Doug Cox & Sam Hurrie

DOUG COX was an early musical bloomer weaned on blues and roots music. Regarded as one of the world's leading dobro player's and instructors, he was the first Canadian invited to perform at the prestigious Dobrofest in Slovakia. Cox is a multi-instrumentalist and as a sideman is known for his work with the likes of Delta blues guitarist Ken Hamm, American songwriter Chuck Brodsky, British Blues Icon Long John Baldry and most lately, string-bending guitar Guru Amos Garrett. Cox is a favorite workshop leader and collaborator at Festivals across Canada.

The CD Doug released with guitarist Todd Butler, aptly titled 'Dobro and Guitar' was named in the ' top CDs of the year, 2004' by the prestigious Acoustic Guitar Magazine. It also won nominations by both the Vancouver Island Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards as CD of the Year.

Doug's songs are gaining success as well, most notably with the recent placement of his tune 'Cold When I'm Dead' in the new film by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam titled Tideland. "I couldn't have picked a filmaker I'd rather be associated with," Cox raves, "I'm a huge fan of Monty Python as well as Terry Gilliam's brilliant filmwork from the movie Brazil to The Fisher King!"

A passionate teacher as well as performer, Cox is the author of instructional books, CDs & DVDs and has taught at music camps from Alaska, to Kerreville Texas to the Cotswolds in England. Most recently, Doug has partnered with Chris Manuel to form a company producing instructional DVDs called learnrootsmusic.com.

Cox adds "The variety of projects I have been involved in so far have been like a dream come true and this new chapter with Sam already promises to be just as exciting. My goal as a musician, (perhaps due to my short attention span)" he jokes, "is to move from project to project always growing as a player and writer and to play music with my friends in a healthy, happy enviornment. I really enjoy being a sideguy and a frontman as much as I enjoy composing, teaching and producing. I want to do it all!"

SAM HURRIE began playing guitar while in elementary school in Toronto. He spent his teens obsessed with pre-war blues, immersing himself in the Robert Johnson songbook and in later years scoured the Mississippi Delta for traces of Johnson, Son House and Charlie Patton. He started his first band with high school pal Eugene Smith playing electric R&B around Toronto.

Hurrie continues the story himself, "In 1967 I was in a band called the Churls, playing in Yorkville, at that time Toronto's answer to Haight-Ashbury. There were lots of great venues and at that time all the folk blues greats came through. I was lucky enough to see some of my heroes including Son House, Bukka White and Sonny Terry and Browny MacGhee."

"We were offered the chance to go to New York to play and record, and we started a house gig at the Scene the night we arrived." Hurrie remembers," The Scene was one of the places where musicians hung out, and you would often spot a Buddy Miles, or Van Morrison or Ron Wood and Rod Stewart in the audience. I haven't had stage fright ever since," he laughs. "I got it all out in the year we worked there. Jimi Hendrix, who lived in New York, was a regular and eventually ended up being a regular jammer as well. We got to know Jimi fairly well, and he was a very nice and very humble person. One night John Lennon and Paul McCartney showed up and the legendary cool among the crowd evaporated instantly. They stayed all night and yakked music and gear to us at the end of the night, just a couple of regular players(!). We did a few dates at the Electric Circus as well, opening for Muddy Waters and Blood Sweat and Tears, who we ended up opening for at a lot of colleges up and down the East Coast. We signed with A&M records and headed west to record. We did our album at A&M's new studios in Los Angeles and were the second act to record there. It sold well and kept us on the road for another year. They were wonderful and hectic years but by this time I had a young daughter and was never home to see her and decided it was time for a change so I returned to Canada in 1970. Shortly after I headed to the west coast where I contiued to play but did other work as well."

Sam wraps it up... " I'm back to playing full time now and am still motivated by the desire I had when I started to pursue musical excellence and to hopefully leave something behind that people will still want to listen to in years to come."

DOUG COX & SAM HURRIE have played major Canadian festivals such as Calgary, Harrison, Vancouver, Salmon Arm Roots & Blues etc, plus have toured in Europe - plus well known venues such as Hugh's Room and the Black Sheep
They are available for concerts & festivals in 2007/08.