The Sound Cafe

Multi JUNO & CFMA Winner Stephen Fearing Celebrates Joy Of Returning To Touring With New Live Album

Photo Credit: Jennifer Johnston.

BLACKIE AND THE RODEO KINGS CO-FOUNDER RELEASES 14TH SOLO ALBUM, RECORDED LIVE-OFF-THE-FLOOR IN CANADA AND DENMARK, FEATURING COLLABORATIONS WITH DENMARK’S THE SENTIMENTALS AND HAMILTON MUSIC LEGEND, THE LATE BOB LANOIS

Stephen Fearing, multi-JUNO and Canadian Folk Music Award-winner and founding member of Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, will release his 14th album, Vejpoesi, on March 24, 2023. Hailed as one of Canada’s most gifted and captivating singer-songwriters, Fearing delivers a unique hybrid live album that offers listeners the rare opportunity to hear solo and accompanied performances, recorded live-off-the-floor and from venues both close to home and half a world away.

SIDE ONE:

The Maskinhallen Sessions

Features a musical collaboration with acclaimed Danish roots trio The Sentimentals (Jonathan Byrd, Ana Egge) that only concert-goers in the UK and Europe have been able to experience until now. Introduced to the band in 2017, what started as a typical ‘solo artist with backup band’ for a 10-day tour of Denmark blossomed into an enduring partnership, including international tours and headlining the iconic Shrewsbury Folk Festival in the UK this past summer. In May of 2022, when lockdown restrictions were easing around the world, Fearing and The Sentimentals traveled to Frederikshavn at the northern tip of Denmark to record at The Maskinhallen (a beautifully refurbished electricity generating.

SIDE TWO:

The Mule Spinner Live

Recorded during a 2018 solo show at Hamilton, Ontario’s The Mule Spinner in the heart of the old Cotton Factory -- a former industrial complex now reborn as a thriving arts and cultural centre. The show holds deep personal meaning for Fearing as it was recorded by the late Bob Lanois and his longtime collaborator (and co-owner of The Mule Spinner) Glen Marshall. Lanois was a creative legend, known for his work as a music producer, sound engineer, photographer, filmmaker, abstract artist, and JUNO-nominated musician. He started Hamilton’s legendary Grant Avenue Studio with his brother Daniel Lanois in the 1970s and, as Fearing says in the liner notes, Bob was “a fierce conjurer who saw the world through a magical lens.”

Stephen Says,“Vejpoesi was inspired by my desire to get back out on the road and reconnect with live music after two long years of pandemic isolation. My biggest thrill is to make music and perform in front of an audience, solo or with friends/musicians I admire.”

Beginning April 13th, Fearing and The Sentimentals embark on the Road Poems Tour in Ontario, their first joint tour outside of Europe, featuring songs from Vejpoesi and the repertoire they have been drawing from for the past few years.

Adds Stephen, “I’m really excited for this rare opportunity to introduce my dear friends The Sentimentals to my Canadian audience. Returning to the Canada touring circuit in 2023, I'm keenly aware that I was touring Europe with The Sentimentals in 2020 right before everything shut down under lockdown restrictions. I think of this Road Poems Tour as a continuation of what we started in 2020 and the songs on Vejpoesi are drawn from those shows, featuring (then) newer material from The Unconquerable Past and some fan favourites from my earlier recordings."

Stephen Fearing was born in Vancouver in 1963 and grew up in Dublin where his schoolmates included future members of U2. Beginning in 1981, Fearing became something of a musical nomad, living variously in Vancouver, Minneapolis, Guelph, ON, and Halifax, NS before settling in Victoria, BC.

A founding member of the Canadian roots-rock supergroup Blackie and the Rodeo Kings — alongside Colin Linden and Tom Wilson — Fearing is a two-time JUNO Award winner in both band and solo categories and has 27 albums to his credit: 14 solo albums (11 studio, two live, one compilation); 11 studio albums with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings; two with Andy White as Fearing & White.

Over a vibrant and acclaimed career, Fearing has collaborated with multiple marquee artists including (but not limited to) Nick Lowe, Cassandra Wilson, Richard Thompson, Patti Loveless, Bruce Cockburn, Sarah McLachlan, and Margo Timmins. Throughout Canada, the UK, and Europe, Fearing is a sought-after touring artist, electrifying festival stages, concert halls, and intimate venues alike with a unique performance style, cementing his reputation as a roots troubadour, songwriting storyteller, and master guitarist.

ROAD POEMS TOUR

4/13 London, ON - Aeolian Hall

4/14 Hamilton, ON - Bridgeworks

4/15 Morrisburg, ON - St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage

4/16 Kitchener, ON - The Registry Theatre

4/18 Brantford, ON - Sanderson Centre**

4/19 Toronto, ON - Hugh’s Room Live (Paradise Theatre)

4/20 Ottawa, ON - Shenkman Arts Centre

4/21 Burnstown, ON - Neat Coffee Shop

4/22 Newmarket, ON - Newmarket Folk Society (Newmarket Legion)**

4/24 Midland, ON - Midland Cultural Centre**

4/29 Flesherton, ON - Small World Art**