artist Hardwire Speers

A reviewer described the cd Vol 1 Breakfast at Epiphany's as Kitchen Canadiana. "Picture your favourite uncle, arriving in the night from a long trip and sitting down in the kitchen with his guitar, a glass of rye and ginger at his elbow, telling you stories by singing his songs."

Award wining guitarist and performer Hardwire Speers combines strongly honed guitar playing with a dark, baritone voice and lyrics written with the skills gained as a journalist. His music has been described as "Blue Rodeo meets The Eagles crossed with Bruce Cockburn."

Having once shot the Queen Mother - along with other dignitaries and celebrities (but only with a camera), he worked for newspapers as a reporter and editor. Trained in the respected Journalism program at Mount Royal College, he learned to "show, not tell" a story. This is reflected in Speers' lyrics by the images he creates within the stories .

Having begun to learn guitar as a 16 year old, Speers has spent over 30 years honing the craft of guitar, having played in a wide range of bands using a multitude of styles - from playing "biker parties" to joining a jazz combo, he's learned from a variety of sources. Recently, he's studied both contemporary finger-style guitar by artists similar to Don Ross, and early finger-style blues such as Robert Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy.

His explorations of these types of guitar playing led to creating the soundtrack for the independent film "Culture Lost and Found," for which he won the Best Original Score at the Georgies awards in Calgary.

Performances by Hardwire Speers include his original songs and guitar instrumentals, and - if doing a longer performance - a variety of classic blues and jazz standards as well as fun and/or interesting contemporary songs.

Hardwire (Neil) Speers All hats, all the time