INTERVIEW : 2011-07-20 Arthur's hard road to Calgary (by Lisa Wilton)
There are probably safer ways of making a living than being a musician.
It's something Joseph Arthur thinks about every now again while out on tour.
In fact, it's something he's thinking about as we talk about his upcoming appearance at the Calgary Folk Music Festival this weekend.
About halfway through the interview, Arthur's touring van is nearly smoked by speeding driver on his way to a show Virginia.
“We almost got into a car accident,” says the startled singer-songwriter. “This guy almost ran right into us.”
Seconds after averting catastrophe, Arthur regains his composure, returns to his regular laid-back, loquacious self and explains why he chose the hard road of music.
“I was forced to take piano lessons,” recalls the 39-year-old singer.
“I hated it, but eventually I tapped into my imagination through music. Once that happened, that was it. That's what I was going to do and I never veered from that. I knew that from a very young age.”
By the time he was a junior in high school, the talented guitarist was playing in a blues band five nights a week at Cleveland bars.
He was making $50 a night, a huge amount for a 16-year-old student at the time, and admits he nearly dropped out of school.
“In hindsight, I don't think it really mattered,” says Arthur with a laugh.
In 1996, Arthur became the first American artists signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World label and has since become folk-rock's critical darling thanks to his heartfelt, poetic lyrics, hypnotizing voice and silken melodies.
His most recent album, The Graduation Ceremony, features contributions from Liz Phair and veteran session drummer Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Neil Young.) It's a fairly minimalist offering from Arthur, although he says he originally wanted the record to sound even more stripped down.
“Pink Moon by Nick Drake is one of my favourites and in the back of my head I've always thought I should be making a record like that,” he says.
The Graduation Ceremony came out of another project he's working on – a concept record called The Ballad of Boogie Christ, featuring organs and piano work by The Band's Garth Hudson.
“I recorded the song, Out on a Limb, at the studio where I'm working on this other album,” Arthur explains.
“I just like the way it came out so much that I thought of some other songs I could do. I thought I'd do just some sort of internet acoustic record. But it just developed into The Graduation Ceremony.
I did this project because I wanted to do something simple.”
It's something Joseph Arthur thinks about every now again while out on tour.
In fact, it's something he's thinking about as we talk about his upcoming appearance at the Calgary Folk Music Festival this weekend.
About halfway through the interview, Arthur's touring van is nearly smoked by speeding driver on his way to a show Virginia.
“We almost got into a car accident,” says the startled singer-songwriter. “This guy almost ran right into us.”
Seconds after averting catastrophe, Arthur regains his composure, returns to his regular laid-back, loquacious self and explains why he chose the hard road of music.
“I was forced to take piano lessons,” recalls the 39-year-old singer.
“I hated it, but eventually I tapped into my imagination through music. Once that happened, that was it. That's what I was going to do and I never veered from that. I knew that from a very young age.”
By the time he was a junior in high school, the talented guitarist was playing in a blues band five nights a week at Cleveland bars.
He was making $50 a night, a huge amount for a 16-year-old student at the time, and admits he nearly dropped out of school.
“In hindsight, I don't think it really mattered,” says Arthur with a laugh.
In 1996, Arthur became the first American artists signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World label and has since become folk-rock's critical darling thanks to his heartfelt, poetic lyrics, hypnotizing voice and silken melodies.
His most recent album, The Graduation Ceremony, features contributions from Liz Phair and veteran session drummer Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Neil Young.) It's a fairly minimalist offering from Arthur, although he says he originally wanted the record to sound even more stripped down.
“Pink Moon by Nick Drake is one of my favourites and in the back of my head I've always thought I should be making a record like that,” he says.
The Graduation Ceremony came out of another project he's working on – a concept record called The Ballad of Boogie Christ, featuring organs and piano work by The Band's Garth Hudson.
“I recorded the song, Out on a Limb, at the studio where I'm working on this other album,” Arthur explains.
“I just like the way it came out so much that I thought of some other songs I could do. I thought I'd do just some sort of internet acoustic record. But it just developed into The Graduation Ceremony.
I did this project because I wanted to do something simple.”
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