Embracing his roots and Scottish heritage, Toronto singer-songwriter, two-time Juno Award nominee, Canadian Reggae Award winner and best-selling author Jason Wilson and his new group Ashara are to release their self-titled album on September 29, 2023, and today release the brand-new video for the second single, “An Evening in Paris in Cumnock Tonight.”
Jason Wilson (also just announced as musical director for the 2023 Dora Mavor Moore Awards) states, “While we were not able to film in Scotland, we did our best to recreate an Ayrshire dance in a beautiful barn in Stouffville, Ontario. Once again, we were in good hands with the unflappable Imran Babur (director) and Tahir Mahmood (art director), and we re-enlisted the fabulous choreographer Sophie Mlodzik to lead the dance team and brought on excellent professional actors Julia Scaringi, Leo Dragonieri and my old friend Herbie Barnes. And introducing my mom Jessie, who makes her acting debut in the video as our very special guest star!”
The song (produced by Jason Wilson) – official release date is Friday, May 12, 2023 on Wheel Records/Proper Music Distribution – was recorded in Ontario, Canada at Valley Road Studio, Stouffville and Canterbury Studios, Toronto and was mastered by Mars Giammarco at Red Egg Studio, Bolton. Wilson performs lead vocals, acoustic guitar and piano, plus Laurel Tubman on vocals, Marcus Ali on Irish flute, Carl Harvey on guitar, Vince Reel on drums and percussion, Michael Shapinko on bass, John Somerville on accordion, Alex McMaster on cello, Amanda Penner on viola and both Jill Daley and Brielle Goheen on violin.
Wilson elaborates, “I wanted to capture the magic of the dances in Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland that my mom and dad would have attended when they were in their teens and early twenties. I asked my mom everything about what a night at the Cumnock Dance might look like, sound like or even smell like. She said that when you walked in the door you would be struck with the lassie’s scent, and that the most sought after, if sometimes prohibitively expensive, perfume of that time would have been An Evening in Paris. This really unlocked the song for me and led me to imagine a lad who armed himself with a brand-new bottle of the French perfume as to win the heart of a lass he had his eye on. In the end, we hope it’s an essence of what a night at the local dance might have felt like for a young person living in Ayrshire in the 1950s.”
Join Jason Wilson & Ashara at the Toronto Botanical Garden (777 Lawrence Avenue East, at Leslie, Toronto, Ontario, M3C 1P2) for the Edwards Summer Music Series on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. The outdoor concert will be hosted by award-winning broadcaster and environmentalist Anwar Knight and admission is free.
‘Ashara’ (the album) is to be released on digital and vinyl on Wheel Records/Proper Music Distribution. Stay tuned for album release party details in the Fall.
Jason Wilson & Ashara (the group) features Wilson on vocals, acoustic guitar and piano, joined by legendary guitarist Carl Harvey, saxophonist Marcus Ali, vocalist Laurel Tubman, drummer Vince Reel and Michael Shapinko on bass. The group also includes a rotating cast of award-winning Scottish trad musicians; Fiddler Jack Smedley, Highland piper Ali Hutton, accordionist John Somerville and special guest, Scottish-based Jamaican songstress Subrina (Ibrina) Ward.
Jason Wilson is the protégé of renowned keyboardist Jackie Mittoo and has performed and recorded with UB40 (he is the cousin of Michael Virtue), Sly & Robbie, Ernest Ranglin, Pee Wee Ellis, Ron Sexsmith, Amanda Marshall, Alanis Morissette, The Mighty Sparrow, Percy Sledge, Brinsley Forde (Aswad), Dick Gaughan and Messenjah.
Album highlights include Juno nominated ‘Jonah’ in 2000 with band Jason Wilson & Tabarruk and Juno-nominated and Canadian Reggae Music Award-winning solo ‘The Peacemaker's Chauffeur’.
Also an award-winning author of eight books, Wilson recently won The Ontario Historical Society’s 2021-22 Joseph Brant Award for ‘King Alpha’s Song in a Strange Land: The Roots and Routes of Canadian Reggae.’
Toronto (Downsview) native, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jason Wilson is a two-time Juno Award nominee, a Canadian Reggae Music Award winner, holds a PhD in History (University of Guelph) and is an award-winning, best-selling author.
Previously – all on Wilson’s Wheel Records – he has released albums including, 1994’s ‘Tabarruk’ by Tabarruk, plus ‘Dark Corners’ (1998), ‘Jonah’ (2000, Juno Award nominee) and ‘dREaD & BLUE: A Canadiana Suite’ (2004) by Jason Wilson & Tabarruk, and in 2008, ‘The Peacemaker's Chauffeur’ by Jason Wilson (Juno Award nominee and Canadian Reggae Music Award winner), ‘The Lion Rampant’ in 2013 and ‘Kailyard Tales’ in 2018 by Wilson and Swarbrick, plus Wilson’s ‘Perennials’ in 2016 and ‘Sumach Roots’ in 2019.
Website: www.jasonwilsonmusic.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JasonWilsonMusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jason.wilson.music