The Performance Hour
with Jamie Fitzpatrick

And I've not completely grown
into the woman that I'm supposed to be.
But hell I'm a lot closer than I was last February.

That's the closing line from the debut album by Joanna Barker.

It's not meant as a status update on her growth as a singer and songwriter.

But it could be.

A little over a year ago, Joanna Barker was taking her first steps as a performer on the St. John's bar scene.

Now she has a debut CD chronicling a year's worth of life and experience.

The album is called February - referring to the 12-month period from one February to the next - and it establishes her as a singular voice in Newfoundland's burgeoning singer-songwriter community.

Joanna Barker joins us on the show this Saturday (June 2) to talk about the album and how she found her voice as a songwriter.

Also this week, we'll hear from Jim Fidler on his latest album, Up That River, and Katie Baggs brings us up to date on her band, All the Wiles.

Read more »

                                                    Music fans first came to know him as the guy with the dreadlocks from the Codroy Valley.

Now he's one of the hottest young voices in Newfoundland and Labrador music.

This Saturday's show (May 26) features Sherman Downey and his band the Silver Lining, recorded live in concert.

It's been two years since a highly-acclaimed debut CD called Honey for Bees put Sherman and his band on the local music map.

They're targeting this fall for the release of the all-important second album.

Many of the songs destined for that album were heard during the band's recent tour of the province, and they drew a tremendous response from a growing community of fans.

Those tunes are featured on this week's show, recorded at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre. 

Though he emerged just a couple of years ago, Matthew Byrne ranks as one of Newfoundland's finest folk singers.

But you won't hear him doing many of the tried and true favourites.

Rather than treat everyone to yet another rendition of Lukey's Boat or Kelligrew's Soiree, he digs through the folklore collections for stuff most of us haven't heard before.

So every time you hear Matthew sing, there's a good chance you'll discover another page of the Newfoundland songbook.

This Saturday (May 19), Matthew Byrne drops by the CBC St. John's studio to sing a few ballads and talk about his fascination with our vast and varied folk culture.

A Note to Those in the St. John's Area: 
Join us for Matthew Byrne in concert at the LSPU Hall on Thursday, May 31. He'll have a variety of special guests, including Emilia Bartellas and Aaron Collis of The Dardanelles. Tickets are available at the LSPU Hall box office. The show will be recorded for broadcast on The Performance Hour.

Also on this week's show, we'll hear from the debut album by Pilot to Bombardier, and chat with the local jazz-funk trio Evry7th.

Read more »

The soul man from Norris Arm is back.

This Saturday (May 12), Chris Kirby joins me in the Performance Hour studio to play songs from his brand new album, Wonderizer.

It's his third solo CD, and it continues the evolution of his rich blend of blues, R&B, soul, and funk.

Here's a video from Chris Kirby's session in Studio F at CBC St. John's. He's at the piano to play the title track from the new album.

 

Pamela Morgan is back in the game.

After nearly three decades devoted to folk and traditional music, Pamela stepped away for the last few years.

We haven't heard much from her since the summer of 2008, when she led a reunion of Newfoundland and Labrador's seminal folk group, Figgy Duff.

Now she's recording and performing again, and you'll hear her new songs this Saturday (May 5) in a session recorded exclusively for the Performance Hour.

From that session, here's Pamela Morgan filmed live off the floor of Studio F at CBC St. John's.

She sings a lyric by the great Newfoundland poet Tom Dawe, set to music composed by Pamela.

It wonders whether the prince of fairy tale legend might ever long for his days as a frog, and regret the kiss that changed everything.

 

It's been quite a journey for the woman who got her start busking on the streets of St. John's.

These days Amelia Curran is considered one of the great young voices in Canadian music.

This Saturday you'll hear her songs in a whole new context, in a concert recorded at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax.

Amelia sings with Symphony Nova Scotia, giving some of her finest songs the full, sweeping symphonic treatment.

Conductor Shalom Bard leads the ensemble through arrangements written by two of Amelia's longtime collaborators, Erin Costello and Phil Sedore.

You'll hear favourites like Scattered and Small, Bye-Bye Montreal, and All Hands on a Grain of Sand, delivered with swelling strings and muscular brass. 

With a brand new album in the works, the concert provides a look back at how Amelia Curran's music has evolved during her meteoric rise over the last few years.

Most of us are used to hearing Amelia Curran accompanied by little more than an acoustic guitar.

But the "big" sound brings out nuances of dramatic tension, humour, and insight that you might not have heard before.

Also this week, poetry by Kerri Cull of Labrador City. She reads from her new collection, Soak, and talks about it.

They are few and far between, the songwriters who can stop you in your tracks, have you hanging on every word.

Andrew James O'Brien first appeared on this show as part of the 2010 CBC-Music NL Songwriters Circle in Rocky Harbour.

Almost nobody in the room knew who he was. His first album was still a few months away.

But from the moment he began his first song, you could hear a pin drop.

He's had that effect on audiences everywhere, and his days as an unknown performer are long over.

Last month, Andrew James O'Brien and his band the Searchers took the stage of the LSPU Hall in St. John's.

Fans packed the house for a pair of shows presented by CBC Radio, and the event turned into a celebration of one of the great young voices in Newfoundland music.

It was quite a time, as you'll hear this Saturday.

 

Photo: Andrew James O'Brien with Catherine Allan of his band the Searchers. (Bud Gaulton).

Read more »