STEPHEN FEARING is one of North America's most talented singer songwriters as well as a virtuoso guitarist (with comparisons to Bruce Cockburn and Richard Thompson). If you want to read about his guitar playing, have a look at this article in Guitar Player magazine.
He's also an alt.country star as a member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (BARK) along with Tom Wilson and Colin Linden. He has also been getting rave reviews for his recent duo project with Irish singer songwriter Andy White. They released their first record together in March of 2011 called Fearing & White.
If that's not enough, he's a heck of a nice guy.
I have been fortunate enough to see Stephen performing in folk clubs, festivals, showcase clubs and big venues for years. I even had the good fortune to book him to play Windsor Folk where I was artistic director in the 90s.
Stephen had a busy 2011 which started with his Fearing & White project and ended with a phenomenal new BARK record Kings and Queens. I am so pleased that he took some time during his well earned Christmas break to tell us about the records that influence his music.
Time for Stephen Fearing to PRESS PLAY>.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY? WHAT IS ON YOUR IPOD, CD PLAYER, TURNTABLE THESE DAYS?
Well, apart from a lot of Christmas music... I despise modern crooners (you know who you are) eviscerating the old standards with de-rigeur-saccharine-strings... so my kind of Christmas music involves large choirs singing in massive stone cathedrals across the pond.
However, that is a seasonal aberration, so apart from that, I'm listening to a wide mix of stuff including:
- Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (a family favourite),
- A bootleg of Richard Thompson and band from the Hand Of Kindness tour,
- Led Zeppelin -The Mothership re-masters,
- The Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields - Telemann Suite A minor and 2 Double Concertos featuring the amazing recorder playing of Michala Petri and
- Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban - Mambo Sinuendo.
And a healthy, regular dose of The Beatles, The Band and whatever else my computer spits up from the hard-drive... erm nothing too "au courant" I'm afraid and nothing whatsoever featuring young men with whispy beards, falsettos and toy pianos, or women under 30 wearing "Betty Draper" cocktail dresses...
WHAT IS THE RECORD (OKAY MAYBE TWO OR THREE OR FOUR OR MORE ) THAT INFLUENCED YOUR MUSIC THE MOST?
John Martyn - Solid Air
Willie P. Bennett - Hobo's Taunt
Roberta Flack - First Take
Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors
The Band - To Kingdom Come
The Who - Quadrophenia
Oliver Nelson - The Blues And The Abstract Truth
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
I'll stop here but this is just a fragment of a sliver of the records I deeply love.
I'll stop here but this is just a fragment of a sliver of the records I deeply love.
 |
| Stephane Grappelli and the Diz Disley Trio |
WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECORD YOU BOUGHT?
I've no idea to be honest... between my sister's record collection, my parents' and my step-brother's, there was so much music that was simply "there" already, and I don't know exactly where I started contributing.
I've no idea to be honest... between my sister's record collection, my parents' and my step-brother's, there was so much music that was simply "there" already, and I don't know exactly where I started contributing.
It may have been a Stephane Grappelli recording as I went through a big phase of listening to him (with Django and the Hot Club) and my first live concert was seeing him at The Gaeity Theatre in Dublin with The Diz Disley Trio. I was 14?
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE COVER TUNE? (SONG AND COVERED BY WHOM?)
Hey,That's No Way To Say Goodbye covered by Roberta Flack on First Take... this is an ESSENTIAL album. (Written and originally released by Leonard Cohen on the record The Songs of Leornard Cohen, 1967.)
When I was young living in Ireland during the first flowering of punk rock, we all thought we were cooler-than-thou and country music was something entirely weird, utterly fake and completely irrelevant... somewhere in there I came across Charlie Rich's country-politain masterpiece Behind Closed Doors. At the time it was very, very uncool. So I count it as a guilty pleasure that has become one of my desert island discs. The sound of this record was something I tried to emulate on Yellowjacket.
CURRENTLY, WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE RECORD TO LISTEN TO ON THE ROAD?
The Beatles - Love and about a hundred others....
WHICH OF YOUR RECORDS - SOLO OR IN A BAND - IS YOUR FAVOURITE?
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings - Kings and Queens
WHAT’S THE RECORD YOU BOUGHT THAT YOU WISH YOU DIDN’T?
I dunno... I tend not to buy stuff that I might end up hating so much later.
Hey,That's No Way To Say Goodbye covered by Roberta Flack on First Take... this is an ESSENTIAL album. (Written and originally released by Leonard Cohen on the record The Songs of Leornard Cohen, 1967.)
WHAT IS THE RECORD THAT YOU COUNT AS A GUILTY PLEASURE?
CURRENTLY, WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE RECORD TO LISTEN TO ON THE ROAD?
The Beatles - Love and about a hundred others....
WHICH OF YOUR RECORDS - SOLO OR IN A BAND - IS YOUR FAVOURITE?
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings - Kings and Queens
WHAT’S THE RECORD YOU BOUGHT THAT YOU WISH YOU DIDN’T?
I dunno... I tend not to buy stuff that I might end up hating so much later.
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