David Francey to perform at New Hamburg Festival

April 21, 2009

Multiple Juno Award-winner David Francey will be in concert as part of the New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts, May 20-24. Francey will perform Thursday, May 21, at 8 pm at the New Hamburg Community Centre. This concert is one of ten events throughout the five-day Festival of the Arts.

Since leaving construction and recording "Torn Screen Door" in 1999, Francey has been recognized as one of today's finest singer-songwriters. The Scottish-born Canadian's CD, "Right of Passage" earned him his third JUNO (Canada's top music award) in less than five years. Francey recently also received the prestigious SOCAN Folk Music Award.

Touring with David is American ballad maker and multi-instrumentalist Craig Werth.

Francey was born in 1954 in Ayrshire, Scotland, where as a paper boy he got his first taste of the working life. He learned to read at an early age, and by age eleven was devouring the newspapers he delivered. This helped establish his interest in politics and world events while developing the social conscience that forms the backdrop of his songs. He was twelve when his family immigrated to Toronto. He says he can trace his love of the land, the history, and the people of his adopted country to weekend family drives exploring southern Ontario. Music played a large part in these family outings. They sang traditional Scottish tunes as they drove through the Canadian countryside. Dad and sister Muriel sang melody, while mother and David sang harmonies.

His attachment to Canada grew with travel. He hitched across the country three times, then thumbed his way to the Yukon. This attachment surfaces in his songs of rail lines, farms, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. He grew to understand the people while working in Toronto train yards, the Yukon bush, and as a carpenter in the Eastern Townships. These experiences colour his first CD, "Torn Screen Door" with songs like Hard Steel Mill, Gypsy Boys, and Working Poor and his second, Far End of Summer, with Highway, Flowers of Saskatchewan and February Morning Drive.

In concert David is a singer and a storyteller. His wry humour and astute observations combined with his openhearted singing style have earned him a loyal following.

Admission to the May 21 concert is $20; $15 to anyone with a New Hamburg Live! Passport. Tickets are available through Upper Case Books in New Hamburg, or online at www.newhamburglive.ca.

Other performers at New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts include bluegrass legend Ken Whiteley, musical comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, Stratford and Broadway veteran Barry MacGregor, the Concert Opera Group from Toronto, Daniel Lichti, Vicki St. Pierre and many more. The Opening "Lights of Broadway Gala", May 20, will feature six world-class musicians in concert.

For more information about New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts, contact Paul Knowles (pknowles@golden.net; 519 575-0271), or visit www.newhamburglive.ca. For information about David Francey and for interview opportunities or photographs, contact Jeff Andrusyk:jeff@livetourartists.com.