“Your energy is incredible!”

This is a statement commonly heard at a Two Twenty Two performance.

Formed in 2005, Two Twenty Two is the magical combination of two established solo singer songwriters. Amanda Brewer and Warren Muzak have brought very different songwriting styles together to create a sound which ranges from traditional country, to folk and blues, to modern rock and jazz.  Brewer’s sweet melodies are paired with Muzak’s driving rhythms and their powerful voices weave together to draw listeners in to stories of love, loss and life on the road.

Ambre McLean has created a sound that is entirely her own incorporating a number of her influences including jazz, country, blues, folk and pop.

“She must have been born to it” says CBC 3’s Craig Norris. “Ambre’s a brilliant player, a brilliant songwriter and a brilliant performer.”

In 2009, Ambre won 1st place in Guelph ’s first singer/songwriter contest. She also maintains the tri-cities ECHO award (People’s Choice) for best singer/songwriter.

Ambre has recently partnered with Canadian Indie label Busted Flat Records (Matt Andersen, Jay Semko, Brock Zeman). Ambre’s latest full length “Murder at the Smokehouse - a musical novella” is due for an October 2010 release. Busted Flat will also be re-releasing Ambre’s 2007 full length CD “I Wonder If.”

To appreciate Ambre McLean is to see her perform live. Her piano work is a bit funky, yet haunting. Her breathy voice is ethereal and mesmerizing, she truly is a decadent pleasure captured on the stage.

McLean’s rich vocal styling’s have often been compared to Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos. She’ll dazzle you on piano or guitar - a little bit blues ‘n jazz, a little bit pop and all soul.

Brock Zeman

Brock Zeman may only be twenty-five years old, but already he’s released three previous albums with his signature roots style, and been praised by critics for the maturity of his vocals, the depth of his storytelling and his impressive live performances – which he shares with audiences widely and regularly, across North America and Europe.

His fourth album, Welcome Home Ivy Jane, produced by Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster fame, along with Zeman and Steve Foley at Audio Valley, cements Zeman’s talent as a songwriter who balances the grit of everyday life with a lyrical heart. Sung in his deep, rich and twangy vocals and backed by a first rate band, Zeman is, as one reviewer has said, “certainly a rising star” (Atlantic Seabreeze).

Zeman’s vocals often illicit immediate comparisons to Americana greats; Country Music News has said that Zeman has “a voice that begs to be compared to Steve Earle” while Rootshighway claims that “Brock Zeman should have been born in Austin Texas.” But it is Zeman’s songwriting that makes the comparisons to the great singer-songwriters stick.

Dave Balfour

It’s that time again. Jamming. You love it, I love it - we all love it.

Open jamming means that our host with the most, Dave Balfour, will play all night and will invite people up on stage to join in. It’s a great time for both audience and musicians!

Musicians: Bring your instrument of choice (including drums - small stage sized set please) and approach Dave to quickly let him know that you’re there and you would like to join in on the jam. He’ll do his best to rotate you in if at all possible. This is a great event and is catered to most levels of playing. Jamming is fun and helps build your skills. It’s great when it all gels together and it’s entertaining when it doesn’t (doesn’t happen to often!).

Audience: It’s a Wednesday night, it’s the middle of the week. You’re looking for something to do -maybe meet some friends or take in some entertainment. O’Reilly’s Pub in Perth has your answer. The Open Jamming experience with Dave Balfour is a night of amazing music and it’s all FREE. No cover. The music ranges from classic rock to folk to MILD country to blues to hits of today and beyond. It’s a night of fun and friends, music and mayhem.

The show starts at 8pm so both musicians and audience should arrive early for easier setup and best seating. There is a great food menu and drinks so don’t hesitate to come for supper or snacks and drinks prior to the show!

Thanks and see you there!

Mike

The County Boys forged their sound years ago in a Peterborough kitchen. As a three piece; guitar, bass and banjo, they have created a sound that will make you get your dancin’ shoes on. Their three part harmonies are the main ingredient mixed with a sound that is somewhere between bacon and carrot. The band has many flavors as each member writes and sings their own songs. Together they have thrown hillbilly, country, punk, pop and some other ingredients in to the pot and come out with something they can call their own.

Alan Rhody is one of today’s more effective and respected solo acoustic artists in that great expanse known as the singer-songwriter.

“Boxcars Of Memories”, the latest of his eight album releases, showcases his “pull you in” story telling, his uncommon honesty and poetic tenderness, as well as his deepseeded kick-out-the-jams side. His emotive guitar playing and wise and rugged vocals also demonstrate why this collection is destined to further validate his already solid reputation. Whether singing the disc’s six new originals (including a co-write with Tom Russell) or the four covers by Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan, Freddie Pompeii and Kris Kristofferson, his singing, playing and message all shine.

In the Kentucky native’s thirty-year career, he’s played virtually every kind of venue, be it festival, listening room, concert hall, night club or workshop. Rhody or his music have also been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered as well as CBC and CTV Networks in Canada, AAA, Americana and satellite radio.

After an eight-year Canadian residency, plenty of road work and two singles on London Records he returned to the U.S. in 1977 and settled in Nashville. His original songs were immediately picked up by other artists in country, folk, and bluegrass as he continued to travel and perform. He put out his own debut album, Stop The Rain in 1981, introducing his music to new audiences across Canada and the southeastern and midwestern U.S.

Terry Gillespie, formerly of Detroit, now calls Ottawa, Ontario home. It is certainly Canada’s gain. The highly regarded critic Tim Holek has called him Canada’s “King of Roots Music.” He has indeed been a bit of a Canadian blues legend for 40 years. Though raised in England, he was born in Edmonton, but it was in Detroit, in the 1950s and ’60s, that he cut his musical teeth. He attended MSU to study chemical engineering, but it was musical concoctions that moved his soul. He came up on the local stages and shared space with everyone from John Lee Hooker to Albert Collins, with stops along the way backing Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff. He moved from Detroit to Montreal briefly and made the return to Canada permanent when he took Ottawa for his home in 1967. Brother of the Blues, his first recording in many, many years, is an amalgam of all of the above and more influences picked up along the way. The lead-off title tune reminds of Mark Knopfler with its stunning guitar work. On “Yellow Moon,” there is a heavy footed shuffle and a “chorus” of saxophones from Jody Golnick over Stephen Barry’s deep bass and Gordon Adamson’s snappy drums. “Big Boy” has a slinky groove, “Cold Ground,” with Martin Boodman’s harp comping, is deceptively upbeat. “Yellow Moon” has shades of Van Morrison, both in Gillespie’s vocal presence and in the arrangement. “Carl Nicholson” (aka Van Morrison) is even more so, down to the imagery in the writing. (”I will sing my song along a winding lane/one country to another/we were young/our souls on fire/in 1968 that’s when I met my brother”). Jimmy Reed’s “I’ll Change My Style,” the only cover in the bunch, has a lope that’s infectious. “Rue Guy Boogie” is not a boogie. Whatever it is, it is definitely a toe-tapper of the highest order. It has elements that remind of the Band. Jody Golick’s baritone work is the treat on the cut. “Bath Tub” reflects his affection for Jamaica music, with an almost dub style, and the closer “Kruschev” is a flashback for us of a certain age who remember Nikita and his shoe pounding episode at the UN as the enemy.” Cool harp, big percussive beat, This is most decidedly not your daddy’s blues. www.terrygillespie.ca