SATURDAY APRIL 2, 2011
8:00pm
JAMES KEELAGHAN
With special guest
CHRISTINE DELEON
$25 ($22 members)

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Called Canada’s finest singer-songwriter by one of the most respected music journalists of the last 50 years, James Keelaghan is an artist who has proven to be a man for all seasons.

His masterful story telling has, over the course of nine recordings, been part of the bedrock of his success, earning Keelaghan nominations and awards - including a Juno (Canada's Grammy) - and acclaim from Australia to Scandinavia.

Possessed of an insatiable appetite for finding the next unique story line, Keelaghan forges his pieces with brilliant craftsmanship and monogrammed artistic vision, making him one of the most distinctive and readily identifiable voices on both the Canadian and international singer-songwriter scenes. "I’ve always had the urge to write," says the Calgary native who has been calling Winnipeg home for the past few years. "Some things weren’t being said in the way I wanted to say them, some thing were not being written about at all. That's why i started to write the historical material. That led me to writing my own personal narratives as well.”



Not only does Keelaghan lay claim to a deep catalogue of timeless originals like Kiri's Piano, Fires of Calais, Cold Missouri Waters, Jenny Bryce, and Hillcrest Mine, he is also a possessive interpreter of outside material, a fine example being his gripping take on Gordon Lightfoot’s epic Canadian Railroad Trilogy from the Lighfoot tribute disc Beautiful. There are also a number of illustrations of his interpretive skills on his 2006 recording A Few Simple Verses, an homage to his roots in traditional music. The closing tune on that spellbinding set, My Blood, written with Jez Lowe, is one of many examples from Keelaghan’s career of his inviting collaboration into his creative process.



Admiration and respect for his work amongst his peers is reflected in the words of David Francey who recently stated that “James Keelaghan is a voice in contemporary Canadian songwriting that has helped us define who we are as a people. He writes with great humanity and honesty, with an eye to the past and a vision of the future. He has chronicled his times with powerful and abiding songs, with heart and eyes wide open.” It was Dave Marsh, the award-winning American music critic and historian who not so long ago stated that James Keelaghan is “Canada’s finest songwriter.” Those few but powerful words of praise say it all about an artist who continues to set the bar at a lofty height.

Opening the evening will be singer-songwriter Christine DeLeon. After a short listen to Christine, you might wonder how the voices of Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Judy Collins have been combined into one. Mike Agranoff, host of the Minstrel Concert Series in Morristown, NJ, said "With a strikingly clear and strong alto voice, she delivers her own well-written songs and those of her folk contemporaries with charm and conviction." Scott Sheldon of Sing Out! Magazine describes her voice as "reminiscent of that of a young Judy Collins: Powerful, crystalline and assured."

Raised in Northern New Jersey, she discovered the joys of singing as a member of the children’s choir at her family church at the age of 8 and followed that interest into her school chorus groups. Despite the cautious warnings of a mentor for excessive enthusiasm, Christine started off on her journey as a performer. She began her own songwriting at the age of 17 and, after more than twenty years exploring that creative path, she was chosen as a winner of the 2008 New Jersey Folk Festival Songwriting Competition.