Men
of the deep roots
Special chemistry sends Cormier, Andersen on tour
By STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
AT
THE CELTIC COLOURS festival in Cape Breton earlier this
month, Cheticamp musician and songwriter J.P. Cormier and
his wife and pianist Hilda Chiasson-Cormier set themselves
up with a formidable task.
The
assignment they chose to undertake was to sum up their genre-crossing
and globe-spanning musical career in 20 minutes for the
Celtic Colours concert in Inverness titled Celtic Couples.
It
was an impressive musical journey, starting with Cormier’s
well-known musical inspiration Gordon Lightfoot, and moving
through bluegrass and Celtic music, before arriving at the
towering musician’s own breakthrough as one of this
region’s most respected singer-songwriters.
This
month, fans across the Maritimes can experience the full
concert version of Cormier’s musical journey, when
he performs a series of theatre shows, with special guest
Matt Andersen, starting on Friday at the Savoy Theatre in
Glace Bay.
"The
name of the ‘Celtic Couples’ concert opened
the door for that," says Cormier of the mini-retrospective.
"It made sense to talk about what we do; how we started
and the long road we’ve been on. People that know
our music watched us take that road every day and saw us
grow from playing the Chaloupe in Cheticamp for $60 a night
between three people, and what we do now. >>
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