Name: Forever

Birthplace: Boston

Currently residing: Strong Island NY

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: Music has always been a big deal to me. Since Michael, Whitney, New Edition I’ve been hooked! I basically stumbled on this talent by accident. Hanging with friends I started to play with words (freestyle) and they were like “your good”! I used to listen to the lyrical geniuses- Biggie, Wu Tang, Redman, Rakim. Guess they rubbed on me. 16 years later I have 9 cds, 100’s of shows,  and now own my own label. I guess persistence pays off! The future Id like to play in stadiums and use music to help people get closer to God!

Website

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

FAVS- MJ, Metalica, Guns n Roses, Rakim, Redman, Raekwon, Alicia Keys, Biggie Smalls, Jada Kiss, Lecrae, Da Truth, Andy Mineo, Derek Minor, KSalmz, Melvin Garrett, Queen Esther, Jeff Germain, Jeannie Ortega

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Hmmmm……probably Raekwons- Rainy Days or Da Truth- I need you

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

Wow!….ok waking up, praying, listening to Gods word, hitting the 7am AA meeting, eating a healthy breakfast, working out, going to the office, booking some events, write some lyrics, hit the studio, eat a healthy lunch, TAKE A NAP, get my kids off the bus, hang w them, do a devotional w them, hit the park, make a healthy dinner, greet my wife from work, rip a concert, see people affected by my music, spend time with my wife ALONE, HIT THE BED ZZZZZZ.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

My honesty and the way I don’t give up. My older friends from long ago would probably appreciate the change that God has done in me.

5. What is your most valued material possession?

My 2000 Honda civic ex because it gets me where I need to be 4 less!

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Jesus

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

Miami Fl….LOVE IT THERE

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Spend more time w My Wife alone 🙂

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Having Awesome Relationships!!!!

Name: angelina iapaolo

Birthplace: scarboro, ontario

Currently residing: moncton, new brunswick

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: i got signed to atlantic records in 2000 after playing guitar and being a musician for 10 months. i was racked with insecurity over what it was that people liked about my music/singing, due to total lack of experience. i made my first record “capable egg” to critical acclaim in 2000 but still wasn’t great at playing live. i had a steep learning curve from then til now. i made a record with strings next “garden cities of to-morrow” 2005 but found it very hard to tour because i required at least a string quartet to pull of the material. presently, because i have learned a lot, we use a real piano (robinson st. george), and snare and brushes that i play. we wanted our songs to sound awesome even played with very little accompaniment. we have accomplished that. now we need a few months to finish the gorgeous material we have been working on to be ready to record it with howard billerman for the final month. we are presently in an indiegogo campaign to fund this endeavor.  

Website 

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

satie, shirley horn, nancy wilson, ella fitzgerald, billie holiday, hercules, ennio morricone, duke ellington, vladimir horowitz, glenn gould, joni mitchell, nick drake, alison moyet, tracey thorn, annie lennox, aretha franklin, gladys knight,

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

the entirety of shirley horn’s “here’s to life” record. it’s all string arrangements by johnny mendell. it is so airy, sparse, and beautiful while also being lush. she plays all her own piano and has the most minimalist shimmery rhythm section. her experienced voice is at ease yet rich and restrained, all of which move me.

another song that really moves me is “hide and seek” by imogen heap

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

sourdough bread in the oven at 7 am

espresso coffee with foamed milk and email/fb checking time

rehearsal for a few hours and more coffee

cleaning, puttering, setting the house right

hanging out with my son

going for a walk in the woods

taking a nap

shopping for dinner/sharing it with friends

in the summer gardening/beaching also

watching a really good movie some nights

a great bath

helping others

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

sincerity, generosity, lack of fear in being myself, determination, no-nonsense, artistic integrity, i’m a friend for life.

5. What is your most valued material possession?

i don’t have any that i value that much. i give away “nice things” all the time just cause i don’t want the attachment. i just need a real piano when i perform.

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

no one.

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

where i am is usually my favorite place to be right now. this doesn’t mean i’m not working towards other places that will also become my favorite place. that being said, i am excited to go to caissie cape nb. (the beach/country) this spring. if i blink my eyes i am in my mini home, with my rocket stove, composting toilet, south facing exposure, wood burning oven outside, huge garden, chickens and goats, and my peeps (the peeps that want to be there)

another big dream at the cape is to build a beautiful outdoor stage to accommodate people coming out to see us perform where we are as opposed to us being on the road all the time. yes it will be equipped with a real piano. the back of the stage will be a gigantic scallop half shell.

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

i want to do more not having a job, more performing/practicing, baking, cooking, gardening, art making, music writing, sharing, showing people how to live rent free, bill free, debt free and free of dependence on fossil fuels.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

living off the grid, making music/art, wintering somewhere warm, teaching others to live sustainably and happily,  and with an ever-expanding heart and mind.

Name: Danielle French

Birthplace: Calgary, Alberta

Currently residing: Nomadic (Calgary is home base)

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: I’ve been a singer/songwriter for 20 years, have released 4 independent CD’s, toured extensively across North America to the point that Calgary, Banff, Reno and Wisconsin all claim me as a local.

Website

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

Tom Waits is an all-time favourite. And I feel he is especially relevant in this day and age where corporate music is so contrived, and digital music recording allows us “perfect” things to the point where the soul can get sucked out of it. Tom shows us the perfection and humanness of our imperfections and I am consciously seeking to embody that in my current work. Kate Bush is another fave. She is a true artist in every way and a huge inspiration. Bjork also falls in this category for me. Heroes like Peter Gabriel, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell are obvious 🙂 In more recent era, I really appreciate artists like Radiohead, Beck, Arcade Fire. And I’ve been doing lots of co-writing with indie artists in Wisconsin who I have become huge fans of in the process. Check out Liv Mueller, Ruby James, pat mAcdonald (formerly of Timbuk3, his current band is Purgatory Hill), the Sonnets, Charlie Cheney, Carley Baer, James Hall, Andrea Wittgens- these are all stellar artists!!

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Peter Gabriel hits this one note that descends a tone in The Blood of Eden and the way he shapes the sound and descends the note gives me chills every time. It reminds of me the power of music, that when delivered with such emotional content and tonality, just one note can have a powerful emotional impact on a listener!

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

Right now I’m doing a self-directed music residency at The Banff Centre for the month, so I’ve been experiencing perfect days pretty consistently here. A general breakdown:

– Wake up at 11am (I like to sleep in!), looking out the window at a perfect, majestic snow-capped mountain.

– Leisurely take a shower, check some emails, do a few errands before heading to the cafe where I order a fresh juiced carrot-apple-ginger juice for breakfast

– Head to my “hut” that I’ve decked out with a record player, funky lamps, tarot cards, books, DVD’s, my computer, and it contains a grand piano, PA, 3 guitars, a Neumann U87 microphone so I can record vocals.

– Write, play and record music all afternoon, often collaborating with the other artists in residence.

– Yoga at the gym for an hour

– Dinner at Vistas- a lovely buffet with a stellar view of the mountains

– Back to my hut to do more writing, practicing, recording etc…

– A night out with the other artists at the Centre either playing “Telephone Pictionary”, going to karaoke or an open mic, having some drinks, enjoying the company of friends who are creative geniuses!

– Hitting the hay around 2 or 3am

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

I made a new friend here at the Centre just a week and a half ago and she told me that she appreciates me because I am magic. I have the ability to manifest amazing things in my life and I share my magic with others in many ways (for example, I  was offered a $500 gig today and they were looking for other artists, so went out of my way to recommended her knowing she really needs the money at this time).

5. What is your most valued material possession?

My 1935 Martin Archtop that I’ve had for 13 years. Her name is Miss Kitty and we make beautiful music together!

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Probably Tom Waits. But it would depend on the circumstances. For instance I got to meet one of my idols, Joni Mitchell, and I wasn’t nervous at all because she was so grounded and conversational, she dispelled any aura of idolization immediately. I suspect Tom would be that cool as well. And Leonard too. I would be more nervous to sing for them!

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

I have a lot of favourite places being nomadic and all, so it would depend on the context- I’ll name 3 and tell you why:

– Reno, Nevada- That’s where I feel most at home in my heart

– Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin- During one of the songwriting intensives at the Holiday Music Motel that I’ve been attending religiously three times a year over the past 2 years. It’s an intensive where 40 invited songwriters get put up together in a 50’s retro motel for a week, we spin the bottle to get songwriting partners and write and record all week- it’s songwriter heaven!! And that wish will come true soon as I’m heading there in the middle of February.

– Sedona, Arizona- one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been

I would say Banff, Alberta, but I’m here 🙂

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

I’m applying for a grant right now to study vocal lessons in Nashville for a few months with a woman named Julie Christensen. She sang back up with Leonard Cohen for 10 years and has an incredible voice and is an amazing person. We met at Folk Alliance a few years ago, and I’ve wanted to study with her ever since.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

I’ll do this in point form cause I have a lot of musical goals that all tie together to help me make a better living doing what I love:

– Be a respected writer/co-writer and have other people cover my songs, hopefully a hit!

– Continue touring and traveling with my music, but only touring venues that I enjoy playing at, which means having a wider audience. Doesn’t need to be large stadiums, preferably intimate halls, folk festivals

– Have regular film and TV placements

– Continue growing as an artist, learning new things about the craft of songwriting, guitar playing and singing

– Be a proficient accordion player

As much as these are career goals, I realized a while back, that even if I don’t achieve these, music makes me a better person. This career choice and lifestyle have made me adaptable, able to work as a team or be self-sufficient as needed, it has given me a balance between structure and going with the flow (right-brain/left-brain blend), it has taught me to be open to the magic of the universe. I feel most in touch with my Divine Source when I am creating, but that can be through music, film, photography, or making a great meal! I know as long as I am in touch with that source and feel connected, all else will flow from there and I will be happy in whatever I do.

Name: Terry Hill

Birthplace: Kalispell, Montana

Currently residing: Waldport, Oregon

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: I hail from Northwest Montana, and was raised in the shadow of Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountains, born just after World War II and grew up listening to  countless  classic singers during those postwar years and I was nine years old the year that Memphis guy had his first hit and so I can say that I literally grew up with rock and roll and during the folk music craze of the 1960s, I was inspired to learn guitar by a teacher with a battered old Martin and during the summer of 1964, I formed a folk music group with Terry Robinson (later a founding member of Mission Mountain Wood Band and The Montana Band) and four other friends called The Greenwood Singers and we had the thrill of hearing our music on the radio for the first time, and then in the mid-60s, I turned to rock and roll with the award-winning Missoula, Montana band The Noblemen and then later in the late 1970s and early 80s, I was a founding member of Dogwater, a country rock and electric bluegrass band that toured extensively in the western United States and appeared on the compilation vinyl album “Montana Gold” and then during the 1980s, I performed as a solo act, in duos (with Steve Sellars and later with Craig Davey in Elmo and Bigarm) and in bands (The Terry Hill Band, TnT, Men With Hair) on stages in the U.S. and Canada, and between 1990 and 1994, I appeared with Steve Sellars in the popular duo The Bookhouse Boys, and we released a sellout album “Fish Dance Music” in 1992 followed by, in 1993, during a season-long engagement at Moose’s at Big Mountain (now Whitefish Mountain) Resort, The Bookhouse Boys were involved in a serious auto accident in which I was badly injured and after I recovered, I decided to enroll in law school and continued to perform part time until graduating from law school in 1997, then retired from an active music career but continued playing and writing, and in 2008, decided to produce a solo album of original material and during production of that project, which eventually became the album “Grapevine Warp,” I resumed his performing career, and after 15 years of law practice, I retired to the Oregon coast, but continue my music career, and say often enough to be irritating: “I’ll keep on playing and singing until they cart me out of here.”

Website 

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, that guy from Memphis, Russell Smith, Steve Earle, Rolling Stones, Animals, the Liverpool lads, Hiram King Williams, Byrds, Woody Guthrie, Guy Clark, John Prine, Todd Snider, Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Rodney Crowell, Andrews Sisters, The Fleetwoods, Jack Scott, Peter Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Chad Mitchell Trio, John Denver, Herbert Khaury, Steve Sellars, David Griffith, Gary Snow.

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

“The End Is Not In Sight” – Amazing Rhythm Aces

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

Today.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Sense of humor

5. What is your most valued material possession?

Martin D41

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Nobody I can think of.

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

Right here

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Yes, but my wife says no.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Still alive.

Name: John Dunnigan

Birthplace: San Francisco

Currently residing: Whitefish, MT

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: Saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan…………and that was all I needed to set me on the path of fame and fortune!

Website 

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present? First stuff around my house was my dads musical tastes…Marty Robins was the biggest in the day, and still remains one of my all-time favorites…Then the Beatles…It was all radio stuff back then…Maybe a little TV…but stuff you heard on the radio and the albums you got…Joni Mitchell, Glen Campbell, Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor…And then I started to pick out the guitar players….Chet Atkins, Albert Lee, and all the guys who played behind the “stars”……Red Shea, Terry Clemens…Both played for Gordon Lightfoot.

Then I started playing other instruments…and I was turned on to Harmonica players, Pedal Steel players and Banjo players……So many!!!!

NORTON BUFFALO..Harp/BUDDY EMMONS,,Pedal Steel/GRADY MARTIN Guitar/EARL SCRUGGS..BANJO /WES MONTGOMERY..GUITAR…….TOMMY EMMANUEL..GUITAR….

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

The Sounds of Silence by Paul Simon!

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

As much as I love what I do for a living…I love my time off…Hanging with family, playing with dog, and fishing on a warm summer day!

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Probably my sense of humor…:)

5. What is your most valued material possession?

My 24-year-old Breedlove acoustic guitar…

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

I have been around dozens and dozens of really famous musical acts…

Springsteen…Jeff Foxworthy….Donovan, and hundreds of “flash-in-the-pan-country-pop performers”…I would be most humbled to meet… Willie Mays!!!

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

At my cabin (I can’t tell you where it is cause I’d have to kill you) on the lake on a summer day!! Pure heaven!

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Practice more and perform less………

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Anywhere besides a nursing home…….:)

Name: Andy Dunnigan

Birthplace: Whitefish, MT

Currently residing: Missoula, MT

Website

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: Like so many others, I was beckoned into the bohemian musical world by Jimi Hendrix’s distorted guitar tones when I was in high school and soon thereafter I traded my baseball glove for a stratocaster… after Jimi I was enthralled with the fingerpicking of Chet Atkins and the lyrical stories of Bob Dylan… I met bluegrass in college and acquired a Dobro, which I haven’t really set down since… I started a band, “The Lil’ Smokies”, with some of my best musician friends, which I’m currently still playing and touring around with…

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

As far as past influence goes, I will always have an infatuation with the Beatles; No one can touch the melodies they wrote. The same goes for Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon, in regard to lyrics and the images they were able to paint in my mind. I love the technical side of music too, I love the savant virtuosos. Bela Fleck, Chet Atkins, Phil Keaggy, Jerry Douglas, Tommy Emmanuel, Pierre Bensusan, Eric Johnson, Tony Rice, Rob Ickes, and Chris Thile. Thile has had the biggest influence on me, especially recently. He’s a space alien, man. He can glide through Radiohead, Bach, The Beach Boys and Fiona Apple without blinking. He also is an absolute genius composer and songwriter.

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

“Shelter From the Storm” by Bob Dylan is written so well is baffles me… every lyric in that song was crafted to perfection… The opening line always gives me goosebumps,

’”Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood

When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud

I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

Waking up with a smile and going to bed with the same smile.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

I think my friends probably appreciate my sense of humor the most… I really try not to take anything to seriously. Could be my downfall as well. I guess only time will tell.

5. What is your most valued material possession?

My guitar

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

I’d be nervous to meet Bob Dylan because he wouldn’t give a shit, and I totally would.

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

The fire lookout tower on Numa Ridge in the North fork of Glacier National Park.

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Painting.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

buried and smiling in some sort of grandiose musical endeavor.

Name: Rick Brindell

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: Well I started playing guitar in the 60s as a kid; changed to bass guitar in the 70s when my brothers wanted to start a band and we could not find a bass player; played bass for 30 years or so and at 50 years old went back to playing guitar; took lessons from Jorma Kaukonen of Hot Tuna; learned finger-style guitar; started writing songs and had them mastered in Nashville; got radio play and here we are….whew!

Birthplace: New York

Currently residing: Bay Shore NY

Website

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present? Frank Zappa; Hot Tuna; The Kinks; Beatles; Stones; Who; Creedence; Grateful Dead; Johnny Winter; Eric Clapton; Traffic; Monkees; Steppenwolf; Allman Brothers; Ten Years After; Billy Cobham; Jean Luc Ponty; George Duke; Jefferson Airplane; Standells; Electric Prunes;

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

I always choke up when I hear a nostalgic song that reminds me of good times from my childhood like John Fogerty’s “I Saw it on TV”

3. How would you describe your perfect day? Spending it with my best buddy, my two-year old grandson Jackson. He is so cool and so much fun. Keeps me young.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

My sense of humor, of course they would also say I never shut up!

5. What is your most valued material possession?

All my guitars but especially my Taylor 814CE

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Any of the Victoria Secret lingerie models….

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

On a stage playing music for the masses. If it were in Nashville that would make it even better.

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Go back to Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch; take more lessons from him and play on stage with him.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years? Retired from Insurance and making music my full-time gig. Actually 5 years would be better.