performances. And participants have relished the chance IGN affords to express reverence for one another, and to collaborate rather than compete. The unique brand of “guitar positivity” the forum provides has helped make IGN the most successful guitar showcase of it’s kind in the US.
“With the International Guitar Night, Brian Gore has created a new niche for the myriad of styles that can be played by the unaccompanied acoustic guitar, as well as marvelous opportunity for virtuosos to interact and learn from one another onstage.”
Michael Parrish,
Dirty Linen (100th Anniversary Edition)
"A magical evening."
Nikki Nelson
Cowichan Theater, Duncan BC
"The audience loved this show."
Bruce Labadie
Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California
For Media Inquiries Please Contact –
Pacific Music Katrina or Mike @ 598-1997 - info@pacificmusic.net
The Performers:
ANDREW WHITE
....Biography
Andrew White, originally of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, moved to New Zealand when he was 16 and quickly established himself as one of NZ's top guitarists and singer-songwriters. He released his first album, Conversations, in 1984 and was immediately signed by the US label Narada Records.
So far, he has recorded ten albums, including Islands, a collaboration with Grammy-nominated artist David Arkenstone. Following a live broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, he was snapped up by Linn Records and recorded Guitarra Celtica, a stunning instrumental album featuring 16 hauntingly beautiful original tracks. This was followed by Andrew's first vocal album, Pray For Rain, features such artists as Karen Matheson (Cappercaille), Michael McGoldrick (Afro Celt Sound System), and Brendan Power (Sting, Ray Charles). Released on the independent Scottish label Vertical Records and produced by Capercaillie founder Donald Shaw, it is a skilful recording with a unique mix of styles, strengthened by Andrew's brilliant guitar playing and soulful vocals.
Andrew White has toured internationally as a soloist and supporting superstars such as Irish folk rock group Clannad, The Corrs, Michelle Shocked, The Indigo Girls, Taj Mahal. He also toured with Scots folk outfit Capercaillie and took a 50,000-strong German festival audience by storm in a pairing with Brendan Power, the harmonica sensation from the Riverdance Orchestra.
Andrew’s unique sound is difficult to describe. He was inspired in his youth by folk guitar greats Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch and John Renbourne but is of a generation even more mind-blowing in its dexterity and inventiveness on the fretboard. While technically brilliant, his guitar work is not just out to impress - it has a pleasing, highly melodic structure. In acoustic circles in Scotland, where he lived until recently, those who have been lucky enough to see him rate him on a par with Tony McManus, but in a different genre.
After sold-out tours of both Ireland and New Zealand with Australian Guitar Supremo Tommy Emmanuel followed by his own solo tour of New Zealand, Andrew resides in Nova Scotia with his family whilst working on a highly anticipated new vocal album.
ANTOINE DUFOUR
...Biography
Antoine Dufour is emerging as one of Canada’s young stars of acoustic, fingerstyle guitar. With a recent CD of original material that was released to critical acclaim, along with appearances and awards at major festivals, Antoine is building a national reputation for innovation and creativity. He will be touring across Canada in 2006 as a member of the International Guitar Night, an all-star evening of the best original guitarists/composers in North America.
Dufour was born in the little town of l’Epiphane, near Montreal. He started playing guitar at the age of 15. He studied at the CEGEP of Joliette, where his teacher made him listen to Leo Kottke, Don Ross and Michael Hedges. His life and his vision of the guitar changed, and since then he has been completely devoted to fingerstyle steel string guitar. His musical style is a mix of the powerful rhythms of rock, the sensibility of classical music, a funky groove, and a pure folk melody.
Dufour recently played at the 2005 Montreal Jazz Festival and at the 2005 Canadian Guitar Festival, where he was awarded 2nd prize in the Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. He has appeared in concert and given workshops throughout Quebec, produced a video in Fall 2003, and released his 2nd CD in 2004. Dufour’s style continues to develop, bounded only by his imagination and his technical dexterity. As he says, “The acoustic guitar is an instrument which has a very rich sound, and offers infinite possibilities to the player.”
PEPPINO D'AGOSTINO
...Biography
Guitarist Peppino D'Agostino immigrated twenty years ago to America to pursue his dream as both a composer and performer. Those early days as a struggling street musician (and sometimes house painter and vegetable seller) in San Francisco now seem far behind. Peppino has since released ten critically acclaimed albums and a DVD in the US, and two CDs in Europe. D'Agostino has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a poet...among the best talents around", lauded by Acoustic Guitar as "one of the most capable composers among fingerstyle guitarists," applauded by the San Diego Times as " potentially a giant of the acoustic guitar," and touted by Jazziz as a "phenom in the same league with John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Doc Watson and John Renbourn." A busy touring schedule has whisked him from Carnegie Hall to Wolftrap, and to music places such as the Vancouver Festival where he's shared the stage with such noted guitarists as Leo Kottke, Doc Watson, Chet Atkins, Laurindo Almeida, Michael Hedges, David Bromberg, David Grisman, John Lee Hooker, and Egberto Gismonti.
D'Agostino, who claims to have been "obsessed" with music since his childhood, is still exploring and expanding. Few can match Peppino's combined technical prowess and lyrical artistry on the steel string, and not many are as eager to challenge the limits of their instrument--using unconventional tunings, playing the notes on the fretboard only with the left hand while simultaneously creating percussive effects with the right hand and inventing a mini orchestra of sounds that, on first listen, seem almost impossible for one lone guitar.
Italian born D’Agostino was first drawn to the guitar after watching his cousin perform during church services in his hometown of Torino; the self-taught musician began picking out tunes by ear, and inspired by legends like Paco de Lucia, Leo Kottke and Carlos Santana, was composing and recording solo throughout Italy by the age of 18. Immigrating to San Francisco in 1984 to pursue his dream as a composer and performer, he paid his dues as a street musician before developing into a world renowned recording artist and performer critics have long hailed as “a poet…among the best talents around” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “one of the most capable composers among fingerstyle guitarists” (Acoustic Guitar magazine).
In addition to regularly performing concerts throughout North and South America, Canada and Europe, D’Agostino has been featured on numerous guitar samplers alongside greats like Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and John Scofield; written numerous guitar instructional books and videos; and in 1997 wrote, composed and produced a soundtrack for the feature length Italian movie Ardena, directed by Luca Barbareschi. D'Agostino was recently a featured guitarist in the World Guitar Ensemble, an ensemble composed of seven of the world's top classical guitarists and D'Agostino on steel string. His most recent recording is this year's Bayshore Road on Favored Nations.
BRIAN GORE
"Brian Gore's strong, well developed melodies and intriguing chord sequences set him apart from the myriad of steel-string fingerstylists who compose in open tunings. His finely crafted poetic "songs without words" take the listener on a spellbinding emotional ride.”
--Ron Forbes Roberts, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“An artist of the highest caliber.”
--Ray Toumey, the Boulder Chautauqua
San Francisco guitar poet Brian Gore is gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and influential performers of "the next generation" in fingerstyle guitar. A musical romantic, his compositions draw inspiration from myth and modern literature. Hailed as having "...one of the most unique new acoustic guitar styles on the scene today (News and Review)," his lyrical, understated compositions integrate classical and percussive techniques that display what the Los Angeles Times calls "a characterful bounce and spaciousness all his own."
Gore’s style of playing offers strikingly beautiful tone and dynamics-- qualities that are often hard to find in steel string players. His melodic, evocative songs rely heavily on the use of open tunings, extending the “stream of consciousness” style of guitar composing he grew up with in Northern California. “Music started out as a kind of therapy for me,” says Gore. “Consequently, I am a very emotional player. Now, my style of playing has also become a well honed craft. I am very grateful I can share this with people.”
His buoyant personality and odd sense of humor help add lightness to his shows. “By the time I’m done with a performance,” explains Gore, “people really know the meaning of the term ‘extroverted introvert’.” While Gore integrates some of the flashier percussive techniques into his pieces, the poetic quality of his music is preserved. “Because my music is simple and somewhat rootsy, it’s easy to relate to, which is something I’m thankful for. Also, it helps keep me grounded.”
Gore is an artist in residence at the Boulder Chautauqua, and endorses LR Baggs Equipment, Ryan Guitars and Morris Guitars. He is founder of the International Guitar Night, sponsored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. His first CD, produced by Peppino D’Agostino, is called The Path of Least Resistance. His second CD, Legacy: Solo Guitar and Duets, is available on Germany’s Acoustic Music Records Label. His music has been featured on NPR’s nationally syndicated Echoes Radio, and many other local public radio programs.
Brian founded The International Guitar Night in 1995 as a forum for the world’s finest guitarists/composers to play their latest original songs and share musical ideas with their peers in public concert. This has evolved into six critically acclaimed annual U.S. tours, and a CD on Favored Nations Records released in 2004.
| | | | | 'Andrew White - Live' available on Candy Rat Records!Thursday, November 17, 2005
CANdYRAT Records was officially launched on Novemeber 17, 2005. Their community of artists includes the likes of Don Ross, Robert Taylor, Del Veseau, Andrew White and many others.
CandyRat's mission: 'To feature the best music available with an emphasis on Fingerstyle Guitar and Bass, covering many genres.'
Visit www.candyrat.com and buy your copy of 'Andrew White - Live' today!
| | |  | | | | | New Andrew White Website Launched!!Tuesday, November 01, 2005Many thanks to Bob McNeill (MusicSitePro) and James Bond (Bond Signs and Design) for their great artistic contribution to the new site... we here at “Andrew White” HQ think it looks fabulous!
We’ve been working with a great program, MusicSitePro, for two years now and find it a wonderful way for musicians and artists to personalize their site and update it regularly with ease.
We’re still in the process of working out some of the finer details and the site will be undergoing minor changes over the next few weeks with the launch of our online store in conjunction with Indie-cd’s, coming soon.
Please keep checking for updates on Andrew’s upcoming new vocal album and tours! | | | | | Andrew White “unplugged” in Orangedale concertWednesday, June 22, 2005Inverness Oran
-by John Gillis
A small but appreciative crowd turned out Saturday evening at the Smith Community Hall fund-raising concert for the Orangedale United Church. The event featured singer/songwriter and guitarist Andrew White, fiddler Gillian Boucher, and the opening act Celtic duo of Ian Hayes on guitar and Jason Roach on piano.
White, who was born in England, immersed himself in the world of guitar in order to escape the loneliness of boarding school. He left school at an early age, and by the time he was sixteen had emigrated to New Zealand with his parents. He claims to have caught the “travel bug” in his youth. Many of his songs are lyrical snapshots which reflect the geographic and emotional landscapes of a long-time traveller.
White is an accomplished solo artist with several recordings to his credit, and he has toured the globe and performed with such notable musicians as Clannad, the Indigo Girls, Michele Shocked, and Capercaillie.
In his introduction to Andrew White, Bill Quimby recalled seeing him perform in one of the tent stages at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso. “Andrew played, and even J.P. Cormier’s jaw dropped,” said Quimby.
In his first set of the evening White displayed his mastery tone and finger-picking style guitar playing. He performed a number of his own instrumental compositions, including The Cape Breton Lobster Rag and several original songs. Through natural storytelling ability White engaged the crowd with his introductions to the songs and instrumental numbers.
The turning point of the show came early in the second half when White lost all amplification due to technical difficulties. He handled the situation like a pro and quickly turned the incident to his advantage. “That’s okay, we’ll just make do without it,” he told the sound technician. To the audience he added, “Why don’t you all just move right on up here to the front rows.”
One listener noted that the ear adjusted to the “unplugged” acoustics rather quickly and if anything, the setting became only more intimate and enjoyable and the audience more attentive.
Gillian Boucher, fiddler and wife of Andrew White, joined him on stage and opened her set with a beautiful waltz, followed by a number of memorable pieces - including Callum’s Road and Greenstone Water. The couple closed the concert with White’s lovely ode to an old friend - the song When Christy Whelan Sings. | | | | | 'White Pulls Strings on Stage' - Singer-guitarist launches live recording at Music RoomThursday, March 24, 2005The Chronicle Herald
By Stephen Cooke
Newcastle-born, New Zealand-bred folk singer-guitarist Andrew White has some experience being a stranger in a strange land.
But he still marvels at the chain of events that’s led him to live in Halifax with his Cape Breton-born wife Gillian and infant daughter Lily Rose. It’s certainly spurred him to make music; he’s releasing a new live album on Saturday at the Music Room on Lady Hamond Road at 8 p.m., performing in the same acoustically perfect space where the recording was made by CBC Radio.
“If somebody said to me while I was in America recording for Narada Records, think I was going to take over the world with my music, ‘Oh yeah mate, in 10 or 12 year’ time you’ll be living in Halifax,’ I would have said ‘Where the hell’‘s that?’,” laughs White over a hand-rolled cigarette on the sidewalk outside the Economy Shoe Shop.
“I knew there was one in England, I didn’t know there was one over here. But that’s how funny life is, I never would have imagined it. I went to London, I went to L.A. and all the places I thought you should go, but no, here I am in Halifax. And I find it a very, very bizarre place, because it’s not a place I would normally choose to come myself, but you could say that life chose it, my wife chose it, but I’ve found that I’ve created my best work in bizarre situations.”
White’s best work includes intricate guitar playing inspired by the likes of British folk legends John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, and a raspy voice that sings about his travels and the mysteries discovered along the way.
While staying in Halifax, White says he feels a slight feeling of isolation, and he’s not crazy about the weather after zero degree New Zealand winters, but at least the latter is behind him now.
“You could call it a strange manure, because you’d never imagine what could grow in it,” chuckles White, who has also been jamming with some local musicians with an eye towards playing in a band for the first time in years.
“I was over at the launch of the new Nova Scotia tourism campaign, I was playing for Mary Jane Lamond, and they’re focusing on the coast line and the history. But I have to say that as an outsider, you tend to see all the things that are amiss, because the people that live here are all used to it and tend to gloss over it.”
White cites pollution and the state of the homeless in Halifax as the flipside of the coin here, but doesn’t let the negatives outweigh the positives.
“But I actually find this a really creative place, and I wouldn’t have imagined it, and I certainly wouldn’t have imagined the response I’ve gotten from the people in this environment,” he says. “The people I’ve met are fantastic, there’s been maybe one or two complete (jerks), but otherwise the only gripe I can think of is the lack of taxis.”
White says all of that evaporates when he thinks of events like the Metro Centre tsunami benefit, where he sang a touching duet of the Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush ballad Don’t Give Up with his favourite local discovery; singer-songwriter Meaghan Smith.
He cites Smith as an example of the kind of talent that could blossom even further with a bigger spotlight shone on it.
“Creativity is what I’m all about , and I think it’s been fabulous while I’ve been here. This is a unique corner of the world, and I think there’s a highly underestimated creative pulse here, and I think the rest of the country should really pay attention.”
Tickets for the Music Room are $15 and are available from Musicstop on Cunard Street and Sam the Record Man on Barrington. | | | | | ATV/CTV presents: "Hold on to Them"Sunday, February 27, 2005On Sunday, February 27th gather your friends, family and colleagues and come to the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax and enjoy an extensive variety of truly fresh and unique entertainment.
It’s been two months since the Tsunami disaster, but the children of the devastation need for us to “Hold On To Them” with all proceeds going to UNICEF.
With two stages and more than 20 acts, it is an endless “entertainment buffet” with something for all ages. It is an opportunity to experience incredible entertainment - guaranteed to make your next corporate event or private function a memorable one!
PERFORMERS:
Stellari
Tim Heneberry
Pogey
Kidd Brothers
Michel Lauziere
Synergy Dance
Squid
Atlantic Cirque
Charlie A'Court
Patrick Drake
Canadian Idols Gary Beals,
Brandy Callahan &
Kaleb Simmonds
Norma MacDonald
Chad Doucette
Andrew White
Nadira
Derrick & The Swing Kings
Instumental Minstrels
Mike Trask & Mudhill
Lochaber
Nova Scotia Mass Choir
| | | | | MADLY OFF IN ALL DIRECTIONSSaturday, February 19, 2005Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Dalhousie Arts Centre
Saturday February 19th
"He flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions."
‘Gertrude the Governess’
Stephen Leacock
CBC Radio's hit comedy show Madly Off In All Directions with Lorne Elliott comes to the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Dalhousie Arts Centre. Now in it's 10th season on CBC Radio One, the show travels across Canada and features the best in Canadian comedy. Whether it's standup, sketch, improv, music, theatre, satire, poetry, recitation or commentary, you are sure to find it here in this comedy concert.
Host Lorne Elliott has been entertaining audiences in Canada and the United States for over 20 years. His unique style of story-telling, stand-up and songs makes him the perfect host for Madly Off… With the worlds smallest guitar slung over his shoulder, his lanky body supporting a mane of unruly hair, Lorne engages his audiences through intelligent dialogue and observation: his humour can be shared by young and old alike.
Joining Lorne for this special comedy concert will be the musical comedy of Bowser and Blue, 22 Minutes newest writer and stand-up comedian Kevin Fox, west-coast comic Tim Nutt, singer songwriter Andrew White, storyteller Simon Crisp, and more!
Madly Off In All Directions can be heard Sunday’s at 1:05 pm on CBC Radio One, 90.5 in Halifax. | | | | | Don Ross - Del Vezeau - Andrew White : 'SIX STRINGS AND COUNTING', A celebration of all things guitar...Saturday, February 12, 2005 Dalhousie Arts Centre - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium - Halifax 8pm
'Six Strings & Counting' A Celebration Of All Things Guitar...
Founder of the Canadian Guitar Festival and 'Six Strings & Counting' , Del Vezeau is probably the busiest promoter in Canada with respect to his presentation of world class guitarists.The upcoming February 12th event with Don Ross, Del Vezeau and Andrew White at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium is a perfect example. His exclusive work with guitar phenomenon Don Ross, "was certainly a great place to start" he proclaims, "...Don is one of my favourite composers. What he's come up with over the course of his career will be looked back on in 100 years as pivotal". Vezeau would rather draw the maximum amount of attention to this now and leave the writers of history to their own devices.
Del's production company, Vezco Productions, has just released the new dvd - 'Don Ross Live'. Fans have been clamouring for it for some time and now they will be able to show their friends what they experienced live, while some of the hardcore purists will be able to slow it down frame by frame and perhaps glean some small insight into ' what the heck he just did ' . Don Ross is busier than ever these days with a new record in the works for Narada/Virgin and a soon to be released, independent live album, which contains some remarkable recordings from around the globe.
The acoustic guitar offers an amazing amount of versatility to those who hold one. Tuning the strings out of standard pitch takes this versatility to new heights and what often results, is a dynamic ability to create music that is as full bodied as your morning coffee. Like coffee, the artists that hold the instrument offer a wide variety of flavours and the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium will hear two more on Saturday, Feb 12th.
Opening the show, Del Vezeau returns to the Cohn to perform some of his latest unrecorded work. He'll be followed by Nova Scotia's latest guitar resident, Andrew White. Born in the U.K. and raised in New Zealand, Andrew has been a ' tour de force ' in the world's music scene, both as a guitarist and a singer-songwriter. His prowess on the instrument is exact and sure; his vocals are thick and rich.
Both Don and Andrew will be performing at the 2nd Annual Canadian Guitar Festival in Odessa Ontario this July 22-24, 2005.
While virtuosity is the focal theme of 'Six Strings & Counting' , each artist will probably croon at least one or two. What you won't see? The three of them onstage together balancing fifty plates on sticks to the soundtrack of "The Return of the King". That would be showing off.
| | | | | ANDREW WHITE voted an ACO listener MALE favorite artist for 2005!Saturday, January 01, 2005
Thousands of radioioACOUSTIC listeners have made a special effort to add Andrew White to their “Radio Faves” list and as a result he has been voted by radioioACOUSTIC fans and listeners as one of the top four favorite male artists of 2005!
Please visit the radioioACOUSTIC website at www.radioio.com and show your support by rating Andrew’s new Live album!!
| | | | | 'White Settles in Halifax'Thursday, December 02, 2004The Halifax Daily News
By Sandy MacDonald
Since the first time he ran away from his oppressive English boarding school at age 13, Andrew White has been restlessly on the move. At 16, he moved with his family from his native Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to New Zealand, and soon after to Australia by himself.
Traveling with his guitar, White lived in India in a meditation cult before he was 20, and more recently in Ireland with Cape Breton-raised wife/fiddler Gillian Boucher.
“My life is like a leaf being blown in the wind,” admits White, a dazzling guitarist and impressive song-writer. Now he’s sunk roots here in Halifax.
White says they wanted to give daughter Lily Rose a sense of place and family, close to Cape Breton. Halifax has been a welcoming place to introduce his music to the North America audience.
“Pretty much every time I play (in Canada) I get a standing ovation,” says White. “That’s never happened in any other territory in the world. Canadian audiences tend to be more enthusiastic and expressive than the European crowd.”
Much of his fluid playing style comes from the early Ralph McTell records he absorbed as a young lad, then picked apart on his guitar. Heavily influenced by McTell, John Renbourne, Bert Jansch and other British folk guitarists, the guitar became his focus during his lonely time at boarding school.
“When I look back, I used guitar and music as an escape. It was a place of mystery and of comfort.”
Aside from a six-month stint as an optical technician (at the insistence of his father), White has always made a living from his music - touring, recording and playing with influential Celtic groups like Clannad and Capercaillie, as well.
“My music and writing are not confined by any lines. It can go all over the place. I’m an emotional writer and player, and write from my feelings.”
In recent weeks, White has been working with Tony Quinn in pre-production for a new album. Friday, Dec.3, White will play a solo performance at The Music Room, Lady Hammond Road. Gillian Boucher will play an opening set.
The concert will be taped by CBC radio for future broadcast on the network.
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