biographical info
The phonogarde is something like a tape cassette that’s been dubbed over and over with a certain type of song, a specific type of sound – with layers of meaning and memory creating a richness and depth in the songs as they play out.
Born over the flatlands of Southwestern Ontario, the phonogarde is the working of one voice and one microphone along with finger-style guitar and lap-style slide. Strongly influenced by Detroit public radio, the phonogarde comes from a place where Woody Guthrie is a guitar hero and Aretha Franklin a church singer, where Elmore James and Duane Allman are the orchestra and Patti Smith preaches to the streets.
Like the portrait artist or bricklayer who painstakingly assembles his work with the greatest of care, the phonogarde turns out carefully crafted songs that are reflective of real times: hard, yet hopeful and determined. Performed with sweetness and soul, the songs are singable and dynamic, subtly woven through the American folk blues tradition. In live performance, the phonogarde has been compared to early Bob Dylan and Jeff Buckley in his Live at Sin-é period. With great respect for the relationship between the performer and the audience, the phonogarde draws the audience in, creating an atmosphere of reverence.
Prior to finding an edge of the Earth and falling off it, the phonogarde had been on the move, connecting with audiences along the Windsor-Montreal corridor, including performances with Buck 65 and Neverending White Lights and a landmark show at the Ottawa Folk Festival in 2007. Since clambering back on land in the fall of 2011, the phonogarde has taken off running with performances including Winterfolk Festival (Toronto) and Canadian Music Week. The summer of 2012 will see the release of a new EP, Mind to Move a Mountain, while the phonogarde makes the trek from Nova Scotia to Ontario a few times, along with a detour up to Yellowknife to play Folk on the Rocks.
influences
Moe Asch, A. Franklin, Rev. Robert Jones