Charlie A'Court

Artist Information

Biography

www.charlieacourt.com
www.myspace.com/charlieacourt
www.amiestreet.com/charlieacourt
www.dropcards.com/charlieacourt
www.cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=Charlie+A%27Court

Charlie A’Court
“…in my world, music speaks louder than words.”

Named as Nova Scotia’s top entertainer at the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Awards in November, Charlie A’Court is synonymous with impassioned performances that grip an audience the very moment he takes the stage.

Winner of the East Coast Music Awards 2007 Pop Recording of the Year and 2007 Music Nova Scotia Blues Recording of the Year for his album Bring On The Storm and 2003 Best Blues Artist for his debut album Color Me Gone, Charlie A’Court is an emotionally charged and soul moving performer. Fearlessly bridging genres and challenging stylistic conventions, his music and passionate voice stir up the listeners’ emotions, touching the very core of audiences around the world.

Partnered with acclaimed producer Danny Greenspoon (Great Big Sea, Bruce Guthro, Sophie Milman) A’Court released his follow-up studio album, Bring On The Storm, in October 2006. This album spans the gamut of emotion, dealing with triumph and disaster, loss of loved ones, mental health and chronic physical pain, life on the road, and being head over heals in love.

Further establishing his reputation as a remarkable entertainer, A’Court has released his first live, solo recording. "Live At The Marigold" is an intimate look into the heart of this soulful troubadour and was recorded at the beautiful Marigold Cultural Centre in Truro, Nova Scotia. In an effort to be in a "greener" frame of mind, “Live At The Marigold” is being released exclusively as a digital download keychain. The new release was nominated for Best Blues Artist/Group Recording, Best Male Artist Recording at the 2009 Music Nova Scotia Awards.

A’Court has toured extensively throughout Canada and abroad with headlining performances at the Stan Rogers’ Folk Fest, Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, Kerrville Folk Fest, and Ottawa Blues Fest. A’Court has shared the stage with high profile artists including John Reischman & the Jaybirds, Martin Sexton, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, George Thorogood, Harry Manx, Procol Harum, Colin James, and Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd.

Charlie’s modern blues style, mixed with his contemporary songwriting has created a mass appeal, ensuring
A’Court’s material is widely accepted as a festival favourite by audiences and promoters alike. Fuelled by emotion and a desire for delivering powerful music, Charlie A’Court is undoubtedly one of Canada’s new generation of fresh singer/songwriters, attracting fans internationally with gutsy vocals and his colourful yet solid guitar playing. (photo credit: Glen Meisner)


“The most soulful Canadian artist…ever!!!” Amiestreet.com

“The act of performing brings out a daredevil quality in his powerhouse singing and guitar playing, which Live at the Marigold captures admirably.”
~ Stephen Cooke, The Chronicle Herald

“And that voice! Charlie A’Court is extremely multi-talented and possesses a voice that would make even the most hardcore singles in the audience want to make out with the next attractive stranger they encountered.”
~ Melissa Martel, The Brunswickan

Instrumentation

Charlie A'Court - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, slide guitar.
Side men as needed.

Discography

Novelty Salesmen - Christmas On The Town
(2001) Label/Maison: Independant
Track No: 8 - The Night Before Christmas

Russ Brannon - Into The Light ( 2002 )
Label/Maison: Independant
Track No: 7 - How Long ( 6:11 )


Color Me Gone ( 2002 )
Label/Maison: Independant release
Track No: 1 - You've Got A Friend In Me
Track No: 2 - Carolina
Track No: 3 - Bridges To Burn
Track No: 4 - When The Night Comes
Track No: 5 - I'd Do This For You
Track No: 6 - Alone
Track No: 7 - Lady Woman
Track No: 8 - All I Need
Track No: 9 - Color Me Gone
Track No: 10 - I'm Coming Home
Track No: 11 - Hello Love
Track No: 12 - Be My Angel

Glamour Puss ( 2003 )
Label/Maison: Northernblues Music
Track No: 7 - Wire & Wood ( 3:17 )

Eileen Joyce - No More Blue Tears ( 2003 )
Label/Maison: Independant
Track No: 6 - Too Hot To Handle ( 3:30 )

Alone ( 2004 )
Label/Maison: Independant
Track No: 1 - All I Need ( 4:53 )
Track No: 2 - Bridges To Burn ( 4:28 )
Track No: 3 - Be My Angel ( 5:47 )
Track No: 4 - I'd Do This For You ( 4:34 )
Track No: 5 - I'm Coming Home ( 5:54 )
Track No: 6 - Alone ( 4:55 )
Track No: 7 - Hello Love ( 5:21 )


Charlie A'Court - Live ( 2004 )
Label/Maison: Herman's
European release. Recoded in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Track No: 1 - Walkin' Blues ( 6:47 )
Track No: 2 - Big Dark Canyon ( 6:02 )
Track No: 3 - Color Me Gone ( 6:30 )
Track No: 4 - I'd Do This For You ( 5:48 )
Track No: 5 - Bridges to Burn ( 5:38 )
Track No: 6 - Perpetual Blues Machine ( 3:12 )
Track No: 7 - Carolina ( 6:51 )
Track No: 8 - Alone ( 8:52 )
Track No: 9 - Lady Woman ( 5:17 )
Track No: 10 - I'm Coming Home ( 8:06 )
Track No: 11 - You've Got a Friend in Me ( 4:54 )

Dave Gunning - two-bit world ( 2004 )
Label/Maison: Independant
Track No: 7 - Long Black Veil ( 4:30 )

Charlie A'Court - Bring On The Storm (2006)
Label/Maison: 6K7 Music
Track No: 1 - Big Dark Canyon (4:44)
Track No: 2 - Take Me Down (4:40)
Track No: 3 - Give It All To You (4:56)
Track No: 4 - Broken Man (4:46)
Track No: 5 - If You Go (4:01)
Track No: 6 - Bring On The Storm (4:18)
Track No: 7 - Isolation Blues (3:13)
Track No: 8 - Heartaches of a Fool (3:48)
Track No: 9 - Seeing You Around (3:44)
Track No: 10 - Yes You Are (4:47)
Track No: 11 - (I've Got) Dreams To Remember (5:02)

Live At The Marigold -
2009 CHAS Music
If This Is Love
Bridges To Burn
Take Me Down
Loving Her Was Easier
Big Dark Canyon
I'd Do This For You
The Lincolns: Together Again
(I've Got) Dreams To Remember
Bring On The Storm
I Hope I Get To Heaven
Heartaches Of A Fool

Official Website

http://www.charlieacourt.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace

Audio

• Big Dark Canyon
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• Carolina
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• Isolation Blues
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• Big Dark Canyon - Live
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• Heartaches Of A Fool - Live
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• The World Around Me
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• I Hope I Get To Heaven
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• Sun Is Gonna Shine
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• A Change Is Gonna Come
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• Up There I Can Fly
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Lyrics

• I Hope I Get To Heaven
• Isolation Blues
• Big Dark Canyon
• Seeing You Around
• Yes You Are
• Bring On The Storm
• The World Around Me
• A Change Is Gonna Come

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Charlie A'Court goes on record [+ Show ]
  

  HFX - YOUR ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Last updated at 7:33 AM on 07/02/08 Charlie A'C...HFX - YOUR ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE
  
  
  
  Last updated at 7:33 AM on 07/02/08
  
  Charlie A'Court goes on record
  We get an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at the recording process with an ECMA winner
  
  DEAN LISK
  The Daily News
  
  
  
  Charlie A'Court (right) gets ready to record at The Echo Chamber. (Daily News/Mike Dembeck)
  
  
  He's been in the studio numerous times before - even won a few ECMAs for his work - but the process still intimidates Charlie A'Court.
  
  "It is like you are under a microscope," he says. "Live shows are often more forgiving because you are in-the-moment and it is a little more raw. I seem to have this mental wall about bringing rawness into the studio.
  
  "I feel it needs to be bang on."
  
  Putting his anxiety aside, A'Court books a studio to record a demo album, and invites HFX to join him for a behind-the-scene look at the process.
  
  "I have these internal battles with myself, and at the same time putting up this front that I am comfortable in the studio and I feel fine with I am doing," says A'Court. "I try to deal with those battles because you can get too wrapped up in it and lose the sparkle of a tune."
  
  We're at Charles Austin's The Echo Chamber on Kempt Road to record three songs - Won't Let It Slip Away, Home Is Just a House Now and I Hope I Get to Heaven - for a CD A'Court can shop around the ECMAs in Fredericton this weekend. He wants to secure support for a new record.
  
  A'Court and sound engineer Dave Ewenson listen to an acoustic-guitar track of Won't Let It Slip Away made the night before. The song was recorded for his last album, the ECMA-winning Bring On the Storm, but it didn't make it on the release. He decides to try something new with it.
  
  "I'm still getting that sound on the guitar," A'Court says.
  
  "Yeah, that ring," Ewenson replies.
  
  "Would it be any different if we recorded in the other room?" A'Court asks. The two decide to give it a try.
  
  "I am making sure the artist feels comfortable, and getting across what they want," says Ewenson as he sets up the digital recording system on his computer. "I want them to feel like they can do what they do natural, and not feel a need to alter it because it is a studio environment.
  
  "You also get good takes out of people, which is the main thing."
  
  Sitting in the recording studio, A'Court wears headphones that play a rhythmic computer click - it helps him keep the beat - and the bed track recorded the previous evening.
  
  The bed track is the foundation of a song: The drum, bass and maybe a bit of guitar. While those musicians performed in one space, A'Court was in a separate room singing and playing his guitar.
  
  "One bleeds into the other," A'Court said. "On the vocal track you will hear guitar, and on the guitar track you will hear the voice."
  
  It was made as a scratch track, so the essence and energy of the song - that live feeling - would be felt by the other musicians as the recorded in a separate room.
  
  The scratch tracks are later erased, and A'Court will record new - and separate - voice and guitar tracks that can be edited later.
  
  "You do the bare essentials that you need to start with, then you go into a phase where it's the details, the finishing touches," says A'Court. "It's the interior decorating of a song, the overdubs and adding other instruments or background vocals."
  
  As A'Court strums and sings, Ewenson works at his computer, attacking his digital soundboard with a mouse. He adjusts levels and keeps an ear open. Occasionally, he wheels over to the soundboard and isolates A'Court's performance from the rest of the previously recorded material.
  
  'Fussy process'
  
  "You want to make sure the acoustic (guitar) sounds good on it's own and you don't get any noise or anything like that." Ewenson says. "You have to make sure each track sounds clean. Those sort of things add up, and in the end you are asking, 'Why does that sound muddy, why doesn't it sound crisp?'"
  
  "It is totally a fussy process," A'Court says. "I am my own worst critic, and everyone is their own worst critic. I hate listening to myself in playback, but it is a necessary evil if I am going to determine whether it was a decent enough performance that could be used for the rest of the world to listen to."
  
  At the same time, he knows this is a demo he's recording. Only a select few will hear the finished product - a small, influential group of people.
  
  "It's a slippery slope," he said. "You don't want to invest too much time in demos, but you don't want it to sound like you sat around a kitchen table with a cassette tape."
  
  He goes back in the studio and closes the door behind him to record another take of Won't Let It Slip Away. You soon hear his count - "Two, one" - and the music starts again.
  
  Jason Mingo, a Halifax session musician who attended Nova Scotia Community College with A'Court, listens in. He's one of three musicians - there's drummer Keith Mullins and bassist Kevin Corbett - A'Court brings into the studio to work on the demos.
  
  "We are cutting it really close. It's kind of using gorilla tactics attacking this project," A'Court says, knowing he has less than a week to get the CDs ready.
  
  "I have been really lucky in that all the guys I have been using are close friends, and they have a fairly flexible schedule and were able to juggle some things."
  
  He says he's not being one of those musicians who spends a lot of time on pre-production work and rehearsals. He prefers getting musicians in the studio and let them work through the material - and let their individuality come through.
  
  "Let them suss it out and find the common ground where musicians meld," he says.
  
  While Ewenson isolates the different sounds and makes some adjustments, Mingo plays silently along on his guitar, but a soft note occasionally escapes from his strings as he listens to A'Court's strumming.
  
  Being a session musician, he says, is almost like working in a service industry. You go in, do what the artist wants, and try to make it the best you can; make it better by adding your own personality to it.
  
  "In some cases, you craft the songs, or in the other 90 per cent of the cases the song is all there and I am only adding touched here and there," says Mingo, who also plays live around Halifax. "I just try to make the songs better, as good as possible, and add stuff to them.
  
  "It's fun, creative, different all the time. That's for sure. It is great making music, and it is really great hearing it back once the finish product is done."
  
  Finishing his take, A'Court leaves the sound booth. He's concerned that he might have heard a voice through the headphones as he was playing. It stumped him and he wasn't sure whether it was Ewenson telling him to stop.
  
  Ewenson calls up the track and they listen to the Won't Let It Slip Away recording.
  
  "I'm liking this a lot better than when I did this on the last album," says A'Court. "There is a je ne sais quoi," he says about deciding what track to use on the final song. "You listen to the technical, the quality of the chords, the cleanliness of the notes, and the tempo of the drums.
  
  "Then, you listen to the overall vibe. Does this sound like the right instruments coming together for this tune, and are they representing the music the way you hear it in your head?"
  
  Mingo decides he wants to try something different and gets ready to go back into the room and record.
  
  "Everyone needs to be happy with their performance, and at the same time happy with everyone else's performance," A'Court says.
  
  "It is not just my work being represented, it's the individuality of the other musicians helping me build these tracks."
  
  07/02/08

• A'Court garners three ECMA nominations [+ Show ]
  

  Charlie A'Court is riding high on the release of his lastest album, Bring On The Storm. Yesterday m...Charlie A'Court is riding high on the release of his lastest album, Bring On The Storm.
  Yesterday morning the nominations for the 2007 East Coast Music Awards were handed out infront of an audience of 100 attendees. A'Court was rewarded with three nominations for his sophmore project, released in October. Nominated in "Pop Recording of the Year", "FACTOR Recording of the Year", and "Male Solo Recording of the Year", A'Court says he very excited to be holding rank with the other nominees.
  "These are heavy categories. If the ECMA thinks I have what it takes to be in the same category as Ron Hynes, Bruce Guthro and George Canyon, that's extremely humbling. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed!"
  The awards will be handed out on Sunday, February 18, 2007 in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the conference's 19th annual awards ceremony. The event will be broadcasted live on national television.

• Worldview Blues [+ Show ]
  

  Charlie A’Court was born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, just outside of Truro in MacCallum’s Settl...Charlie A’Court was born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, just outside of Truro in MacCallum’s Settlement. The future modern blues wizard took classical guitar lessons as a teen before discovering his father’s record collection, stuffed with legendary bluesmen including BB King, Eric Clapton and Long John Baldry.
  
  The 28-year-old has melded the soul of those elders with a more adult contemporary style, creating a sound both clean and soulful, a sound that brings to mind Robert Cray’s work, with hints of the Vaughan brothers, Stevie Ray and Jimmie, and Canadian blues guitar virtuoso Colin James. He released Color Me Gone in 2002, a limited edition acoustic release in 2004, and his full-length follow-up, Bring On The Storm, is just out now. In between recordings A’Court has been playing his music for people in Canada, the US, and especially in Europe, where his sound has found itself a loyal and large audience.
  
  When I speak to A’Court on his cell, he’s just left the Confederation Bridge, riding over red earth on his way to Charlottetown to play with his band for his PEI CD release show. He’ll do the same in Halifax on Friday, December 8 at the Seahorse.
  
  How did your classical guitar studies inform the way you play your music today?
  
  It instilled the necessity for discipline. That’s not a form of music that you can approach lightly. It’s not the kind of music you can just sit around and jam to. It’s very structured. The couple of years I took classical guitar it really hit home that when you pay this much attention to music, if you take that same idea to whatever form of music that you write and perform, it could have the same impact, the same weight.
  
  And blues music is quite different in the fact that you can jam to it?
  
  Yeah. It’s a very emotionally charged music. And you can apply that discipline to your emotions to ensure that when you perform your songs that you don’t do those songs lightly. They come from very serious ups and downs. The passion that continues to be the backbone of blues music, that’s given its proper discipline as well.
  
  Do you find you write from an autobiographical place in your songs, or do you inhabit characters that you write through?
  
  Definitely some of the songs on the new album are through experiences that I’ve encountered in the last four years. The songs that come from a more personal background, you try to approach them in such a way that you write from the specifics of your experience and still have it relatable to the general public. You don’t want end up writing material that’s so particular it becomes a song that no one can relate to. That’s what great music is--any art, for that matter--it’s about communication. You want to be able to strike that balance, to write songs that have certainly personal significance, but have listeners say, “You know, that happened to me a couple of years ago, this is what I’m going through now, and he’s nailing it on the head.”
  
  You’ve been touring a great deal since the last album, but are you able to write on the road?
  
  I don’t find I’m able to write successfully on the road. I’m able to start a few songs and I end up making a collection of notes that all get packed away in the suitcase. When I come home I unload that stuff. It’s not until I get home that I get away from having to deal with all the attributes of being on tour; getting to the venue or driving, working with media… once I get home and that part of the job is done, I put all those pieces of paper together. Once I can isolate myself away from the world a little while…
  
  Writing from the road must be its own little universe, and if you want to write from a universal place, the road may be separate from most people’s experience.
  
  Oh, it totally is. Though we’re definitely a travelling society, transient at that, a lot people are always on the move. It’s just because of the responsibilities I have on the road, I physically don’t have a chunk of time where I can say I’m going to take three or four hours a day where I’m going to write songs. It doesn’t work that way for me.
  
  It’s been a few years since your last album. What’s changed? Do you find you’re writing more serious material now?
  
  It all plays a part. For the most part you are writing what will be a snapshot of your life at that particular time. It doesn’t make the songs from the previous album any less credible. The things I went through a teenager when I started writing things for Color Me Gone, they’re teenage things. At the time they were big deals, it’s just a different proportion. It was as important to me then as the big deals I go through now as an adult.
  
  Do you have any trouble playing those older songs, going back to the place you were in when you wrote them?
  
  Not really. I really enjoy revisiting those first songs. You can always put on a contemporary spin on a person’s back work and material. Some of those songs, they mean things to people. You don’t want to shut the door on that. These performances, the repertoire is heavy on the new album, but we do incorporate three or four songs from the older material that people still enjoy. It’s funny I was just watching Clapton’s Crossroads Festival, and Joe Walsh is on there, and he’s playing “Rocky Mountain Way.” Before he starts he introduces it, “If I knew I was going to be playing this song for the rest of my life I would have written something else.” But that’s from his perspective but from the fans perspective these are songs they’ve now associated memories to, they’ve used that song to access their points of life. They have their own importance. I don’t find they diminish over time.
  
  I notice you collaborate with JP Cormier (on the song “Big Dark Canyon”) and Rylee Madison ("Yes You Are"), whose musical specialties are quite different than yours. What do artists from other disciplines bring to what you do?
  
  Well, if I went out and searched for a songwriter who was completely identical to my style, the risk is not writing anything new at all. For me the joy that I got of writing with JP Cormier…it was his lyric ability, the way he can paint a picture. With Rylee Madison, the same rings true there but more so, because country music and blues have so many similarities, so many crossover approaches.
  
  You call Halifax home, but have made a lot of fans in Europe. What is it about your sound that appeals to that audience, what’s the connection?
  
  First of all, the music has to be good. And that’s not to blow my own horn, but the same has to be said for anyone who goes over there. It has to be presented in a way that the audience can walk away and say, “That was a great opportunity to see an artist sing from the heart.” Regardless of the configuration, one guy and a guitar or a band. The second reason it’s taken off as it has is because the fans there sort of have to work double duty to acquire the same understanding of the lyrics, contextually speaking, that people in North America do. Singing in English and having fans here get the meaning behind the song is sort of second nature to music lovers. When you take English music to a culture where English is not the first language, they want to understand the song the same way everyone else is understanding it.
  
  Things have sort of blown up over there. I go over and places are full, people are singing my music. One time I got an email from a fan in Uganda. The fan was saying they had heard my music from someone who had moved there from Canada, he said, “I am to learning and speak English through your music.” That’s pretty wild. I thought that was extremely touching.
  

• Transition strengthens A’Court [+ Show ]
  

  There’s a storm brewing, but Charlie A’Court doesn’t mind. The Halifax-based singer-songwriter is...There’s a storm brewing, but Charlie A’Court doesn’t mind.
  
  The Halifax-based singer-songwriter is prepared for a whirlwind of activity in the wake of the release of his second CD Bring On the Storm, including a trip this weekend to Liverpool where he’s nominated for entertainer of the year at the Music Nova Scotia Awards, which will be handed out on Sunday night at the Astor Theatre as part of Nova Scotia Music Week.
  
  A’Court is also performing a solo showcase on Saturday night at the Mersey and with his band on Sunday at the awards show afterparty.
  
  On top of all that, he’s putting in an appearance at the Marquee Club tonight,as part of the Dan Aykroyd & the Horsepower Blues Band benefit for the Halifax Military Family Resource Centre. And in December, he’ll be heading out on a Maritime mini-tour that includes a show at Halifax’s Seahorse Tavern on Dec. 8.
  
  Considering he recently got back from a three-week European tour with fellow MNS Award nominee Jenn Grant, it’s no surprise that many of the songs on Bring on the Storm are about transition. Whether it’s moving from one place to another in the physical sense, or the spiritual.
  
  "The past three years have been that way," says the Colchester County native over a club soda at the Economy Shoe Shop. "Definitely a state of transition on a career level and a personal level. Certainly Bring on the Storm is about digging in your heels and saying, ‘I’m on the road, but I can handle it!’
  
  "It’s about being a musician and being on the road and going place to place and reaching for the moon. You want to take on the good and the bad, knowing you can handle it."
  
  The experience has taught A’Court to think on his feet, like making the most of a "happy accident" that occurred while recording Bring on the Storm’s title track.
  
  Not even sure if the song would make the record, the boyish singer with the big voice noticed the drummer’s headphones were a split second off while recording in Toronto, giving his playing an unusual rhythm.
  
  "It’s almost as if his cans kicked in later, so he was playing a completely different groove than the rest of us, but one listen and we knew that’s what we wanted," A’Court recalls. "And it wound up being the title track for the album."
  
  He cites that incident as an example of the relaxed, cooperative atmosphere created in the studio by producer Danny Greenspoon, initially known as a guitar player with artists like the McGarrigle Sisters and Ian Tyson, and lately as a producer for a roster of performers including Great Big Sea and Susan Crowe.
  
  A’Court liked the work Greenspan had done with Saskatoon roots musician Susie Vinnick, and already had him in mind for a more expansive, soulful sound before he even knew the producer was a friend of manager Doug Kirby.
  
  "His mindset was ‘Follow your instincts.’ He’d tell me not to try and fill every moment of space with something, to let some air pass through the passages," says A’Court. "Don’t overplay. That’s why we brought in Kevin Breit as the second guitar player. Certain songs had a more natural calling for something he’d play, while others were more suited to my style of playing.
  
  "As a guitarist who’s worked with singer-songwriters, Danny brings a certain ease to the songs, and the way they flow from start to finish."
  
  A’Court’s ease in performing is countered by the intensely personal nature of the songs, like Broken Man, written following the deaths of friends and fellow musicians Rick Jeffery and Carlo Spinazzola, or Give It All to You, inspired by his father’s struggle with chronic back pain and the depression it caused.
  
  Even a stirring cover of Otis Redding’s Dreams to Remember is a tribute to his dad and his influence, harking back to when he took a teenage A’Court to hear Frank MacKay and the Lincolns perform that very song at the Truro Legion. Even though the then-underage A’Court couldn’t get in and had to listen to the show through an emergency exit by the stage, it helped spark that desire to perform.
  
  A’Court’s interpretation also further signals his desire to move beyond being labelled as strictly a blues artist, which he has long said is only one part of the whole picture.
  
  "You could rhyme off 50 blues songs a day if you’re just following the formula," he says. "But then I listened to contemporary singer-songwriters and wondered why I couldn’t do both. Give the music a rhythm and blues kind of groove, but make the lyrics contemporary sounding, and marry the two. That’s really what I tried to do with this album.
  
  "The listener can peg it whichever way they want. I’m trying not to do it, and let the industry do that, because everyone’s going to have their own opinion. Basically, it comes down to creating good music, drawn from many sources."
  
  

• Featured performer [+ Show ]
  

  Live Set Artist: Charlie A’Court Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia www.charlieacourt.com Reviewer...Live Set
  Artist: Charlie A’Court
  Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
  www.charlieacourt.com
  
  Reviewer: Christy Claxton, Editor
  www.christyclaxton.com
  
  The Bugle Boy, La Grange, TX
  May 25, 2006
  
  For some reason, I never really got Charlie A’Court until I saw him perform live. Yes. I’d received press kits and inquiries about a young, hot Canadian blues player, but I managed to miss it until I saw him play live, from the main stage at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The only thing I can figure is that it is impossible to capture the live experience that is Charlie A’Court on a recorded plastic disc. In the summer of 2005, I heard this kid fill up the huge Texas prairie in Kerrville, so I pointed him in the direction of a local music hall when he contacted me about performing in the area. Needless to say, I made my way to the show.
  
  And I was wowed.
  
  This big, baby-faced fellow with the two tone eyes is as dualistic as his peepers. A gentle, appreciative, bright individual who gets on stage and explodes. If you’re into that huge, emotion packed blues performance that makes your heart blast through your chest cavity, this is a guy to experience. But he’s not anybody’s idea of garden variety blues. I definitely hear Stevie Ray in his voice, but it’s his approach to composition and guitar playing that really makes him rise to the top. His style is not exactly hard core blues. He mixes it up with some folk, country, and rock, and he does by himself what most blues bands work hard to achieve as an ensemble. When a lead break is needed, it’s there. When a thumping bass line is needed, it’s there. When a tense, quiet breath of picking is needed, it’s there. Many, many players work for many more years to achieve what A’Court has managed by his mid-twenties. And in those quiet moments in the set, you will hear audience members sigh and murmur, “wow.” So there’s the big playing, now let’s tackle the voice. A’Court really knows how to hang it all out and make his vocals an instrument of exuberance, pain, and just big, life. He has a few tricks that make the live experience fun as he stops his guitar work and messes around with vocal tuning. He’ll hold a note for more measures than most, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for him. And it shouldn’t be. Big blues fans have come to expect the 4 bar long note. This guy not only hangs the note out there, he squashes it flat, then sharp, then somewhere close to pitch, then really flat, and then he squeezes it right back into place and reaffirms it by bringing in big guitar moves just to let us know he knows what he’s doing.
  
  Catch him on the big festival stages or even better, hunt down an intimate room while you still can. It won’t be long, and small rooms won’t be able to hold Charlie A’Court.
  
  

• The most soulful Canadian Artist ... EVER!!!!!! [+ Show ]
  

  Amie Street newcomer Charlie A'Court is here to inject your soul with some sweet rock n' roll! An Ea...Amie Street newcomer Charlie A'Court is here to inject your soul with some sweet rock n' roll! An East Coast Music Award Winner, A'Court has toured extensively throughout Canada and abroad headlining performances at the Stan Rogers Folk Fest, Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, Kerrville Folk Fest, and the Ottawa Blues Fest. He has also opened for high profile artists including John Reischman & the Jaybirds, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Harry Manx, Colin James, Mick Taylor, and Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd. Bring On The Storm is A'court's second studio album and features powerful blues inflected folk-rock with a soulful undercurrent. Truly an Amie Street gem!
  
  Key Tracks:
  
  Every track is a must-have, but if you must be hand fed a few then check what some of these users recommended:
  
  > Bring On The Storm (54¢)
  
  "I'll have to buy more recs in order to rec all Charlie's songs....each one impresses whether it's a quiet ballad or one that includes his back up singers. You can't go wrong buying his whole album!!" [rec by dorsey]
  
  > Seeing You Around (54¢)
  
  "There's always a point in any good collection where a song jumps out of your earbuds and screams THIS IS GREAT STUFF!!! and compels the "Buy all" button. Here it is. There will be great before it, and others after, but always the memory that this song was it. Gold." [rec by CraigH]
  
  

• Applause for A'Court [+ Show ]
  

  Full article quoted directly from: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-0Od7ggEidKVqgWRxjcTWqUmT?p=652 ...Full article quoted directly from:
  
  http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-0Od7ggEidKVqgWRxjcTWqUmT?p=652
  
  Applause for Charlie A'Court - Tuesday February 27, 2007 - 02:46pm (EST)
  I just wanted to pass along insight of what I deemed to be one of the best concerts I've ever attended. Last Saturday night, the Mr and I when to see someone named Charlie A'Court, at our local community college. His appearance was part 2 of a 4 part series of fine art events sponsored by the college and the local art association. The ticket prices were $5 each. The Mr went by the college a week in advance to get our seats reserved, figuring for $5 a pop, we couldn't go too wrong. Now, I sort of equate it to something like winning the music lottery.
  A'Court is just about the best guitarist I've ever heard-live or recorded. And, I've seen Clapton, Cray, BB King, Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Sheppard-all live. Personally, on an acoustic guitar, I'd not be afraid to say they've got nothing on him. (sorry, BB-you know I still loves you). All the while I was watching A'Court Saturday night, my ears and brain kept seeming to forget it was just the one instrument being played. A'Court was solo-no band with him, and I'm really glad because that really showcased his extraordinary skills as a guitarist. And, the icing on the cake was that he sings great too-such a strong, emotional voice that has great pitch and range; interacted wonderfully with the audience, telling stories and jokes between songs, played from 7:30-10pm, with one 15-min intermission (when I did rush out to buy his CD- Bring on the Storm (and regretfully now, didn't pick up the acoustic CD of his songs as well). He was great! A stage maturity about him that few aritsts ever really acheive. I felt priviledged to have seen him at all, and doubly priviledged to have seen him at such a small venue, where his performance was genuinely personal. Like I said, we won the music lottery Saturday night!
  If any of you have the chance to see Charlie A'Court-please do so. Regardless of what kind of music you like, you'll love him. (I wish I knew how to inbed one of his songs here).
  ok- a little bio copied here about him: Originally from Nova Scotia; now 28; In 2003, Charlie placed 2nd in the acoustic division of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN., as the only Canadian competitor. At the 15th East Coast Music Awards in Halifax, A’Court was nominated for Best New Artist as well as taking home the hardware for Best Blues Artist. A’Court also made his national debut on the televised show as a performer in a tribute to Canadian rock icon, Myles Goodwyn of April Wine; 3 CDs now-available thru Amazon
  

Setlist

Purchasers for soft seater performances typically ask for 2x45 minute sets, or 1x60 minute set at festivals plus availability for festival work shops and/or songwriters circles.

Bridges To Burn
If This Is Love (cover)
Take Me Down
Carolina
Isolation Blues
Walking In Memphis (cover)
Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again) (cover)
I'm Coming Home
Lady Woman
Color Me Gone
Hello Love
Be My Angel
Big Dark Canyon
Yes You Are
Seven Spanish Angels (cover)
Long Black Veil (cover)
All I Need
I'd Do This For You
Perpetual Blues Machine (cover)
Key To The Highway (cover)
Forty Days (cover)
Bring On The Storm
The World Around Me
Broken Man
Seeing You Around
(I've Got) Dreams To Remember (cover)
Heartaches of a Fool (cover)
You've Got A Friend In Me

Basic Requirements

Calendar