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Boundless: An Interview with Bruce Cockburn (popmatters.com)
(click the link at the bottom to read the full interview)
One of the most prolific singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s, Bruce Cockburn is also one of the most eclectic, very likely the most honest, and certainly the most overlooked. His steady output—be it reggae, jazz, rock, blues, folk or country—never dissolved into the solipsism that plagues breakout success. Instead, Cockburn sang about injustice and condemned imperialism, without sounding sanctimonious. And while other contemporaries had moved south to the United States to advance their fledgling careers, Cockburn always remained committed to being a Canadian artist. His faithfulness was rewarded when he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002.
Upon the release of his 31st studio album, Small Source of Comfort, PopMatters had the opportunity to talk with him about his new record, his career, and even Justin Bieber.* * * To read this entire awesome inteerview, please click the following link to visit the original web page http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/140593-boundless-an-interview-with-bruce-cockburn/
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Canadian Music Hall of Famer Bruce Cockburn gets stamped
May 5, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Canadian Music Hall of Famer Bruce Cockburn gets stamped
(OTTAWA) – Canada Post today announced the addition of Canadian music icon Bruce Cockburn to the Canadian Recording Artists stamp series. He joins four more outstanding Canadian singer-songwriters, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Robbie Robertson and Ginette Reno for the third instalment of the very popular series.The four Canadian Recording Artists stamps will be issued on June 30, 2011.
Bruce Cockburn was born in 1945 in Ottawa. In his 1964 high school yearbook Bruce stated his desire simply: “hopes to become a musician.” And the rest as they say is history.
Cockburn has recorded 31 albums including 20 gold and platinum. He has received 13 Juno awards and in recognition of his lifelong contributions to Canadian music, culture and social activism, he has been awarded seven honorary doctorates. He received the Order of Canada in 1983, and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2002.
“We’re proud to be able to add one more honour to Bruce Cockburn’s achievements,” said Jim Phillips, Director of Stamp Marketing for Canada Post. “We hope that he will continue to make music and make change for a very long time to come.”
“This is very exciting,” said Cockburn. “I think the design is beautiful and I’m deeply honoured that Canada Post has seen fit to include me in their Canadian Recording Artists stamp series.”
Winnipeg designer Circle Design Inc. showcases an image of Cockburn on a CD-shaped booklet. The stamp features a monochromatic photo of the recording artist alongside his Order of Canada insignia. Fans will notice that many of their most well-known song lyrics appear in the background of the booklet cover.
Bruce Cockburn is currently on tour in the United States promoting his 31st album, Small Source of Comfort.
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For more information:
Media Relations
613 734-8888
medias@canadapost.ca -
CD Review: Bruce Cockburn – “Small Source of Comfort” (PremierGuitar.com)
Can view the original link here: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Apr/CD_Review_Bruce_Cockburn_Small_Source_of_Comfort.aspx
Bruce Cockburn
Small Source of Comfort
True North
“5 Picks”Fans of Bruce Cockburn’s extraordinary acoustic fingerpicking will be thrilled with Small Source of Comfort, his 31st studio album. Cockburn’s shimmering arpeggios, syncopated riffs, and hypnotic single-note lines blend elements of Mississippi John Hurt, Jerry Garcia, Leo Kottke, and Brazilian greats Luiz Bonfa and Oscar Castro- Neves, yet remain entirely his own. Of the album’s 12 tunes, five are instrumentals, so there’s plenty of crisp, ringing fretwork to keep guitar aficionados happy. Yet Cockburn’s poetic—and passionately political—lyrics and burnished, world-wise vocals take center stage, supported by earthy, clattering percussion, dub-thick bass, and occasional jangling resonator slide guitar (ably played by producer Colin Linden). Jenny Scheinman’s soaring violin adds a sensuous touch to the music, which sounds like it was recorded right in your living room by old friends who truly enjoy rubbing musical shoulders. The Zen meditation bells that periodically chime accentuate the wisdom, sadness, humor, and beauty inherent in Cockburn’s songs and shamanistic playing.
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Broadcast of Bruce Cockburn on NPR’s World Cafe – Tuesday, April 12th
Broadcast of Bruce Cockburn on NPR’s World CafeThe World Cafe will be broadcasting this session on Tuesday, April 12th, 2011.
National Public Radio’s World Cafe with host David Dye can be heard on over 200 stations nationwide. Fans can find their local station at the following link by selecting a state from the pull-down menu:
http://www.npr.org/templates/stations/schedule/?prgId=39
…or, worldwide, fans can connect to the WXPN Philadelphia stream Monday through Friday, 2pm to 4pm EST, here:
http://www.xpn.org/music-artist/xpn-stream
Enjoy!
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Click here to read the interview on Premier Guitar’s website: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Mar/Interview_Bruce_Cockburn_Small_Source_of_Comfort.aspx
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Bruce Cockburn Announces Major North American Tour
Celebrated Canadian recording artist Bruce Cockburn will be supporting the release of his 31st studio album Small Source of Comfort on True North Records with an extensive North American tour that kicks off March 24 in Kelowna, British Columbia and ends June 4 in Seattle, Washington. Cockburn will be accompanied on this tour by violinist Jenny Scheinman and percussionist Gary Craig who are both prominently featured on the new album. At this time, his shows in Chicago, Illinois and Annapolis, Maryland have sold out and a second New York City date has been added by popular demand.
Small Source of Comfort is an adventurous collection of songs of romance, protest and spiritual discovery. The album, primarily acoustic yet rhythmically savvy, is rich in Cockburn’s characteristic blend of folk, blues, jazz and rock. As usual, many of the new compositions come from his travels and spending time in places like San Francisco and Brooklyn to the Canadian Forces base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, jotting down his typically detailed observations about the human experience.
Bruce Cockburn has always been a restless spirit. Over the course of four decades, the celebrated Canadian artist has travelled to the corners of the earth out of humanitarian concerns—often to trouble spots experiencing events that have led to some of his most memorable songs. Going up against chaos, even if it involves grave risks, can be necessary to get closer to the truth.
“Each One Lost” and “Comets of Kandahar,” one of five instrumentals on the album, stem from a trip Cockburn made to war-torn Afghanistan in 2009. The elegiac “Each One Lost” was written after Cockburn witnessed a ceremony honouring two young Canadian Forces soldiers who had been killed that day and whose coffins were being flown back to Canada. It was, recalls Cockburn, “one of the saddest and most moving scenes I’ve been privileged to witness.”
“Here come the dead boys, moving slowly past the pipes and prayers and strained commanding voices,” Cockburn sings solemnly on “Each One Lost.” Over a mournful accordion, the simple chorus sums up the gravity of the hymn-like song: “each one lost is a vital part of you and me.”
In contrast, one light-hearted number reflects Cockburn’s frequently under-appreciated sense of humour. “Called Me Back” is a comic reflection on the frustrations of waiting for a return phone call that never comes. Meanwhile, listeners are bound to be intrigued by “Call Me Rose,” written from the point of view of disgraced former U.S. president Richard Nixon, who receives a chance at redemption after being reincarnated as a single mother living in a housing project with two children.
Brooklyn-based violinist Jenny Scheinman is one of Bruce’s two female collaborators on Small Source of Comfort. Scheinman, best known for her work with Bill Frisell and Norah Jones, provides some thrilling flourishes to instrumentals like “Lois on the Autobahn” and the bluesy, gypsy-like swing of “Comets of Kandahar,” a track that Cockburn describes as “Django meets John Lee Hooker.”
Produced by long-time associate Colin Linden, the album also features Annabelle Chvostek, a Montreal-based singer-songwriter with whom Cockburn wrote two songs on which they also harmonize: the introspective “Driving Away” and the driving, freewheeling “Boundless.” In addition to newcomers Scheinman and Chvostek, Small Source of Comfort includes such regular Cockburn accompanists as bassist Jon Dymond, drummer Gary Craig and producer Linden, who also plays guitar.
As always, there’s a spiritual side to Cockburn’s latest collection, best reflected on the closing “Gifts,” a song written in 1968 and but recorded here for the first time, and “The Iris of the World,” which opens the album. The latter includes the humorously rueful line, “I’m good at catching rainbows, not so good at catching trout.”
That admission serves as a useful metaphor for Cockburn’s approach to songwriting. “As you go through life, it’s like taking a hike alongside a river,” he explains. “Your eye catches little things that flash in the water, various stones and flotsam. I’m a bit of a packrat when it comes to saving these reflections. And, occasionally, a few of them make their way into songs.”
Those songs, along with his humanitarian work, have brought Cockburn a long list of honours, including 13 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and several international awards. In 1982, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 2002.
Never content to rest on his laurels, Cockburn keeps looking ahead. “I’d rather think about what I’m going to do next,” he once said. “My models for graceful aging are guys like John Lee Hooker and Mississippi John Hurt, who never stopped working till they dropped, as I fully expect to be doing, and just getting better as musicians and as human beings.” Small Source of Comfort, a reflection of Cockburn’s ever-expanding world of wonders, is the latest step in his creative evolution.
BRUCE COCKBURN SMALL SOURCE OF COMFORT TOUR DATES:
MAR 24 KELOWNA BC COMMUNITY THEATRE
MAR 25 VANCOUVER BC CHAN CENTRE
MAR 26 VICTORIA BC McPHERSON PLAYHOUSE
MAR 27 NANAIMO BC PORT THEATRE
MAR 30 CALGARY AB JUBILEE THEATRE
MAR 31 BANFF AB ERIC HARVIE THEATRE
APR 1 EDMONTON AB WINSPEAR THEATRE
APR 2 PRINCE ALBERT SK RAWLINSON CENTRE
APR 3 SASKATOON SK TCU PLACE
APR 5 WINNIPEG MB BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE
APR 6 THUNDER BAY ON COMMUNITY AUDITORIUM
APR 8 KINGSTON ON GRAND THEATRE
APR 9 TORONTO ON MASSEY HALL
APR 10 NORTH BAY ON CAPITAL THEATRE
APR 12 ST. CATHARINES ON SEAN O’SULLIVAN THEATRE
APR 13 MONTREAL QC L’ASTRAL
APR 14 MONTREAL QC L’ASTRAL
APR 15 OTTAWA ON NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
APR 16 KITCHENER ON CENTRE IN THE SQUARE
MAY 3 NEW YORK CITY NY CITY WINERY
MAY 4 NEW YORK CITY NY CITY WINERY
MAY 5 ANNAPOLIS MD RAMS HEAD
MAY 6 PHILADELPHIA PA KESWICK THEATER
MAY 7 ALBANY NY HART THEATRE
MAY 9 WASHINGTON DC BIRCHMERE MUSIC HALL
MAY 11 BAY SHORE NY BOULTON CENTER
MAY 12 WOODSTOCK VT WOODSTOCK TOWN HALL
MAY 13 NORTHAMPTON MA CALVIN THEATER
MAY 14 BOSTON MA BERKLEE PERFORMANCE CENTER
MAY 15 TARRYTOWN NY MUSIC HALL
MAY 17 ITHACA NY STATE THEATER
MAY 19 ANN ARBOR MI THE ARK
MAY 20 ANN ARBOR MI THE ARK
MAY 21 MADISON WI BARRYMORE THEATRE
MAY 22 CHICAGO IL OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK
MAY 23 MINNEAPOLIS MN CEDAR CULTURAL CENTER
MAY 26 DURANGO CO COMMUNITY CONCERT HALL
MAY 27 BOULDER CO CHAUTAUQUA AUDITORIUM
MAY 28 DENVER CO ARVADA CENTER
MAY 31 LOS ANGELES CA EL REY THEATRE
JUN 1 SAN FRANCISCO CA TBA
JUN 2 NAPA CA UPTOWN THEATRE
JUN 3 PORTLAND OR TBA
JUN 4 SEATTLE WA TBA
Weblinks:
http://www.truenorthrecords.com/Artists.php?artist_id=12
http://www.myspace.com/officialbrucecockburn-30-
For interview requests or product/photography please contact Cristin Fraser at True North Records cristin@truenorthrecords.com 905 278 8883 ext 234
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2011 Tour Dates Now Up.
2011 Bruce Cockburn will be on the road for the “Small Source of Comfort Tour”. Dates are currently up on our website here, and as always on Bruce’s MySpace page.
More information surrounding this tour will be available soon.
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Call It Democracy
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Bruce Cockburn Continues Work On His New Studio Album
Bruce Cockburn continues to work on his new recording, his first studio album since 2006’s “Life Short Call Now”.
At the present moment the album contains some 15 songs and instrumentals.
The music being recorded is very acoustic, very rhythmic, and highly evocative.
The CD features performances from violin player extraordinaire Jenny Scheinman (Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux), recording artist Annabelle Chvostek and long time collaborators Gary Craig, Jon Dymond and producer Colin Linden.
The sessions have been done in Bath Ontario, Nashville Tennessee, and San Francisco California.
The album’s current working title is “Small Source of Comfort” and the record is now scheduled for a March 1, 2011 release, world-wide on the True North label and will mark six years between studio releases.
Following the release of the record Bruce will embark on a tour with dates beginning in Canada towards the end of March and into the US in May and then will continue on to the end of the year including a possible return to UK, Europe and points further afield.
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Updated: Bruce finishes up in the studio
Our friend, Daniel Keebler from Gavin’s Woodpile recently paid Bruce a visit in the studio. Daniel has posted some photos and notes from the visit. See his post here: In The Studio with Bruce. The release date for the new album is March 1, 2011.
UPDATED: New photos and notes posted HERE
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