I am very excited about the release of my newest album, Silver Cup. These have been difficult times for all of us, and the music industry in particular has taken a severe beating. Despite the uncertainties, I felt that the one thing that I could focus on was to stay creative. Having spent my adult life playing on the road, I took the lockdown as an opportunity to woodshed and get back to the roots of what made me the artist that I am today. I was listening to my vinyl albums, going down rabbit holes on the internet, reading biographies of musicians, and playing my many guitars and just feeling the energy of so much great music.

At first I was just writing without any blinders on. I wasn’t sure what would be next for me, but that was OK. Eventually I realized that it was time for a rootsy, down home recording that I could tour solo, as a duo, or with the band. Whatever the situation called for. The idea of recording at home with all my beautiful instruments really appealed to me.

I got in touch with my friend Steve Marriner, who I felt was the best person for this project. His skills as a musician are well known, but during the lockdown he had been honing his recording and engineering skills, which was perfect. We got to work right away and had a wonderful time creating this album.

The songs come from different aspects of my life. The title track was inspired by an antique silver cup that was handed down to me after my 95 year old grandmother passed away. It had originally belonged to James McKay, a Métis builder of Canada and my great, great, great uncle. I researched his amazing life and had to celebrate him in song! Top Shelf is inspired by a fellow musician who I crossed paths with many times over the decades. His final wish was that we celebrate his life by only drinking the best stuff from the top shelf. I raise my glass!!

Of course, there is a lot of blues to fill your shoes. Steve and I had fun getting the sounds we were looking for out of the vintage acoustic instruments on hand, and we even wrote a couple of songs together.