MP3 A Recent Future - FOLK: Modern Folk

Arguably, Keelaghan sings with one of the most glorious male voices in the folk community. It is not only a treat to the ear, but it's a voice that fully illuminates the songs it transmits.

11 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, EASY LISTENING: Adult contemporary

Details:
A Recent Future includes some of Keelaghanâs most acclaimed works yet. It was nominated for a Juno award in 1997 (Keelaghanâs second) and spent two months on the Gavin Americana charts in the U.S.

âThe influences never stop.â
Thatâs Canadian singer songwriter James Keelaghan talking and it could be the slogan for folk music.
But James is answering a question about his own musical background. Who influenced him? How did someone who âdidnât come from a musical family per seâ become a leading international musical figure? First, he says, the family loved music and offered appreciation and support. Then there is that influence factor:
âMy father was a great influence as a story teller, my mother for a sense of humour. I listened to a lot of Irish traditional stuff when I grew up, tempered with Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Captain Beefheart.â
So, who has influenced Keelaghan?
âLiam Clancy for voice and guitar style and the poetry of Yeats. I love Harry Belafonte âthe worldâs greatest stage performer â and Pete Seeger â a fine balladeer, but influences never stop. I am influenced by David Francey, Oliver Schroer, Hugh McMillan, and a host of others now.â
Donât forget to throw in the history influence. Keelaghan earned a degree in history from the University of Calgary, and his passion for it has inspired some of his most celebrated songs.
His debut album Timelines (1987 Tranquilla Music) was a collection of historically themed ballads.
Eight albums later, on A Few Simple Verses (2006 Jericho Beach Music), heâs coming at history the way a folk singer would: unabashedly paying tribute to songs he loves, many of which his father used to sing, many of which have no definite origin and all of which are part of living history.
Along the way, Keelaghan recorded seven albums between these two releases:
Small Rebellions (1990 Tranquilla Music) featuring the audience favourite âRed River Rising,â set during Canadaâs Riel Rebellion of 1870.
My Skies (1993), Keelaghanâs debut on the Green Linnet label, winner of a Juno award (Canadaâs equivalent of a Grammy) for Best Roots Traditional Album;
A Recent Future (1995 Green Linnet) including some of Keelaghanâs most acclaimed works yet -- âCold Missouri Watersâ is the story of a team of fire fighters who perished in the 1949 Mann Gulch fire in Montana. Nominated for a Juno award in 1997 (Keelaghanâs second), two months on the Gavin Americana charts in the U.S.
Compadres (1997 Jericho Beach Music) with Latin guitarist Oscar Lopez on the Vancouver-based label Jericho Beach Music, fuses Latin and Celtic music into a new style they called âCeltino.â It garnered a third Juno nomination for Best Roots Traditional Recording, voted Album of the Year by the readers of Vancouverâs Rogue Folk magazine.
Road (1999 Jericho Beach Music), with a âCanadian All Starâ line-up performing on the CD, is a deeply personal collection of songs.
Home (2002 Jericho Beach Music) returns to folk roots and a pared down sound.
Then Again (2004 Jericho Beach Music) Looks back and finds the best of his career.
Of course, every album features Jamesâ baritone, a voice that soothes, seduces, and packs a punch. It is an influential voice, in an oral tradition where performance is arguably where it all happens.
âI love touching people as a performer,â he says. âPutting a song across so that people get inside the story. I love the immediacy of it, the feedbackâ.
âI love audiences in Denmark and Australia. Totally unrestrained and ready to let you know what they think in the most emphatic terms. I love touring in England and Australia. England for the ancientness of it, Australia for the newness of it.â
Obviously, Keelaghan is not having any trouble âbreaking outâ of Canada. He has a devoted following around the world, with star turns at venues such as Denmarkâs Tonder Festival, the Hong Kong Festival and Australiaâs Port Fairy Folk Festival.
And you just know that with every trip across the water, those influences are percolating.

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