Adam Warner is a man of incalculable talents. He sports the title of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and he can boast an encyclopedic musical aptitude matched by few. He is, nonetheless, an elusive and seemingly contradictory artist.
To some he's a transplanted country boy, often seen around his adopted home of Toronto. He is the one who sings incredibly stirring solo performances with nothing but a guitar, and perhaps a suitcase (his "hobo kit"), for accompaniment.
To others, Warner is the quiet guy with the unparalleled percussive skills. In this guise he has played everywhere from Liverpool's Cavern Club, to Austin's SXSW Festival, to Toronto's Skydome. Members of every Canadian rock act from Sloan, The Tragically Hip, The Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, The Rheostatics, The Golden Dogs and White Cowbell Oklahoma have played with him in some capacity and know his prowess.
He's played even more disparate styles performing at the DuMaurier Jazz Festival, as a member of African groups Umamm and Radio Nomad (Music Africa's Band of the Year in 2000) and composing for the CBC and NFB. He's also been seen or heard, in various guises, on the BBC, CTV, MTV, Much Music and Musique Plus. A shadowy, elusive artist, indeed.
But first and foremost, Warner is that guy with a big voice, a guitar and a suitcase.
It is in this likeness that his music is most moving, in it's simplest, most honest form. Sometimes there are other musicians involved, -- his band Close to the Floor-- bassist Steve Zsirai (Kathleen Edwards, Art Bergman, and Dave Douglas), gitbox player Dean Drouillard (an accomplished songsmith in his own right, who has also played with Andy Stochansky, Howie Beck, and The Johnny Favourite Orchestra) and Christine Bougie (Bougelicious, Valery Gore) on drums and lap steel, are especially notable colleagues. Still, it is always Warner's transfixing musical storytelling that remains front and center.
And yet, a parallel musical universe exists even here. A childhood spent in Ontario's rural, eastern region led to an appreciation of folk, country and bluegrass (and subsequently to cross-over artists Neil Young and Tom Waits). But after a significant dues-paying period in Toronto, more electric, soulful stylings a la Ray Charles and The Band began to emerge in Warner's consciousness. His debut album, fall, and it's follow-up, No Place to Lay, only hint at the subsequent duality of his live sets.
Lyrically too, Warner is a man of extremes. Joy and sadness frequently co-habitate his songs. The counter-acting pull of city and country are also there, as is the constant, bittersweet battle between past and present. Some would say that Warner is singing about a never-ending search for home.
Adam Warner is not just another singer-songwriter. Nor can his music simply be described as folk or blues. "Country-Soul" is a term that might hit the tip of the iceberg. You be the judge.
" a beautiful collection of songs that makes you wish the major labels would all burn to the ground and music would return to its storytelling roots." -Soul Shine Magazine
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.adamwarner.comTrack List:
1. Roadside Crosses
2. No Ending
3. Blood and Soil
4. Sorry
5. Rags and Bones
6. Already Broken
7. Old Cat Hollow
8. Last Light
9. Old Ghosts
10. Garden
Other Genres:
