Artist InformationBiography
"I'm trying to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." - Jon Brooks.
“Toronto singer/songwriter Jon Brooks is the latest in a long, honourable -and depleting - line of folksingers who write and perform to further the cause of social justice.” - Robert Reid, The Waterloo Record
“Epic.” – Greg Quill, The Toronto Star
In a recent interview, multi-award winning Canadian folk singer-songwriter, Jon Brooks was quoted: “the mandate of song is to improve the world; to lift humanity by way of inspiring empathy as ultimately, the songwriter is trying to politicize love, to lobby for compassion to be our principle representative in government office.”
HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
Performed at 7 major 2008 festivals from Whitehorse to Halifax, including the Edmonton Folk Festival.
Nominated: 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award - 'Best Songwriter - English.'
Winner: 2009 Mountain Stage New Song Canadian Region
Winner: 2008 The Mac Beattie Porcupine Award (for musicians who are proud to be identifiably Canadian).
Nominated: 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award - 'Best Songwriter - English.'
Winner: Ontario Council of Folk Festivals 2007 "Songs From The Heart."
Winner: International Green Man Review's "2006 Songwriter Of The Year."
Invited to perform for Ireland's President, Mary McAleese for the unveiling of Toronto's Irish Famine Memorial, June 2007.
Canada’s folk quarterly, Penguin Eggs, deemed Brooks’ 2007 CD, OURS AND THE SHEPHERDS 'a thoroughly wonderful and truly important addition to the canon of Canadian folk music.' Inspired by James Loney, Senator Romeo Dallaire, Sgt. Tommy Prince, and John McRae among others. The collection earned Brooks a ‘Best Songwriter’ nomination at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Jon is also a published essayist with Guernica Editions in ‘BARRY CALLAGHAN: ESSAYS ON HIS WORKS (2007).
Jon’s new CD, MOTH NOR RUST (2009) is a solo performance of songs investigating all that neither 'moth nor rust' can touch. The first track, WAR RESISTER, chronicles the life of Iraq War resister, Jeremy Hinzman; as well, it alludes to Brooks' own 'walk away' from the war theme of his previous 2007 release. Of the new songs, Jon says: "MOTH NOR RUST is a boldly assertive and loudly optimistic song sung quietly and simply. My aim was to express the most amount of thought and emotion with the least amount of time and space."
The lyrics for MOTH NOR RUST, were published in Fall 2008 by Canada's foremost literary quarterly, Exile Editions.
Instrumentation
Solo - the characters in these songs seem to prefer it that way.
I rotate between a Taylor 615 acoustic guitar, a Martin O16, a Gibson Southern Jumbo, harmonicas, shakers, and a harmonium - I'll use the dusty upright piano in the corner, too, if it's tuned just a little south of perfect.
Discography
Discography
No Mean City (January 2006)
Ours And The Shepherds (May 2007)
Moth Nor Rust (April 2009)
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
2007 Guernica Editions in Barry Callaghan: Essays On His Works (2007).
2008 Exile Editions published the lyrics for 2009 CD, Moth Nor Rust.
RADIO
All 13 songs from 'Ours And The Shepherds' have been played on CBC Radio. All 13 songs from OURS AND THE SHEPHERDS have enjoyed regular rotation on Canadian and European folk and roots radio shows.
Links
| http://www.jonbrooks.ca |
| Jon Brooks' MySpace Page |