Aengus Finnan-LIGHTFOOT

[charlene]

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

[JimJ]

Whatever this guy's selling, I'm buying. Not a sappy tribute at all, but very thoughtful.

[charlene]

Aengus and Gord at the CD launch of the tribute CD, BEAUTIFUL.

[charlene]

previous videos from The Wee Folk Club in TORONTO - some of the tunes are on the new LIVE CD.. I will post new pics and video asap from the CD launch last night.. http://www.youtube.com/user/lightfoo...=wee+folk+club
More info: http://borealisrecords.com/artists/aengus-finnan/

[niffer]

A while ago there was a post on the Lightfoot Facebook page about Aengus' song on the Beautiful tribute album, something to the effect that it wasn't worthy of being included. I completely disagree. I love that song, and apparently Gordon does too.

[charlene]

and all of those renowned singer-songwriters/producers must have thought so too or they'd not have allowed it on the album...
'nuff said!
hmph!
I LOVE that song!
look at the first pic of Aengus and then the image of Lightfoot on the album cover...similar? I think so...
Yep I do.

[charlene]

Originally Posted by JimJ

Whatever this guy's selling, I'm buying. Not a sappy tribute at all, but very thoughtful.

http://www.amazon.com/North-Wind-Aen...DateDescending

[charlene]

7 VIDEOS - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...ZFjtiqwaut547D

[charlene]

free times café - may 31,2013-aengus finnan

[charlene]

This night was 9 years in the making. From a stormy Grafton night to a stormy Toronto night the journey of this CD has been anxiously anticipated and now, thankfully received. The journey Aengus took was necessary and I am thankful for his return to his natural talent.

Aengus sang some old tunes and some new ones with his evocative voice and lyrics. Tunes he wrote from real moments in his life and in the lives of others he discovered in his travels across the country.

'O'Shaughnessy's Lament' breaks my heart every time I listen. From seeing a gravestone in the silver mining town of Cobalt, Ontario came a story that will take your breath away. A story written only from reading the dates and names on a headstone. A wife/mother dying in childbirth along with her twins, leaving a devastated husband/father who outlives them for forty years. This is one of 2 songs that would win him the New Folk Songwriters award at the Kerrville,Texas Folk Festival.

Not on video is the 'Julia B. Merrill', another story that brings together tragedy of another kind and history. The Julia B. Merrill is a 3 masted schooner built in 1872 that lies in the waters of Humber Bay in Lake Ontario just west of the downtown Toronto core in 1931. When her sailing days were over she was set ablaze along the waterfront of Toronto for entertainment. Her remains lie beneath the waters still. After a concert one night Aengus met a man who was 7 at the time and remembers paying a nickel to take a boat out to the Julia B. Merrill for a last tour the day of the torching.
(it can be heard in this playlist: - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...eature=mh_lolz )
dive photos-
http://www.warrenlophotography.com/u.../merrill-2005/

and info- http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?180162

On video is 'Last Night At The Old Place' - written as he was in the midst of selling a heritage property in his hometown of Grafton, Ontario. He had done extensive reno work and needed to sell it after moving to Toronto. Anyone who has been in the position of leaving a beloved home can certainly feel the emotions he conveys so beautifully. Tears.

"Fly Away" (not on video from last night) was written after he had an incident with a young student in Ontario's far north town of Moosonee on James Bay. As a 23 year old teacher he had a young student whose father had left the family and he was having a tough time and he and Aengus were not getting along. He punched Aengus one day but then called to apologize and from that event came the first song Aengus would write. From his own life he could relate to the young boy and his feelings about his parents splitting up and he certainly conveys the pain and confusion, anger and questions a child has in that situation.

Aengus belongs onstage singing his songs. He's written some new ones and is hoping for a new release of them in 2014. Stepping away for so many years as he did was necessary but now that he has discovered that he has more music to offer, all of the people who love him and his music are thrilled to bits knowing that such a talent will continue to enrich our lives. Welcome back Aengus!