Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
" Whiskey Stars’ is Canadian roots rocker Joe Fournier's second offering. Recorded over an eight-month period, he plays most of the instruments himself. Oddly, this suggests a protracted & layered recording process at stark contrast with the loose, organic feel of the album. It sounds more like it was thrown down in a four day drinking binge with minimum overdubs. It has dirt under its fingernails. The title track is one of the best songs I have ever heard. It’s pile-driving rhythm reminds me of how I felt on first hearing Springsteen's 'The Promised Land' or Uncle Tupelo's 'Chickamauga' ... it is that good. I don't know what a Whiskey Star is, but I want one... Think of Haggard or Kristofferson & you are almost there. This is hard living, hard drinking blue collar America. ' - Peter Gow
"Each song on Raw Sugar Shed is a little nugget of craft, attitude and emotion... from the irreverent broadside "Country Music's Gone To Hell" to the twangy two-stepper "All About Irene", and the Orbison-like balladry of "Everything" and "New Girl In Town", a songwriter as good as Joe Fournier won't be kept in the shed for long." - Jim Kelly
"... a funky Canadian singer/songwriter whose music is swampy, greasy and loaded with wry social commentary. There’s a musical debt evident to Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Bobby Fuller and Buddy Holly, mixed with serious blues, R&B and country twang influences. Raw Sugar Shed is a great record."
- Bob Cianci
"... soaked in a rootsy rock vibe, peppered with jagged guitar hooks and Dave Edmunds-inspired vocals... a junkyard Bakersfield rant, complete with a trashy Telecaster breaks and an out-of-control drummer with too much time on his hands."
- Sandy MacDonald
"... a rootsy sound that lands itself somewhere in between John Hiatt and Rockpile. He has the beats, the hooks and the punch to make this self-produced disc sound like anything he wants. We think it sounds great!" - Mark Robinson
"Shit kicking swamp rocking gutbucket Springsteen in a tin bathtub woohoo rock n roll and cool cover. Best track...all of them!"
- Shaun Belcher
" Merle Haggard meets Creedence Clearwater Revival... direct and rough. Snatches of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Charley Pride and George Jones... all combined to great effect. Whiskey Stars holds up beside the best of Americana and roots music for its passion and feeling. We applaud the farsightedness and intelligence of Swedish label Dusty Records for putting out this slice of true grit. " - Mick Sawyer
Discography
Raw Sugar Shed - 2002
Whiskey Stars - 2003
Airplay & streaming - All About Irene, Country Music's Gone To Hell, My Dog Betty, Whiskey Stars, Susan Love Jake, Mild Side of Life, Johnny Cash Plan, and more
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Released in the spring of 2002, Joe Fourniers debut CD Raw Sugar Shed quickly garnered enthusiastic responses from the industry and the Americana community in particular. Raves from influentual magazines like No Depression, Americana UK, Revolver, Maverick, Music Scene
airplay on BBC 2, Radio Caroline, NPR stations in California, New England and New York, ABC in Australia and college stations across Europe and the U.S.
A deal with a small European label soon followed and he has just completed a tour of the UK and Sweden, with return dates already booked for this spring.
Here in Canada, Joe has been featured on CBCs Atlantic Airwaves, Global Television, and Galaxies Adult Alternative network . Hes been heard on college, pop, country and rock radio and has been honing his live act with shows at this years Halifax Fusion, ECMAs Rock and Roots Stages, the Atlantic Scene Festival in Ottawa, and Close to the Coast Festival. He recently garnered three songwriting nominations at Nova Scotia Music Week where he attracted the attention of this years Stan Rogers Music Festival organizers who booked him for the upcoming summer favourite.
Joes musical education came from stealing songs and stories from the many road-worn acts that, week after week, rolled through the local beer joint his family ran. Every night he'd fall asleep to the sound of country music filtering up through the floorboards and every morning a new Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash or Creedence Clearwater Revival tune would be stuck in his head. It's bound to have an effect on a kid.
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