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Bruce Cockburn CROWING IGNITES A Guitar Masterclass That Defies Description

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The Rocking Magpie

9 September 2019 – Release date: September 20, 2019 – True North Records

There are quite a few ‘instrumental albums’ in my collection; predominantly of the Jazz persuasion, but one or two Delta Blues ones for good measure (one has 17 harmonica tracks on it!) plus a couple of ‘Experimental’ type things from Mahavishnu Orchestra among others; but nothing in the Folk idiom.

I say ‘Folk’; but that moniker doesn’t do justice to what Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has created here alongside a handful of friends.

The quality throughout Bruce Cockburn’s 34th album CROWING IGNITES (and second one of instrumentals!!) is of such a high standard I don’t want to just call them ‘tracks’ …… how about opuses?

The first of these ‘opuses’ is Bardo Rush and I was left spellbound the first time I played it; and again tonight Cockburn’s dazzling fretwork is almost peerless in the musical world I inhabit.

Okay; this was all recorded in a studio; with plenty of time for Take 2’s; but the playing on each and every track is absolutely flawless and, it has to be said exemplary too.

There are flourishes in Easter and The Groan* that will send a shiver down your spine as your lips break into a stupendous grin; such is the way Cockburn delivers a Masterclass in Acoustic Guitar playing.

Perhaps what has impressed me most here is that Bruce Cockburn manages to create music that could and should be in very different genres; but somehow manages to make the intriguing Jazz opuses Angels in the Half Light and The Mt. Lefroy Waltz sit comfortably alongside the delightful Ragtime ditty Sweetness & Light; a raw Blues tune like Blind Willie and the transcendental (?) Seven Daggers and make them all sound cohesive. What a rare talent this man really is.

Selecting a single Favorite Track (or should that be opus?) is almost futile; but then again two tunes really do manage to stand out here. April in Memphis is quite staggering in its very own rite; with Cockburn playing his guitar in an almost Classical fashion; and then I read that it was written on MLK Day 2019 and is dedicated to Dr. King; my heart skipped a beat.

The other is also a tad on the Classical side; but with a dramatic Celtic spine too, which combines to make Pibroch, The Wind In The Valley quite remarkable in many ways; which is why it’s probably taking the accolade.

For an album as beautiful as this, there were very few people involved in the making; all of whom; including Iona Cockburn; 7 year old daughter of Bruce who helped supply handclaps on The Groan; deserve a huge round of applause for creating such a magical and majestic body of work; that will certainly stand the test of time.

Released September 20th 2019

Credit: The Rocking Magpie

Crowing Ignites

Bruce Cockburn Crowing Ignites
2019 – Crowing Ignites

RELEASE DATE: September 20, 2019
PURCHASE: True North |
itunes | Amazon

Purchase Crowing Ignites

1. Bardo Rush (5:01)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar
Bo Carper – shakers
Janice Powers – keyboards

2. Easter (5:47)

Instrumental

Composed: Easter Sunday 2018 (22 April 2018)

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar

3. April In Memphis (5:17)

Composed: MLK Day 2019 (January 21, 2019)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar, chimes

Review:
Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian treasure, writes such thoughtful, pointed songs that it’s easy to overlook what a guitar virtuoso he is until he releases an instrumental album like “Crowing Ignites,” arriving on Friday. He wrote “April in Memphis” on Martin Luther King Day and it’s mostly solo except for the appearance of tolling chimes. The video sometimes displays King’s writings, while the music is a folky, elegiac rumination: fingerpicking, meditating, letting quiet chords resonate, drifting in and out of the blues, letting lone melodies keen in a private memorial. ~ from the The New York Times – Jon Pareles

4. Blind Willie (3:55)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar
Colin Linden – dobro
Bo Carper – shakers

5. Seven Daggers (6:20)

Constructed at the Firehouse – San Francisco – March 17 through 23, 2019

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – 12-string guitar, kalimba, sansula, charango, dulcimer, chimes, little-ass bells
Colin Linden – baritone guitar

6. The Mt. LeFroy Waltz (5:54)

composed circa 2016

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar
Ron Miles – cornet
Roberto Occhipinti – bass
Gary Craig – drums

7. Sweetness And Light (3:33)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar

8. Angels In The Half Light (5:33)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar

9. The Groan (4:17)

circa July 2018

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar, drum
Colin Linden – mandolin
Bruce Cockburn, Colin Linden, Janice Powers, Daniel Keebler, Celia Shacklett, Iona Cockburn – handclaps

10. Pibroch: The Wind In The Valley (4:03)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – guitar, dulcimer
Janice Powers – keyboards

11. Bells Of Gethsemane (7:22)

Born in the Firehouse – San Francisco – March 17 through 23, 2019

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – baritone guitar, singing bowls, Tibetan cymbals, gong, chimes



Liner Notes:

Produced, recorded and mixed by Colin Linden
Production assistance: Janice Powers

All compositions by Bruce Cockburn and Published by Holy Drone Corp. (SOCAN) © Holy Drone Corp.

Bardo Rush: bc guitar; Bo Carper shakers; Janice Powers keyboards

Easter: bc guitar. Conceived Easter Sunday 2018

April In Memphis: bc guitar, chimes. Composed MLK Day 2019

Blind Willie: bc guitar; Colin Linden dobro; Bo Carper shakers. Named for Blind Willie Johnson

Seven Daggers: bc 12-string, kalimba, sansula, charango, dulcimer, chimes, little-ass bells; Colin Linden baritone guitar. Constructed at the Firehouse. Nearby is a chapel maintained by the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in which there is a statue of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, which gave the piece its title

The Mt Lefroy Waltz: bc guitar; Ron Miles cornet; Roberto Occhipinti bass; Gary Craig drums. Linda Manzer requested that I write something to go with the “Lawren Harris” guitar she built for her Group of Seven guitar project. This is it.

Sweetness And Light: bc guitar. A gift…there was nothing else to call this

Angels In The Half Light: bc guitar. In a dream, angels were girding me for battle against some sweeping darkness. They wanted to be honoured.

The Groan: bc guitar, drum; Colin Linden mandolin; bc, Colin, Janice Powers, Daniel Keebler, Celia Shacklett, Iona Cockburn handclaps. Les Stroud asked me to compose a score for his documentary La Loche. The first idea that came was this. We didn’t use it in the film, but it seemed to have its own life.

Pibroch: The Wind In The Valley: bc guitar, dulcimer; Janice Powers keyboards. Pibroch is the trance-inducing classical bagpipe music of Scotland. Whenever I hear it, somewhere deep in my being I’m on some rocky, windswept headland, sipping whisky from a scallop shell

Bells Of Gethsemane: bc baritone guitar, singing bowls, Tibetan cymbals, gong, chimes. Born in the Firehouse. Dark anticipation in a dark garden. Dawn looms, humming with trauma, pain and ecstasy

Recorded at the Firehouse, San Francisco, March 17 through 23, 2019.
Mixed at Pinhead Recorders, Nashville, April 14 through 18, 2019.
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, Nashville, April 19, 2019

Album photography by Daniel Keebler

Art Direction design & layout by A Man Called Wrycraft www.wrycraft.com

Direction: Bernie Finkelstein bernie@finkelsteinmanagement.com

Thanks go out to Anne Germanacos, Colin and Janice, Boucher guitars, Linda Manzer, Les Stroud, Geoff Kulawick, Bernie Finkelstein, Daniel Keebler, Michael Wrycraft, Mike Stankiewicz, Celia Shacklett,

MJ and Iona,

and, above all, the Boundless

Bruce on the web: www.brucecockburn.com

Released 20 September 2019.

Album Note:
In the murky depths of time gone by, back when the Cockburn clan had chiefs, a chief of the Cockburn clan came up with the motto which adorns the family crest: Accendit Cantu. It’s Latin, and has been rendered in English as “Music excites” and “He arouses us by crowing”, among other variations. Having a hazy recollection of high school Latin classes, those seemed to me to be worthy approximations, but not exactly translations. When I looked up the original words, the phrase came out “Crowing Ignites”. Energetic. Blunt. Scottish as can be…

The catalogue #TND737

Bruce Cockburn - Crowing Ignites cd jacket

Bruce Cockburn – Crowing Ignites

Already, The New York Times had credited Cockburn with having “the hardest-working right thumb in show business,” adding that he “materializes chords and modal filigrees while his thumb provides the music’s pulse and its foundation—at once a deep Celtic drone and the throb of a vigilant conscience.” Acoustic Guitar magazine was similarly laudatory in citing Cockburn’s guitar prowess, placing him in the prestigious company of legends like Andrés Segovia. Bill Frisell, Django Reinhardt and Mississippi John Hurt.

Now, with the intriguingly titled Crowing Ignites, Cockburn has released another dazzling instrumental album that will further cement his reputation as both an exceptional composer and a picker with few peers. Unlike Speechless, which included mostly previously recorded tracks, the latest album—Cockburn’s 34th—features 11 brand new compositions. Although there’s not a single word spoken or sung, it’s as eloquent and expressive as any of the Canadian Hall of Famer’s lyric-laden albums. As his long-time producer, Colin Linden, puts it: “It’s amazing how much Bruce can say without saying anything.”

The album’s title is a literal translation of the Latin motto “Accendit Cantu” featured on the Cockburn family crest. Although a little puzzling, Cockburn liked the feeling it conveyed: “Energetic, blunt, Scottish as can be.” The album’s other nod to Cockburn’s Scottish heritage is heard on “Pibroch: The Wind in the Valley,” in which his guitar’s droning bass strings and melodic grace notes sound eerily like a Highland bagpipe. “I’ve always loved pibroch, or classic bagpipe music,” says Cockburn. “It seems to be in my blood. Makes me want to sip whisky out of a sea shell on some rocky headland!”

While Cockburn reconnecting with his Gaelic roots is one of Crowing Ignites’ more surprising elements, there’s plenty else that will delight followers of his adventurous pursuits. Says Linden, who’s been a fan of Cockburn’s for 49 years, has produced 10 of his albums and played on the two before that: “Bruce is always trying new things, and I continue to be fascinated by where he goes musically.”

The album is rich in styles from folk and blues to jazz, all genres Cockburn has previously explored. But there are also deepening excursions into what might be called free-form world music. The hypnotic, kalimba-laden “Seven Daggers” and the trance-inducing “Bells of Gethsemane,” full of Tibetan cymbals, chimes and singing bowls, are highly atmospheric dreamscapes that showcase Cockburn’s world of wonders—and his improvisational gifts on both 12-string and baritone guitars. Each track was wholly created in the makeshift studio he and Linden put together in a converted fire station in Cockburn’s San Francisco neighbourhood.

Singing bowls, Cockburn explains, are an endless source of fascination to him, dating back to a trip he took to Kathmandu, as seen in the documentary Return to Nepal. There, Cockburn stumbled on a man selling the small inverted bells sometimes used in Buddhist religious practices and became instantly captivated by their vibrational power. “I had no particular attraction to them as meditation tools or anything,” says Cockburn. “I just thought they had a beautiful sound.” After buying half a dozen in Kathmandu and more since, he now has a sizeable collection.

Two tracks on Crowing Ignites had their origins elsewhere. “The Groan,” a bluesy piece with guitar, mandolin and some collective handclapping from a group that includes Cockburn’s seven-year-old daughter, Iona, was something Cockburn composed for a Les Stroud documentary about the aftermath of a school shooting and the healing power of nature. And Cockburn wrote the jazz-tinged “The Mt. Lefroy Waltz” for the Group of Seven Guitar Project on an instrument inspired by artist Lawren Harris and custom-made by luthier Linda Manzer. It was originally recorded, with cornet player Ron Miles, bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Gary Craig, for Cockburn’s 2017 album Bone on Bone, but not released until now.

Cockburn doesn’t set out with any particular agenda when composing an instrumental. “It’s more about coming up with an interesting piece,” he says. “Who knows what triggers it—the mood of the day or a dream from the night before. Often the pieces are the result of sitting practicing or fooling around on the guitar. When I find something I like, I work it into a full piece.”

“Bardo Rush,” with its urgent, driving rhythm, came after one such dream, while the contemplative “Easter” and the mournful “April in Memphis” were composed on Easter Sunday and Martin Luther Day respectively. “Blind Willie,” named for one of Cockburn’s blues heroes, Blind Willie Johnson, features a fiery guitar and dobro exchange with Linden (Cockburn has previously recorded Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” on Nothing But a Burning Light). And the idea for the sprightly “Sweetness and Light,” featuring some of Cockburn’s best fingerpicking, developed quickly and its title, he says, became immediately obvious.

Meanwhile, “Angels in the Half Light” is steeped in dark and light colors and conveys ominous shades as well as feelings of hopefulness, seemingly touching on both spiritual and political concerns—hallmarks of Cockburn from day one. “It’s hard for me to imagine what people’s response is going to be to these pieces,” he says. “It’s different from songs with lyrics, where you hope listeners will understand, intellectually and emotionally, what you’re trying to convey. With instrumental stuff, that specificity isn’t there and the meaning is up for grabs. But I’m glad if people find a message in the music.”

More than 40 years since he embarked on his singer-songwriter career, Cockburn continues pushing himself to create—and winning accolades in the process. Most recently, the Order of Canada recipient earned a 2018 Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, for Bone on Bone, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN, the Peoples’ Voice Award from Folk Alliance International and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017. Cockburn, who released his memoir, Rumours of Glory, and its similarly titled companion box set the same year, shows no sign of stopping. As his producer-friend Linden says: “Like the great blues players he admires, Bruce just gets better with age.”

~ True North Records

For further information, contact: publicity@truenorthrecords.com

Crowing Ignites – Bruce’s 34th album – all instrumental

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Bruce Cockburn’s 34th album
Crowing Ignites
True North Records
Release date: September 20, 2019

Listen to / share “Blind Willie” from Crowing Ignites and pre-order here.

In 2005, Bruce Cockburn released Speechless, a collection of instrumental tracks that shone the spotlight on the singer-songwriter’s exceptional acoustic guitar playing. The album earned Cockburn a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Instrumentalist and underscored his stature as one of the world’s premier pickers.

Bruce Cockburn's Crowing Ignites album cover

Already, The New York Times had credited Cockburn with having “the hardest-working right thumb in show business,” adding that he “materializes chords and modal filigrees while his thumb provides the music’s pulse and its foundation—at once a deep Celtic drone and the throb of a vigilant conscience.” Acoustic Guitar magazine was similarly laudatory in citing Cockburn’s guitar prowess, placing him in the prestigious company of legends like Andrés Segovia. Bill Frisell, Django Reinhardt and Mississippi John Hurt.

Now, with the intriguingly titled Crowing Ignites, Cockburn has released another dazzling instrumental album that will further cement his reputation as both an exceptional composer and a picker with few peers. Unlike Speechless, which included mostly previously recorded tracks, the latest album—Cockburn’s 34th—features 11 brand new compositions. Although there’s not a single word spoken or sung, it’s as eloquent and expressive as any of the Canadian Hall of Famer’s lyric-laden albums. As his long-time producer, Colin Linden, puts it: “It’s amazing how much Bruce can say without saying anything.”

The album’s title is a literal translation of the Latin motto “Accendit Cantu” featured on the Cockburn family crest. Although a little puzzling, Cockburn liked the feeling it conveyed: “Energetic, blunt, Scottish as can be.” The album’s other nod to Cockburn’s Scottish heritage is heard on “Pibroch: The Wind in the Valley,” in which his guitar’s droning bass strings and melodic grace notes sound eerily like a Highland bagpipe. “I’ve always loved pibroch, or classic bagpipe music,” says Cockburn. “It seems to be in my blood. Makes me want to sip whisky out of a sea shell on some rocky headland!”

While Cockburn reconnecting with his Gaelic roots is one of Crowing Ignites’ more surprising elements, there’s plenty else that will delight followers of his adventurous pursuits. Says Linden, who’s been a fan of Cockburn’s for 49 years, has produced 10 of his albums and played on the two before that: “Bruce is always trying new things, and I continue to be fascinated by where he goes musically.”

The album is rich in styles from folk and blues to jazz, all genres Cockburn has previously explored. But there are also deepening excursions into what might be called free-form world music. The hypnotic, kalimba-laden “Seven Daggers” and the trance-inducing “Bells of Gethsemane,” full of Tibetan cymbals, chimes and singing bowls, are highly atmospheric dreamscapes that showcase Cockburn’s world of wonders—and his improvisational gifts on both 12-string and baritone guitars. Each track was wholly created in the makeshift studio he and Linden put together in a converted fire station in Cockburn’s San Francisco neighbourhood.

Singing bowls, Cockburn explains, are an endless source of fascination to him, dating back to a trip he took to Kathmandu, as seen in the documentary Return to Nepal. There, Cockburn stumbled on a man selling the small inverted bells sometimes used in Buddhist religious practices and became instantly captivated by their vibrational power. “I had no particular attraction to them as meditation tools or anything,” says Cockburn. “I just thought they had a beautiful sound.” After buying half a dozen in Kathmandu and more since, he now has a sizeable collection.

Bruce Cockburn - March2019 - recording - photo Daniel Keelber

Two tracks on Crowing Ignites had their origins elsewhere. “The Groan,” a bluesy piece with guitar, mandolin and some collective handclapping from a group that includes Cockburn’s seven-year-old daughter, Iona, was something Cockburn composed for a Les Stroud documentary about the aftermath of a school shooting and the healing power of nature. And Cockburn wrote the jazz-tinged “The Mt. Lefroy Waltz” for the Group of Seven Guitar Project on an instrument inspired by artist Lawren Harris and custom-made by luthier Linda Manzer. It was originally recorded, with cornet player Ron Miles, bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Gary Craig, for Cockburn’s 2017 album Bone on Bone, but not released until now.

Cockburn doesn’t set out with any particular agenda when composing an instrumental. “It’s more about coming up with an interesting piece,” he says. “Who knows what triggers it—the mood of the day or a dream from the night before. Often the pieces are the result of sitting practicing or fooling around on the guitar. When I find something I like, I work it into a full piece.”

“Bardo Rush,” with its urgent, driving rhythm, came after one such dream, while the contemplative “Easter” and the mournful “April in Memphis” were composed on Easter Sunday and Martin Luther Day respectively. “Blind Willie,” named for one of Cockburn’s blues heroes, Blind Willie Johnson, features a fiery guitar and dobro exchange with Linden (Cockburn has previously recorded Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” on Nothing But a Burning Light). And the idea for the sprightly “Sweetness and Light,” featuring some of Cockburn’s best fingerpicking, developed quickly and its title, he says, became immediately obvious.

Meanwhile, “Angels in the Half Light” is steeped in dark and light colors and conveys ominous shades as well as feelings of hopefulness, seemingly touching on both spiritual and political concerns—hallmarks of Cockburn from day one. “It’s hard for me to imagine what people’s response is going to be to these pieces,” he says. “It’s different from songs with lyrics, where you hope listeners will understand, intellectually and emotionally, what you’re trying to convey. With instrumental stuff, that specificity isn’t there and the meaning is up for grabs. But I’m glad if people find a message in the music.”

More than 40 years since he embarked on his singer-songwriter career, Cockburn continues pushing himself to create—and winning accolades in the process. Most recently, the Order of Canada recipient earned a 2018 Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, for Bone on Bone, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN, the Peoples’ Voice Award from Folk Alliance International and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017. Cockburn, who released his memoir, Rumours of Glory, and its similarly titled companion box set the same year, shows no sign of stopping. As his producer-friend Linden says: “Like the great blues players he admires, Bruce just gets better with age.”

~ True North Records. Photo Daniel Keebler. Cover art Michael Wrycraft.

Bone On Bone

2017 - Bone On Bone
Bone On Bone

RELEASE DATE: September 15, 2017
PURCHASE: True North Records | itunes |Amazon

1. States I’m In (5:47)

seen rose gold haze at the end of the day
ragged-winged hawk swooping down on prey
curtain going up on the night time shadow play.
seen sun going down set the sea on fire
black smoke boiling from burning tires
and bones in the mud — was the blood sacrifice required?
Oo-ee all the sights I’ve seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I’ve been
each one reflected in the states I’m in, uh huh
states I’m in

one day fit and one day fat
one day flush and one day flat
reality distorted like a sat-on hat.
one day I feel like I’m in control
the next I’m suspended in a bottomless hole
a drunk trying to shinny up a greased pole
Oo-ee all the sights I’ve seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I’ve been
each one reflected in the states I’m in, uh huh
states I’m in

I’m slick as a dealer in a green eyeshade
aces up his sleeve and he’s not afraid
the mayor and his uniformed monkeys have been well paid.
climbing up the ivy to the balcony above
where pines the heart of my one true love
obsession, delusion — all that waits is the fateful shove
Oo-ee all the sights I’ve seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I’ve been
each one reflected in the states I’m in, uh huh
states I’m in

crows in the treetops motors in the road
structures of darkness that the dawn corrodes
into the title montage of a new episode.
whisper wells up from the deeps untrod
overflows its channel and spreads abroad
gathers in power like a lightning rod
Oo-ee all the sights I’ve seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I’ve been
each one reflected in the states I’m in, uh huh
states I’m in

May 21, 2016 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitars, Percussion and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums & Percussion
Colin Linden – Guitars, Mandotar and Harmony
John Whynot – Organ
Brandon Robert Young – Harmony

Also On:
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2. Stab At Matter (3:46)

you got lamentation
you got dislocation
sirens wailing and the walls come down

you got revelation
you got felt relation
door creaks open and the trumpet sounds

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

you got incantation
you got quantum vibration
temple trembles as the Lord draws nigh

you got transformation
thunder shaking
seal is broken and the spirit flies

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

January 11, 2016 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums & Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian
Colin Linden – Slide Guitar
Ruby Amanfu & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chorus – Vocals

3. Forty Years In The Wilderness (4:10)

forty years in the wilderness getting to know the beasts
projected and reflected on the greatest and the least
forty years of days and nights — angels hovering near
kept me moving forward though the way was far from clear
and they said
take up your load
run south to the road
turn to the setting sun
sun going down
got to cover some ground
before everything comes undone
comes undone

forty years in the wilderness dancing with the flies
dazzled by the visions rolling out before my eyes
angel-made graffiti, demons in disguise
you could trade away your birthright for another day’s supplies
or you could
take up your load
run south to the road
turn to the setting sun
sun going down
got to cover some ground
before everything comes undone
comes undone

rising with the height of land, falling with the crowd
spirits in the scouring wind called my name out loud
said you could go to heaven, you could go to hell
you could hang out in between in the place you know so well
or you could
take up your load
run south to the road
turn to the setting sun
sun going down
got to cover some ground
before everything comes undone
comes undone

June 19, 2016 – Saratoga Springs, CA

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitars and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums & Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian
Mary Gauthier & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chorus – Vocals

4. Cafe Society (4:30)

cafe society meets in front of Peet’s
goes on about the goings on up and down the street
talk about evictions, talk about the dogs
the drunkards in the dog park and once and future fog
the caliphate of perverts and the flight of refugees
the growing ranks of homeless and the disappearing bees

cafe society — a sip of community
cafe society — misery loves company
hey — it’s a way
to start the day
cafe society talking up a storm
talk about the Nasdaq and the Racing Form
talk about the opera, talk about cars
talk about the desert and the colonies on Mars
talk about tsunamis and the crazies with their guns
and the crazy-ass policemen shooting everything that runs

cafe society — a sip of community
cafe society — misery loves company
hey — it’s a way
to start the day

talk about beauty, talk about disease
the supersize container ships that ply the swelling seas
somebody went to heaven. left some parts in the bay
But he’s a friending of a friending — I don’t know him anyway
flapping lips of flatulence bellow “vote for ME”
everything is spinning in the looming entropy

cafe society — a sip of community
cafe society — misery loves company
hey — it’s a way
to start the day

December 29, 2015 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar, Harmonica and Vocals
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums
Colin Linden- Vocals
Ron Miles – Coronet

5. 3 Al Purdys (6:08)*

Stand in the swaying boxcar doorway
moving east away from the sunset and
after a while the eyes digest a country and
the belly perceives a mapmaker’s vision
in dust and dirt on the face and hands here
its smell drawn deep through the nostrils down
to the lungs and spurts through the bloodstream
campaigns in the lower intestine and
chants love songs to the kidneys
After a while there is no arrival and
no departure possible any more
you are where you were always going
and the shape of home is under your fingernails..

I’m a product of some parents of the sort that shouldn’t breed
didn’t get much of schooling past learning how to read
got the poetry bug in some forgotten institution
when first I did embark on my career of destitution
the beauty of language set a hook in my soul
me like a breadcrust soaking soup from a bowl
You can call this a rant but I declare I declaim
Al Purdy’s poems are the name of the game
the winds of fate blow where they will
I’ll give you 3 Al Purdy’s for a twenty dollar bill

Pokers in the counting house counting out the bacon
matter’s getting darker in the universe they’re making
they love the little guy until they get a better offer
with the dollar getting smaller they can fit more in their coffers
and the doings on the corner neither sung nor seen
they’re circling the shopping carts at Sherbourne and Queen
I resemble that assembly but I’m not the same
Al Purdy’s poems are the name of my game
the winds of fate blow where they will
I’ll give you 3 Al Purdy’s for a twenty dollar bill

You can spit on the prophet but respect the word
I’ve got some lines I want to spin you that you ought to have heard
the winds of fate blow where they will
I’ll give you 3 Al Purdy’s for a twenty dollar bill

the winds of fate blow where they will
I’ll give you 3 Al Purdy’s for a twenty dollar bill

And after the essence of everything
had exchanged itself for words and became
another being and could even be summoned
from the far distance we chanted a spell of names
and we said “mountain be our friend”
and we said “River guard us from enemies”
And we said what it seemed the gods themselves
might say if we had dreamed them and they
had dreamed us from their high places
and they spoke to us in the forest
from the river and the mountain
and the mouths of the ochre-painted dead
had speech again and the waters
spoke and the speech had words
and our children remembered

December 29, 2015 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitars and Vocal
Scott Amendola – Drums
John Shifflett – Upright bass
Julie Wolf – Accordian
Gary Craig – Fan and Other Percussion
John Dymond – Electric Bass
Ron Miles – Coronet

Produced by Julie Wolf – with additional production by Colin Linden

6. Looking And Waiting (4:06)

looking and waiting — it’s what I do
scanning the skies for a beacon from you
shapes on the curtain, but no clear view
of you

you’re a warm bright window lighting up the rain
I catch a glimpse of the glow but I still remain
outside where the shadows pool and bleed
chimney silhouettes semaphore in a code I cannot read

looking and waiting — it’s what I do
scanning the skies for a beacon from you
shapes on the curtain, but no clear view
of you

you’re like the leaves that come down from the trees
a suggestion of a springtime to be
crunching underfoot outlined in frost
full of promise for the return of something lost

looking and waiting — it’s what I do
scanning the skies for a beacon from you
shapes on the curtain, but no clear viewv of you

looking and waiting — it’s what I do

January 23, 2016 – Toronto

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – 12 String Guitar, Mbira and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums and Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian and Sansula
Colin Linden – Slide Guitar
Brandon Robert Young & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chorus – Vocals

7. Bone On Bone (3:28)

Instrumental

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar and Bones

8. Mon Chemin (My Road) (5:26)

(French)
Mon chemin
Qui sait
ou serait
mon chemin
sinon ici?

chemin de fer
chemin de l’air
chemin de lumière
parfois d’éclairs
de nuit, de jour
toujours ces carrefours
putain de détours
encore je cours
je cours toujours.

Qui sait
ou serait
mon chemin
sinon ici?

de jour, de nuit
le chemin fleuri
fleurs d’esprit
fleurs de folie
on pleure, on rit

on pleure, on rit
le chaos s’élargit
il y a peu d’abri
c’est pas le paradis
ce chemin de ma vie

mais qui sait
ou serait
mon chemin
sinon ici?

(English)
who knows
where my
road would be,
if not here

iron road
road of earth
road of the air
road of light
sometimes lightning

by night by day
always these crossroads
fucking detours
still I’m running
always running

who knows
where my
road would be,
if not here

by day by night
the road blooms
flowers of spirit
flowers of madness
you cry, you laugh

you cry. you laugh
chaos expands
not much shelter…
it’s no paradise
this road of my life

who knows
where my
road would be,
if not here

September 9, 2015 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Charango, Dulcimer and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums and Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian and Harmony
Ron Miles – Coronet

9. False River (6:57)

on the coastline
where the trees shine
in the unexpected rain
there’s the carcass
of a tanker
in the centre of a stain
and the waves of
dead sea things
slide slick on to the stones
and the flux
thicker than water
from the planet’s pierced bones

in a jeweler’s
armoured window
you can just cast your eyes on
a diamond-crusted
pendant
in the shape of Bart Simpson
through mirrored
cops in armour
and the drift of gas clouds
drones the
size of horseflies
scrutinizing the crowds
and the horsemen
on a high ridge
they wheel and they ride
their work all
done for them
by the turgid black tide

false river, dark flow
how far do we have to go?
torrent tumbles to the sea
this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be
false river

life blood
of the land
consort of our earth
pulse to the
pull of moonrise
can you tally what it’s worth?
we can spend it
till we end it
while the heat climbs up the graph
till we’re panting
like a salmon
with its gill hooked on a gaff
and the dark blood
keeps flowing
like a hemorrhage from the womb
that birthed us
gave us substance
on our own heads be our doom

false river, dark flow
how far do we have to go?
torrent tumbles to the sea
this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be
false river

August 24, 2016 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar, Harmonica and Vocal
Roberto Occhipinti – Upright Bass
Gary Craig – Drums & Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian
Colin Linden – Electric Guitar
Brandon Robert Young & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chorus – Vocals

This song is included in the book Refugium Poems for the Pacific which was compiled by Yvonne Bloomer.

10. Jesus Train (3:06)

I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
headed for
headed for
headed for the City of God

standing on the platform
awed by the power
I feel the fire of love
feel the hand upon my shoulder saying “brother climb aboard”
I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
headed for
headed for
headed for the City of God

standing on the platform
locomotive throbbing
I’m drawn to that open door
in the wonder of a child’s heart I’m stepping up the stair
I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
I’m on a Jesus train
headed for
headed for
headed for the City of God

February 13, 2015 – San Francisco

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – 12 String Guitar, Mbira and Vocal
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums and Percussion
John Aaron Cockburn – Accordian and Sansula
Colin Linden – Slide Guitar
Brandon Robert Young & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chorus – Vocals

11. Twelve Gates To The City (3:51)

(Chorus)
O — what a beautiful city
O — what a beautiful city God knows
what a beautiful city
twelve gates to the city, hallelu

three gates in the east, three gates in the west
three gates in the north, three gates in the south
which should make twelve gates to the city, hallelu

(Chorus)

city on the hilltop — I’m gonna make it mine
gonna be a citizen of a world of love divine
twelve gates to the city, hallelu

(Chorus)

no matter which tribe you’re born to there’s a way in for you
come from any quarter — you can be a citizen too
’cause there’s twelve gates to the city, hallelu

(Chorus)

June 19, 2016 – Saratoga Springs, CA

Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – 12 String Guitar and Vocals
John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums & Percussion
Ron Miles – Coronet
Ruby Amanfu & The San Francisco Lighthouse Chours – Vocals

Traditional Song with new arrangment and added verses



Liner Notes:

Produced by Colin Linden
* Produced by Julie Wolf – with additional production by Colin Linden
Mixed by John Whynot at Fantasy Studio D, Berkeley, CA – assisted by Robert Kirby & Aiden Nelson
except “3 Al Purdys”, “Looking And Waiting” & “Stab At Matter” mixed by COLIN LINDEN at Pinhead Recorders

Recorded At Prairie Sun Recording Studio, Cotati, CA by Matthew Wright, assisted by Jaycob Bellochio, Ben Bacey and Nate Nauseda
except “3 Al Purdys” recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA by Adam Munoz with additional recording by Julie Wolf,
and ‘False River” & “Jesus Train” recorded at Union Street Studios, Toronto, Canada by Chris Stringer, assisted by Alex Gamble
and ‘Bone On Bone” recorded at Pinhead Recorders, Nashville, TN by Colin Linden
Additional recording at Pinhead Recorders by Colin Linden
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound New York

All Songs are written by Bruce Cockburn and Published by Holy Drone Corp (SOCAN) except:
3 Al Purdys which is written by Bruce Cockburn and Al Purdy and published by Holy Drone Corp and The Al Purdy Estate and
“Twelve Gates To The City” which is traditional with additional verses written by Bruce Cockburn and published by Holy Drone Corp.

Bone On Bone - Bruce Cockburn

Album photography by Daniel Keebler
Cover photo by Bruce Cockburn

Art Direction design & layout by A Man Called Wrycraft www.wrycraft.com

Translation by Marcel Moussette & Jane Macaulay

Direction:
Bernie Finkelstein
The Finkelstein Management Company
bernie@finkelsteinmanagement.com

We acknowledge the financial support of the government of Canada through the Canada Music Fund

The San Francisco Lighthouse “Chorus” is:
Kate Lamont
Amanda Perez
Tamara Silvera
Julie Suan
Jonathon Travis
Juliana Travis
Shanna Travis
Julie Wolf
Andi Woodward

Album Note:
Thanks are due, whether they like it or not, to: Jeff Garner, the Gospel of Mark (Forty Years in the Wilderness); Charlie, Craig, Pam and Pam, Amanda, Philip, Belinda, Fiona, Carl, Sheila and the rest of the morning gang at Peet’s (Cafe Society); Brian Johnson, Julie Wolf, Al Purdy RIP (3 Al Purdys); les Guillaumes…Appollinaire et Chattier (Mon Chemin); Yvonne Blomer, Enbridge et al (False River); SF Lighthouse, Marc Bregman (Jesus Train); Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Rev Gary Davis (Twelve Gates to the City); God, MJ, Iona, Bernie Finkelstein, Daniel Keebler, and the United States of America, for welcoming me into its tender embrace.

The catalogue # is TND678 and the UPC is: 620638067826

Bruce Cockburn – Bone on Bone

Few recording artists are as creative and prolific as Bruce Cockburn. Since his self-titled debut in 1970, the Canadian singer-songwriter has issued a steady stream of acclaimed albums every couple of years. But that output suddenly ran dry in 2011 following the release of Small Source of Comfort. There were good reasons for the drought. For one thing, Cockburn became a father again with the birth of his daughter Iona. Then there was the publication of his 2014 memoir Rumours of Glory.

“I didn’t write any songs until after the book was published because all my creative energy had gone into three years of writing it,” Cockburn explains, from his home in San Francisco. “There was simply nothing left to write songs with. As soon as the book was put to bed, I started asking myself whether I was ever going to be a songwriter again.”

Such doubt was new to the man who’s rarely been at a loss for words as he’s distilled political views, spiritual revelations and personal experiences into some of popular music’s most compelling songs. What spurred Cockburn back into songwriting was an invitation to contribute a song to a documentary film about the late, seminal Canadian poet Al Purdy and he was off to the races.

Bone On Bone, Cockburn’s 33rd album, arrives with 11 new songs, including “3 Al Purdys,” a brilliant, six-minute epic that pays tribute to Purdy’s poetry. Cockburn explains its genesis: “I went out and got Purdy’s collected works, which is an incredible book. Then I had this vision of a homeless guy who is obsessed with Purdy’s poetry, and he’s ranting it on the street. The song is written in the voice of that character. The chorus goes, ‘I’ll give you three Al Purdys for a twenty dollar bill.’ Here’s this grey-haired dude, coat tails flapping in the wind, being mistaken for the sort of addled ranters you run into on the street—except he’s not really ranting, he’s reciting Al Purdy. The spoken word parts of the track are excerpts from Purdy’s poems. After that, once the ice was broken, the songs just started coming.”

Cockburn’s rugged fingerpicking style on the Dobro perfectly matches Purdy’s plainspoken words and the grizzled voice of his street character. A similar guitar style can be heard on two of the next songs Cockburn wrote, the gospel-like “Jesus Train,” and “Café Society,” a bluesy number about people who gather at his local coffee shop to sip their java and talk about the state of the world.

There’s a prevalent urgency and anxious tone to much of the album, which Cockburn attributes to living in America during the Trump era. But, more than anything, Bone on Bone amounts to the deepest expression of Cockburn’s spiritual concerns to date. The 12-time Juno winner and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee turned away from traditional Christianity in the mid-1970s toward a quest for the more all-inclusive mysticism he documents in his memoir. And it’s that kind of spirituality that figures prominently in “Jesus Train” and “Twelve Gates to the City.” In “Looking and Waiting,” Cockburn sings of “scanning the skies for a beacon” from the divine.

“It’s a song of faith and frustration,” says Cockburn of the latter. “…Tired of looking in from the outside. My MO has always been to be aware of the divine…that dimension…always dealing with being stuck in a kind of observer’s position with respect to all that. I know it’s there. I don’t really see as faith so much as knowledge. Others may have different ideas about those things, but for me, I don’t have to struggle to believe in God, or the notion that God cares what happens to me. But I do have to struggle with being in a conscious, intentional relationship. That underlies a lot of these songs.”

“Forty Years in the Wilderness” ranks alongside “Pacing the Cage” or “All the Diamonds” as one of Cockburn’s most starkly beautiful folk songs. “There have been so many times in my life when an invitation has come from somewhere…the cosmos…the divine…to step out of the familiar into something new. I’ve found it’s best to listen for, and follow these promptings. The song is really about that. You can stay with what you know or you can pack your bag and go where you’re called, even if it seems weird…even if you can’t see why or where you’ll end up.”

“Forty Years in the Wilderness” is one of several songs that feature a number of singers from the church Cockburn frequents, for the sake of convenience referred to in the album credits as the San Francisco Lighthouse “Chorus.” “The music was one of the enticements that drew me to SF Lighthouse. As I found myself becoming one of the regulars there, and got to know the people, I felt that I really wanted all these great singers, who were now becoming friends, to be on the album. They were kind enough to say yes!” Among other songs, they contribute call-and-response vocals to the stirring “Stab at Matter.” Other guests on the album include singer-songwriters Ruby Amanfu, Mary Gauthier, and Brandon Robert Young, along with bassist Roberto Occhipinti, and Julie Wolf, who plays accordion on “3 Al Purdys” and sings with the folks from Lighthouse, together with LA songwriter Tamara Silvera.

Produced by Colin Linden, Cockburn’s longtime collaborator, the album is built around the musicianship of Cockburn on guitar and the core accompaniment of bassist John Dymond and drummer Gary Craig. Also very much part of the sound is the accordion playing of Cockburn’s nephew John Aaron Cockburn and the solos of noted fluegelhorn player Ron Miles (check out his stunning work on the cascading “Mon Chemin,” for example).

Two other songs should be noted. The environmental warning “False River” came about at the invitation of Yvonne Bloomer, the poet laureate of Victoria, British Columbia. Bloomer was seeking a poem about the controversial Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline. “Pipelines have their own perils that we’re all aware of,” says Cockburn, “so I started writing what was meant to be a spoken-word piece with a rhythm to it. But it evolved very quickly into a song.”

“States I’m In,” which opens the album, conjures up feelings of mystery and dread. “It’s literally a ‘dark night of the soul’ kind of song,” Cockburn explains, “as it starts with sunset and ends with dawn. It passes through the night. The song is about illusion and self-delusion, looking at the tricks you play on yourself.” He adds: “Maybe it’s also a play on words about me living in the States.”

Cockburn, who won the inaugural People’s Voice Award at the Folk Alliance International conference in February and will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in September, continues to find inspiration in the world around him and channel those ideas into songs. “My job is to try and trap the spirits of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal,” he once noted. More than forty years after embarking on his singer-songwriting career, Cockburn keeps kicking at the darkness so that it might bleed daylight. ~ Nicholas Jennings, Bernie Finkelstein & Bruce Cockburn

For further information, contact: publicity@truenorthrecords.com

Bone On Bone - Bruce Cockburn

Listen to Bruce Cockburn’s New Album ‘Bone on Bone’ (USA & beyond)

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by Brittney McKenna – No Depression

8 September 2017 – Bruce Cockburn is one of Canada’s most beloved songwriters, earning 12 Juno Awards and spots in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame over the course of his storied career, which spans nearly five decades.

It’s been six years since Cockburn released a studio album — 2011’s Small Source of Comfort — but the songwriter announced earlier this year his plans to release a 33rd LP, Bone on Bone. The new collection of songs, produced by Colin Linden, touches on many subjects close to Cockburn’s heart, including the poet Al Purdy, life in Trump’s America, and the complexities of personal spirituality.

Click through and Listen to the album in its entirety before its September 15 release date.

Credit: Listen – Bone On Bone – No Depression.

First Play and Q&A: Bruce Cockburn Bone On Bone (Canada)

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7 September 2017 – by Andrea Warner – CBCMusic

“Take up your load, run south to the road,
Turn to the setting sun,
Sun going down, got to cover some ground,
Before everything comes undone.”
Bruce Cockburn

The gentle lilt of his guitar, that familiar voice a little more road-worn but still warm and wise, and those words. This is his first studio album in seven years, but few lyricists help us to know ourselves more deeply than award-winning singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn.

Above is the chorus from “40 Years in the Wilderness,” the third track off of Cockburn’s new record, Bone On Bone. CBC Music has the advance stream playing a week ahead of its Sept. 15 release. Order the album here and get a list of his Canadian tour dates here.

A week after Bone On Bone drops, Cockburn will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on Sept. 23 in Toronto, alongside Beau Dommage, Stéphane Venne and Neil Young. It’s a fitting honour for Cockburn, who, over the course of almost five decades in the music industry, has penned some of the most thoughtful and enduring folk and pop songs of the 20th and 21st centuries, including his U.S. breakthrough, “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” and the gorgeous “Lovers in a Dangerous Time.”

But after writing his 2014 memoir, Rumours of Glory, Cockburn wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to write anything ever again.

“I didn’t write any songs until after the book was published because all my creative energy had gone into three years of writing it,” Cockburn said in a press release. “There was simply nothing left to write songs with. As soon as the book was put to bed, I started asking myself whether I was ever going to be a songwriter again.”

Three years later, Bone On Bone is here.

Cockburn spoke with CBC Music over the phone from his home in San Francisco about writer’s block, finding his faith again and how the late Canadian poet Al Purdy helped kick start the making of Bone On Bone, his 33rd album.

The fifth song on the record is called “3 Al Purdys” and I love the fact that he was an entry point for you after your break with songwriting. What was your relationship to him and his poetry?

I actually didn’t have any relationship with him or his poetry really, until the invitation came to contribute to the film [Al Purdy Was Here]. I was aware of him certainly and I was aware of his reputation but I hadn’t really gotten into his stuff at all. When the prospect of doing something for the documentary was raised I went out and got his collected works and I was completely blown away and amazed that I’d missed it all those years. And regretful, because it would have been great to have met him, or at least to sort of been able to track the development of his work over the years. You can kind of do that looking at the book as a retrospective, but he really was an incredible poet and so Canadian. I can’t think of anyone other than Stompin’ Tom Connors who so exemplified a certain aspect of Canadian culture.

And there’s so much pathos and humour in his work.

When I got asked to write a song, I had not written anything for a while. All the time I was writing my memoir and I couldn’t really get into the concept of songwriting because all the creative energy was going to the book. I was kind of wondering, “Am I going to write songs again?” The invitation came to do this and it was like, “OK, this will be the kickstarter.” I immediately thought of this image of this homeless guy who comes across as being penniless for his art. I pictured him kind of in the wind, coattails blowing and he’s ranting on the street. Well, not really ranting, he’s reciting Al Purdy’s poetry, he’s obsessed with his poetry. The chorus is “I’ll give you three Al Purdys for a 20-dollar bill,” I think Purdy would’ve approved of that, probably.

I think so too.

Basically the guy’s like, “You look at me, you see a homeless bum, you think I’m ranting. But you’ve got to pay attention to this, ’cause you can spit on the prophet, but pay attention to the word.”

I think a lot about those themes, and they’re in your work, too, the obligation of humanity to see a little bit deeper than we sometimes want to.

I agree with you. When you encounter the surface of something, there’s a massive depth behind it. Allow for that even if you don’t know what’s in there, so that you have the chance to discover more. It’s important to kind of approach everything in life like that.

Can we talk a little bit about ‘Forty Years in the Wilderness’? I think this is one of the most extraordinary songs I’ve heard this year and I’d love to know a little bit about what went into writing it.

I was in church one day and the sermon was about Jesus descending from heaven and he realizes who he is, or what his mission is let’s say. One of the gospels basically describes him as kind of jumping up and running off into the desert. He spends 40 days in the desert and in the story he’s tempted by and being offered all sorts of great worldly things, which he rejects. This [sermon] happened right about the time, not to the date, but more or less 40 years since I’m a churchgoer. And I’m back in church and I’m hearing this, and I’m thinking, well — it’s not quite correct to say why, but a large part of me not being a churchgoer was learning about the world.

It hit me at the end of the ’70s, way back when, that if I was going to love my neighbour as myself I’d better find out who my neighbour was. I embraced urban life at that point, which previously I’d been very suspicious of, and I made a point of kind of socializing myself in a very different way from how I had been before that point. And over time, I mean, didn’t just happen overnight, but ah, you know, I had a lot of adventures. I met a lot of great people and some not-so-great people and I travelled to some amazing places and I pretty much fell away from going to church, although I did not fall away from my belief in God and my desire for a relationship with God.

My wife who was going through her own spiritual searching was kind of steered toward this particular church [in San Francisco] and had gone pretty regularly for several months before she managed to convince me to actually go and I went and I completely fell in love with the place — well, not with the place but with the people and the spirit that’s there.

Your guitar playing is really the centrepiece for so much of the record and I was really curious about how the guitar has helped shape you as a storyteller over the years. It seems like it’s an extension of your storytelling.

I almost think of it the other way around. I’m a songwriter because I wanted to be a guitar player. I started off wanting to play rock and roll guitar, under the influence of Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent and Elvis. I never did end up playing that music, per se, but that got me wanting to play the guitar and, you know, over the years, the earliest years of playing I began to imagine myself being in the jazz world and playing, you know, composing music mainly, but playing on the guitar. I never got the chops together to be a jazz musician.

Well the reason I didn’t is that I felt after I got to know it more, that it wasn’t really where I was being invited to go. I was interested in all kinds of other music as well by the time this kind of turning point, decision-making wise. I was heavily under the influence of Bob Dylan and singer-songwriters/folk music of the ’60s. My mother said, “Well, you’re gonna have to sing, you know. Play guitar and sing too.” And I’m going, “Nah, no way, I’m not singing.” She had a lot to do with convincing me that that singing was something I could pull off, even though I was terrified of doing it.

Once I was learning folk songs and blues tunes, it wasn’t a very big step to start writing songs. It was the guitar that started it all. And I’ve always loved the instrument and loved making music on the instrument, whether there was a song to be sung or not, you know?

Continue Reading…

Bruce Cockburn Announces His First Studio Album In Seven Years – Bone On Bone

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For Release On Vinyl, CD And Digital Download
September 15, 2017

BONE ON BONE

Bruce Cockburn - Bone On Bone

States I’m In – Slide Show YouTube Video
States I’m In – Soundcloud Stream (Album Version)
States I’m In – Spotify (Album Version)
Pre-order from True North Records
Pre-order on iTunes
Pre-order on Amazon
Bio – and – Bio – Bone On Bone google doc
Bruce Cockburn – At A Glance – or – At A Glance google doc
New Bruce Cockburn photo

TORONTO, July 12, 2017 – Bruce Cockburn has announced the September 15, 2017 release of his first full-length album in seven years, Bone On Bone (True North Records). The release coincides with his induction into the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame, and the launch of his longest touring schedule in decades.

Few recording artists are as creative and prolific as Bruce Cockburn. Since his self-titled debut in 1970, the Canadian singer-songwriter has issued a steady stream of acclaimed albums every couple of years. But that output suddenly ran dry in 2011 following the release of Small Source of Comfort. There were good reasons for the drought. For one thing, Cockburn became a father again with the birth of his daughter Iona. Then there was the publication of his 2014 memoir Rumours of Glory.

Bruce Cockburn - promo photo by Daniel Keebler

“I didn’t write any songs until after the book was published because all my creative energy had gone into three years of writing it,” Cockburn explains, from his home in San Francisco. “There was simply nothing left to write songs with. As soon as the book was put to bed, I started asking myself whether I was ever going to be a songwriter again.”

Such doubt was new to the man who’s rarely been at a loss for words as he’s distilled political views, spiritual revelations and personal experiences into some of popular music’s most compelling songs. What spurred Cockburn back into songwriting was an invitation to contribute a song to a documentary film about the late, seminal Canadian poet Al Purdy and he was off to the races.

Bone On Bone, Cockburn’s 33rd album, arrives with 11 new songs and there’s a prevalent urgency and anxious tone to much of the album, which Cockburn attributes to living in America during the Trump era. But, more than anything, Bone on Bone amounts to the deepest expression of Cockburn’s spiritual concerns to date. The 12-time Juno winner and Canadian Music Hall of Fame’s “Forty Years in the Wilderness” ranks alongside “Pacing the Cage” or “All The Diamonds” as one of Cockburn’s most starkly beautiful folk songs. “There have been so many times in my life when an invitation has come from somewhere…the cosmos…the divine…to step out of the familiar into something new. I’ve found it’s best to listen for, and follow these promptings.

“Forty Years in the Wilderness” is one of several songs that feature a number of singers from the church Cockburn frequents, for the sake of convenience referred to in the album credits as the San Francisco Lighthouse “Chorus.” “Among other songs, they contribute call-and-response vocals to the stirring “Stab at Matter.” Other guests on the album include singer-songwriters Ruby Amanfu, Mary Gauthier, and Brandon Robert Young, along with bassist Roberto Occhipinti, and Julie Wolf, who plays accordion on “3 Al Purdys” and sings with the folks from Lighthouse, together with LA songwriter Tamara Silvera.

Produced by Colin Linden, Cockburn’s longtime collaborator, the album is built around the musicianship of Cockburn on guitar and the core accompaniment of bassist John Dymond and drummer Gary Craig. Also very much part of the sound is the accordion playing of Cockburn’s nephew John Aaron Cockburn and the solos of noted fluegelhorn player Ron Miles (check out his stunning work on the cascading “Mon Chemin,” for example).

Cockburn, who won the inaugural People’s Voice Award at the Folk Alliance International conference in February and will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in September, continues to find inspiration in the world around him and channel those ideas into songs. “My job is to try and trap the spirits of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal,” he once noted. More than forty years after embarking on his singer-songwriting career, Cockburn keeps kicking at the darkness so that it might bleed daylight.

Bone On Bone Track Listing:

1. States I’m In
2. Stab At Matter
3. Forty Years In The Wilderness
4. Café Society
5. 3 Al Purdys
6. Looking And Waiting
7. Bone On Bone
8. Mon Chemin
9. False River
10. Jesus Train
11. Twelve Gates To The City

TOUR DATES

For more information, please contact:
Eric Alper, Publicity
True North Recordsv P: 647-971-3742
E: Eric@TrueNorthRecords.com

Photo by Daniel Keebler.

Press Release Bone On Bone

You may download the pdf as well.

Bruce Cockburn - Bone On Bone - Press Release pdf

New Tour Dates and New Album Info

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Bruce Cockburn - Bone On Bone tour dates
New tour with band starting in November 2017

Bruce will start touring in the eastern U.S. in November 2017, in support of his yet to be released new album Bone On Bone. Released date is set for 15 September 2017. He will tour in Canada in September 2017 and in the U.S. and Canada in January/February 2018. This tour will be a band tour and details of that will be coming along shortly.