9 years ago in Grafton,Ontario Aengus held an intimate concert that was recorded and tomorrow night he has his CD launch - "Once Upon A Time". Life got in the way for him but I am so happy that this has finally happened for him. That night was magic and I expect tomorrow night will be as well.
Aengus Finnan: Born in Dublin Ireland, and raised in rural Canada, Aengus Finnan’s emotive story-style songs, heartfelt performances, and “get-it-done” work ethic saw him touring extensively across Canada, the Arctic, Australia, Japan, and America on the folk club, festival and theatre circuit from 1997-2005.
He released two critically acclaimed albums, Fools Gold (1999) and North Wind (2002). His original compositions as well as interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs reveal the stories of real people and familiar places with an honesty that won him the prestigious New Folk Songwriters’ Award at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas (an honour shared by the likes of Lyle Lovette & Guy Clark). His love song Lately was awarded the Songs from the Heart award, while his haunting song O’Shaughnessy’s Lament (written in the graveyard of a Northern Ontario silver-mining town) has been recorded by renowned Irish-American tenor Shamus Kennedy. Recently his song My Heart Has Wings was aired as part of the final CTV season of Flashpoint.
He is the founder of the Art Beat community outreach initiative for the Ontario Council of Folk Festival where he later served as Board President. In 2004 he founded the Shelter Valley Folk Festival where he served as Executive and Artistic Director for 7 years. He also co-founded an annual Gordon Lightfoot tribute concert entitled The Way We Feel. For the past 3 years he has worked as Touring Officer for the Ontario Arts Council.
Finnan returns to performing after an extended hiatus with the 2013 release of his long anticipated 2004 live recording Once Upon a Time, recorded in the Town Hall in his boyhood hometown of Grafton Ontario.
He is working on the release of a field recording album of Robert Service poetry recorded in site-specific locations throughout the Yukon, and is preparing for a new studio album in 2014.
“Disarmingly Artful” - The Toronto Star
“Critic’s Pick” - The Nashville Scene
“A Traveling Archivist” - Saturday Night
“A Maverick Balladeer” - The Echo
“Honest Ballads & Emotional Stories” - The Globe and Mail
https://soundcloud.com/aengus-finnan/lightfoot-1 - this is "LIGHTFOOT" recorded LIVE that night. (also included in the 2004 LIGHTFOOT Tribute CD as the only original tune)
Other cuts from the Grafton concert are at the soundcloud site.
other artists performing that night-Trevor Mills, David Rogers, Jory Nash, David Newland.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/aengusfinnan
Photos from May 2004-Grafton,Ontario.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1534..._mall_activity