Acoustic roots and blues slide, heavy-fingered picking and strumming and the sweet sound of a brass slide on a steel guitar.

10 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Acoustic Blues, FOLK: Folk Blues



Details:
Manitoba Hal is a songwriter whose sound is rooted in the delta and piedmont styles of the blues. He tempers his finger picking style with a sharp sense of humour and gritty lyrics punctuated by the smooth slide of a veteran blues master. Like anyone whose name is a place, Manitoba Hal wears his love for his roots on his sleeve. But those roots aren't just in the prairie soil. Hal's got a songwriter's roots in eerie folk - murder ballads and killer floods - and a player's roots in the deep, dark, fixin' to die blues. This is a man who can sing the word "lonesome" like he means it, and no mistake.

"With a voice that can soothe one moment and launch into howling blues refrains the next, Manitoba Hal's performance was incredible...unassuming, simply excellent blues entertainment." - Dawn M. Barker - Carlyle Observer

Hal has been living on the road on and off since 1998 and logged over 100,000 kms and almost 400 shows since October 2002. In the past year he has been called to fill in for Morgan Davis at two prairie blues festivals (Regina Mid-Winter Blues Festival and Saskatoon Blues Festival) and he was featured alongside such luminaries as Dr John, John Mayhal, Colin James, Phil Guy and Roy Young at the Thunder Bay Blues Festival.

The real deal is to hear Manitoba Hal live. He's a performer with a genuine sense of presence, who can croon an audience to tropical paradise and then turn around and chill them to the bone. Great guitar and ukulele playing underscore his warm vocals, and clever storytelling weaves the whole thing together. Manitoba Hal is that rare musician: a gifted player who can also write songs well, deliver them right, and still let the blues do the talking.

Highlights of Halâs career include; opening for Kelly Joe Phelps, Mose Scarlett, Fred Eaglesmith and Micheal Jerome Browne, sharing the stage with Dr. John, Colin James, Big Dave McLean, Phil Guy, Ken Hamm, Amos Garrett, Valdy, Tim Williams, Don Ross, Bill Bourne, Lester Quitzau, Washboard Hank, Suzie Vinnick, Danville Dan and Fruitland Jackson.

Manitoba Hal is a member of these Associations;

* Canadian Guitar Players Association
* Ontario Council of Folk Festivals
* Thunder Bay Blues Society
* Saskatoon Blues Society
* Delta Blues Society - Regina, Sk
* Ukulele Hall of Fame
* Manitoba Independent Songwriters Association (MISC)