Cape
Breton Post – March 10, 2005
The
softer side of J.P. Cormier
Cheticamp virtuoso gets ready to toss another curveball
with new album
By
Chris Connors
GLACE BAY - Does J.P. Cormier have a favourite instrument?
Yes and no.
Asking
the virtuoso multi-instrumentalist to choose one instrument
is a lot like asking a parent which of their children they
love most. But if faced with the burning house-scenario,
Cormier says he'd grab one of his beloved guitars before
fleeing the flames - that is, unless he reaches for a fiddle,
mandolin, banjo, dobro, bass, drum kit, or, as Gordie Sampson
once posited, a codfish with strings.
"It
would probably be a guitar; it doesn't matter which one,
as long as I have one," the Cheticamp musician recently
told the Cape Breton Post. "Although the fiddle is
a close second. No, I shouldn't even say that. The fiddle
is a real spiritual instrument to me because it's been in
my life since I've been born. My father played; my first
experience hearing music was (the late) Winston Fitzgerald;
my first guitar hero was (the late) Estwood Davidson. Then,
I look at instruments like the banjo and mandolin and those
instruments remind me of all the incredible music I was
fortunate to be able to participate in the States with the
greatest bluegrass players in the world, and all the places
those silly little instruments took me. >>
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