November 30 2002

Album Review - Velvet Arm Golden Hand

by Wanda Earhart

"What's Goin' On" - Cape Breton's Arts & Entertainment Magazine

At one point during the recording, Velvet Arm Golden Hand, the latest release by J.P. Cormier and Joe Cormier, someone is heard to say, “If I don’t live past tomorrow, I’ll die happy”. For those who enthusiastically listen to traditional music, those sentiments are more than understood. This album celebrates just how a gifted musician can create magic through his interpretation of a cherished tune.

Adding to the momentum, of course is the fact that the idea of these two gentlemen recording together has been spoken of for almost a decade, so you can bet that the end result would be as close to perfection as I have ever heard.

With a mix of twin fiddle live sessions, as well as solo presentations, all exquisitely arranged, and so joy-filled, the listener instantly becomes drawn to these most significant sessions, as the recording captures the celebratory atmosphere evident in the tunes. The next best thing to being there is enjoying the result time and time again.

I can honestly say that a day does not go by, that I do not listen to some form of Celtic music, whether it be a favored CD or played live. So I pretty much have heard it all, and can usually guess correctly who is playing, without looking, based on the particular style, be it the bowing or particular embellishments of a certain fiddler.

Since first hearing J.P. Cormier six years ago, he has certainly been among my list of exceptional musicians, most especially for the creativity he puts into every tune, taking well known traditional favorites and making them his very own.

This album, even for the listener, actually sounds like a culmination of all that J.P. and Hilda have strived to achieve, since returning home. The obvious respect he holds for his uncle Joe resonates in their shared joy in playing together. How this magically comes across on a recording is a mystery for me, but it is definitely there in every note throughout.

The live sessions are particularly outstanding. The first, featuring “The Chorus Jig”, followed by “The Sailor’s Wife”, are a lively pairing, in players and tunes, for a wonderfully carefree, and energetic sound.
The “Capers” set is another fine collection, with a smooth transition from one to the other that makes you wish for it to continue indefinitely. I have heard this set before but never played with so much gusto!

My most favorite set, and the one I like to repeat often, starts off with some great Dan R. melodies, (Mrs. Beatty Wallace / The Red Shoes) and continues with a contagious rhythm that I have to say is one of the most incredible groups of music I have had the pleasure to experience. The party atmosphere surrounding the event certainly adds fun to the mix!

Joe’s Solo is a collection of absolutely breathtaking tunes, beginning with “Corgaret Castle”, and building up to “Gin I Had A Bonnie Lass”, the expert touch of the bow and precision of timing can only be reached by someone who takes great care in delivering such a fine musical rendition. The same can be said for “Killiecranchie”, especially what is done with “Miss Mary MacEachern’s Reel”, simply superb.

J.P.’s Solo, as expected, captures his attention to detail in every note. From “The Braes of Tullimet”, “Miss Louisa Duff”, finishing off with “The Grey Old Lady of Ramsay”, the entire set is phenomenal.

Joe completes the collection with the haunting and mournful “The Nameless Lassie”, followed by “The Marquis of Tullybardine”, which is a testament to how really fine fiddling ought to be shared.

Velvet Arm Golden Hand is quite obviously a labour of love, between two respectful musicians, and it is made even more meaningful with the very idea that they have so generously shared this experience with the rest of the world. The historical value in the selections, combined with the bond of the players, makes for a winning release, guaranteed to please those who know their Celtic music, and should also serve as an example of how music is meant to be played. Perfection!

Of equal significance associated with this treasure, is the fact that proceeds from the project will be used to build a patio for cancer patients to enjoy the outdoors during their stressful treatments. The idea came from Mary Eagan, the late wife of Patio Records head Terry Eagan. It was her dream to create a place where patients could enjoy the sunshine during hospital stays. The couple met J.P. while he visited his uncle Joe in Waltham, Massachusetts, where the elder Cormier had been involved in several benefit concerts, leading up to the opening of the first Patio in Mary Eagan’s name in April 2001. It is hoped that a similar construction will take place in Canada. So not only do you receive a collector’s dream of an album, but you are contributing to a worthwhile cause with each purchase of a CD.

August 31 2002

Good Guitars Within Reach

by T. Bruce Wittet, Muzik etc

Garrison's Chris Griffiths
Muzik etc - The Magazine for Canadian Musicians
Volume 14 / No. 5
September-October 2002

It's amazingly disproportionate the way the Maritimes has come on so strong. Think of New Brunswick and Sabian cymbals comes to mind. Nova Scotia? It's all those funky cases from Levy's Leathers. Further east to rocky Newfoundland and it's Garrison Guitars. In a couple of short years, that company has become a major stakeholder in the acoustic guitar business and it's due to features that commend Garrison guitars to the average musician: a unique, synthetic braced body, fine craftsmanship, superb sound, and modest price.

When you examine any percolating company, you'll find someone like Garrison's president, Chris Griffiths, at the helm - part wizard, part musician, part businessperson. Muzik Etc magazine reached him by phone on the day of a major sailing regatta in Saint John's. We asked him about his unique inner 'skeleton'.

"There are several advantages of the Griffiths Active Bracing System," responded Chris, obviously proud of his patented invention. "Basically we've combined all the braces that go inside a typical acoustic guitar. Typically, there are dozens of pieces, machined out of wood. We've combined those into a single piece using a glass fibre composite. We chose glass because it absorbs and transmits vibrations effectively. So we have a material that arguably transmits vibrations better than wood and because it's all one piece allows that vibration to be transmitted without interruption. Whereas dozens of individual braces can often vibrate against each other, ours vibrates as a single piece. The composite material is more stable than wood and resists the tendency to warp or crack, and does a better job of dispersing string tension. Don't get me wrong: we use a lot of wood in our guitars - birch, cedar, Engelmann spruce, and rosewood - but the bracing is synthetic. After forty-eight hours, Garrison guitars settle and are extremely consistent - but the use of a composite bracing system doesn't give our guitars a generic sound. You put two of our G3's back to back, and you will hear nuances."

Born of Necessity

Part of Griffiths' motivation came from his experience in retail. "I wasn't really proud of the $800 guitars I was selling," Chris recalls, explaining his decision to dive into the mid-priced market. "Ultimately, you can be curious as to how we build guitars different than anyone else, but don't buy a Garrison guitar for any reason except that it's a superior sounding instrument for the money. Studio engineers have told us, "Your guitar was the easiest guitar I've ever recorded." Rob Baker from the Tragically Hip ordered two Garrisons and we shipped them to his home while on break from recording an album in the Bahamas. When he got them, he took them back and forced the producer to re-record all the existing tracks on his new Garrisons. The sound was going to tape far superior to his other instruments."

Alanis Morissette also owns a Garrison, as does Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. Tom Cochrane plays one. The Ennis Sisters, Bruce Guthro, J.P. Cormier. Stompin Tom, even. Note that these are off-the-rack guitars and these artists purchase them. Explains Griffiths, "We're not a big enough company to be showering them with gifts - not yet. They buy them because they love them. Ed Robertson (Bare Naked Ladies) and I were talking about his G30. He's attracted by the fact that we're a Canadian company using Canadian woods - and it's a guitar that retails for less than a thousand dollars, including the case, nuts and saddles by Graphtech, D'Addario strings, Buzz Feiten tuners, and a Fishman preamp!"

Garrison employs sixty-seven people who work in a modern 20,000 square foot factory. By the end of the year, 10,000 guitars will ship out. Recently, Garrison signed an agreement with Coast Music, a large Canadian distributor of instruments. "We decided to focus on manufacturing," says Griffiths, "and let sales and distribution be handled by an expert."

Take a visit to www.garrisonguitars.com for a lowdown on the features, traditional and modern. And if you should ever journey to the Garrison factory, you'll be reassured by the first thing you see through the doors: an old-fashioned quality control section. Nothing goes out that's not up to snuff.

June 30 2002

Album Review - Primary Color - A guitar collection

by Eric Thom - Penguin Eggs Canada's Folk, Roots and World Music Magazine

Issue No. 14
Summer 2002

Cape Breton’s J.P. Cormier takes us on a fully-guided tour of his instrument in honour of the memory of Chet Atkins. And what a tour guide he presents himself to be. This young French Acadian has done much in his 33 years and you can hear it in his fingers as he lays claim to a style of roots music that blends folk, country and bluegrass, charged with the upbeat Celtic energy that pays tribute to his upbringing. A master musician of many instruments including guitar, banjo, fiddle, piano and mandolin, he also writes and sings beyond his years (he sings on Lightfoot’s Whispers of the North – the only exception to 15 all-instrumentals). Covering music made famous by artists including Doc Watson, Atkins, Glen Campbell, Jerry Reed, Dan Crary and local great, Jerry Holland, Cormier paints in colours that go well beyond primary as he offers finger and fretwork to dazzle and amaze. He claims that the first colour he ever saw and felt was the sound of a six-string guitar, and he carefully credits each guitar used on each track. Primary Color (curséd U.S. spelling, unbecoming of a Cape Bretoner), is a beautiful selection of acoustic guitar-driven music that should go far to elevating Cormier’s status on the world stage. Although he did do some time in Nashville circles, it’s a shame he and Chet couldn’t have recorded together – their kindred spirit is in evidence here. Both fiddlers first, Atkins and John Paul Cormier share an uncanny ability to add taste and elegance to their highly advanced art.

June 24 2002

Stunning picker was born with 'gift'

by Mark McNeil, The Hamilton Spectator

Ashley might have the flash and Rita the pipes. But if you want to talk about flat-out, jaw dropping musicianship from Eastern Canada you should be talking about J.P. Cormier.

Cormier, who performs tonight with Stompin’ Tom Connors at Hamilton Place, is a stunning guitarist and fiddler who also sings beautifully and writes his own songs.

The 33 year old resident of Cheticamp, Cape Breton Island, has won major guitar contests and fiddle championships. He earned his stripes in Nashville, being called by guitar legend Chet Atkins “one of the most important guitar players of his generation.” And he is also adaptable, working as either a sideman or a front man, depending on the performance.

The last time Cormier was in Hamilton was February last year when he performed a Celtic concert with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. This time, with Stompin’ Tom, he will play on his own and then accompany Connors on guitar, fiddle and mandolin.

“I guess I get around,” he said in an interview over his cellular phone while driving to Barrie for a gig.

In fact, Cormier has been thrilling audiences with his musical abilities since the age of five when he first picked up a guitar.

“I was a prodigy. I was playing at an adult level at the age of seven”, he says. By the age of nine, he won his first guitar championship against 30 other players who were three times his age.

Now, if you ask him how he plays something, he’ll say he doesn’t know. He just does it. He says he sees music - not as notes - but as colours and shapes.

“This isn’t about technical ability. What I do is a gift from God. It has nothing to do with my physical or mental capabilities. I have a gift ... if you are really good at this at the age of seven, you ain’t drawing on physical or mental capabilities whatsoever. I never had any teachers. I just learned on my own.”

His abilities on the guitar are highlighted in his recently-released instrumental CD Primary Color. It’s one of more than six albums he has to his credit.

He says his fans have been bugging him for years to put out a guitar album and he wanted to pay his respects to guitar heroes Atkins, Jerry Reed and Doc Watson. Some of the cuts are close copies of the originals whereas others are more impressionistic. What he ends up with is a journey through some of the toughest instrumentals ever crafted for the guitar such as The Claw, and Jerry’s Breakdown by Reed as well as Blue Angel by Atkins. As well he adds his fiery flat-picking - reminiscent of the playing of Watson - to other tunes originally written for the fiddle.

Just as Cormier was about to release the album a year ago this month, he learned that Atkins had died at the age of 77. He raced over to the printing house so that he could include a dedication to Atkins on the liner notes.

“I met Chet several times and played with him which was a great experience,” he said. “He was the most gentle person. He had a calming effect on everyone around him. It was just a joy to be around that man.”

Atkins helped Cormier get a green card to work in the U.S. by writing a letter of commendation.

Cormier was born in London, Ontario, in 1969. His parents had just moved there from Cape Breton so his dad could find work.

But after his father died, a few years later, the family returned to Nova Scotia, living near Halifax.

Then in 1985 - after making a name for himself in the Nova Scotia music scene - he left for Nashville to play in a bluegrass band, do some session work and teach music.

Then in 1994, he met his future wife, Cape Breton pianist Hilda Chaisson, at a festival in Lousianna. They decided to head back to Cape Breton because “my wife felt we could do more good in Canada so we came home.”

From that Cheticamp base, he launched a solo career that has him working 225 to 300 nights per year all over North America.

© 2002 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.

April 18 2002

Cormier's guitar paints musical colours - New album, a tribute to Atkins, tells story about journey made learning to play guitar

by Stephen Cooke - Entertainment Reporter, Halifax Herald

Cheticamp musician J.P. Cormier can't think of a day since he was a child when he hasn't had a guitar in his hands. And while Cormier has come into prominence as a talented singer-songwriter, a nimble fiddler and an accomplished player of just about anything that has strings on it, the guitar remains his first musical love and the instrument with which he most often astounds audiences.

After numerous requests by his fans, Cormier has released an all-guitar instrumental album titled Primary Color, and this week he embarks on a series of shows around Nova Scotia with accompanist Dave Gunning, culminating with a special afternoon workshop and an evening show at Papa's Pub in Port Hawkesbury on Saturday, April 27, with his wife Hilda on piano and guitarist Dave MacIsaac.

Cormier's trip includes shows tonight and Saturday at Paddy's Pub in Kentville, Wednesday night at Ginger's in Halifax, and Glasgow Square Theatre in New Glasgow on Friday, April 26.

After the Port Hawkesbury show, Cormier plays the Main Event in Glace Bay on May 3, Mabou's Red Shoe on May 4 and on May 5 he's back home in Cheticamp to play the Doryman. Then it's off to Halifax again for Beer and Beethoven with Symphony Nova Scotia at Pier 22 on May 10 and 11.

Primary Color is Cormier's tribute to the artists and styles that have influenced him over the years, from blues to bluegrass, country to Celtic, with nods to pioneers like Doc Watson, Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed. A couple of cuts come from past albums, like Another Morning's The Mathematician and Haslem's Castle off Now That the Work is Done, but for the most part these recordings are tunes you'd only have heard Cormier play live on stage.

"The album tells a story, about the journey I've made learning to play the guitar," explains Cormier by phone from Cape Breton. "For example, Lonesome Twelve is the first thing I ever learned to play on the guitar, and I actually won my first major contest playing that solo when I was nine years old.

"The album shows how I graduated from being a Chet Atkins carbon copy to playing like Doc Watson and Tony Rice and on to the Celtic material were I wasn't really copying anyone, except maybe Dave MacIsaac. He's the only other guy I knew who played fiddle tunes on the guitar."

Primary Color is dedicated to the memory of Atkins, Cormier's biggest influence, who passed away last year. A country music legend, who was also a leading Nashville talent scout for many years, Atkins' playing is the picture of dexterity and grace, taking melodies to new places without forgetting where they came from.

"Chet knew all about that, and he knew exactly what to do when he wanted to impress people," says Cormier. "He was a very intelligent guitar player. Chet Atkins could do 100 times more than what he'd put on an album, and that's what was so brilliant about him.

"He impressed non-players, but he blew guitar players away because they could tell what he was doing to get the job done. Once in a while there would be a flourish of genius, mostly to make guitar players think twice about trying to copy what he was doing."

Not that Cormier will ever stop trying to play like his hero. And he'll always have the experience of sharing his company to inspire him.

"I first met Chet at Waylon Jennings' birthday party," he recalls. "I was playing on stage and he kept handing me my instruments all night. 'You gonna play this one too, son? Oh, I wanna see this!' And he sat there looking across the grand piano while I was pickin'.

"Both he and Waylon helped me 'get legal' in the United States, and I never forgot how they helped me out. Chet was a beautiful man, he had a very calming influence on other musicians. He was like a walking Valium."

Copyright © 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited

September 30 2001

Album Review - J.P. Cormier "Now That The Work Is Done"

by Dirty Linen

October / November 2001
Dirty Linen - Folk & World Music Magazine
Baltimore, Maryland
Issue #96

Though he's best known as a sizzling performer of the Cape Breton style fiddle and a talented guitarist who was in demand as a sideman for Nashville's top stars when he lived in Music City, J.P. Cormier's latest release finds him delving into the realm of story songs and ballads - composing his own that is - and singing. He's not abandoned his instruments, but for many of the pieces on this disc chooses to use them to frame dark tales of searching and longing that have listeners comparing him to the late Canadian balladeer Stan Rogers. Cormier proves adept as a songwriter and as passionate a singer as he is a player. Now That The Work Is Done allows a glimpse of another aspect of the artist's talent.

April 2 2001

Now that the work is done, J.P. Cormier is coming home

by Laurel Munroe, Cape Breton Post

There's more behind the title of J.P. Cormier's latest album than meets the eye.

Now That The Work Is Done is an intensely personal collection of songs about love, loss, courage and redemption. The title cut examines the plight of Cape Breton miners in the wake of the decimation of the island's coal industry.

But choosing Now That The Work Is Done to serve as the album's title also reflects the toil behind the project, which took 18 months to complete.

During that time Cormier extricated himself from a deal with his former label, Borealis Records, acquired a new manager - Mickey Quase of Pier 21 Artist Management in Halifax, best known for managing The Rankins - and signed deals with Tidemark Distribution in Canada and Rounder Records in the U.S.

All the while, he was working on the album, which he co-produced with Nova Scotia percussionist Dave Burton. Now That The Work Is Done was recorded at Dave Gunning's Wee House of Music studio in Pictou and mixed and mastered by Jamie Foulds at Soundpark in Irish Cove.

"I think I've created a picture of myself that's honestly and truly me, as opposed to someone else's version of me," Cormier says of the finished product.

"I felt my last (vocal) album (1997's Another Morning) was marred by someone else's impression of me."

Working with Burton, a close friend, helped Cormier achieve his goal.

"He's very, very close to me personally, which I felt was key to getting as much as myself as I could on this project."

Cormier sings lead on the CD's 11 vocal tracks and plays a multitude of instruments: guitars, banjo, mandolin, piano, fiddle, dobro, bass and some of the percussion.

For the songs, he draws deeply from personal experience and a variety of other inspirations, both real and imagined.

Cormier was moved to write the title track following the collapse of the coal industry in Cape Breton. In the liner notes, he observes that the miners have been "strangely silent since their living has been recently taken away."

"It seems like at the end people just laid down," he says now. "Nobody said anything in defence of themselves. I hope I've represented what they were thinking."

Cormier cautions against the song being politicized.

"That would demean the people it's about," he claims. "And it's not just for the miners, it's for anyone in that situation."

How Will I Be Saved? came to Cormier in its entirety in the middle of the night.

"I woke up in the pitch black, grabbed a pen and paper, wrote the lyrics down and reached for a guitar and started to play it," he recalls.

"It was a message - and not just to me."

The song is about the power of spiritual redemption. Cormier says it represents his frustration with people who try endlessly to find salvation in themselves or other people or things, when, "if you're quiet, God will talk to you."

"If you have enough faith, there's always a way for redemption," he adds.

On Ancient and Forever, Cormier's love letter to Cape Breton Island and its Mi'kmaq people, he is joined by his good friends Alex and Richard Poulette, of Morning Star.

Several years ago, Cormier was made an honourary member of the Eskasoni First Nation.

"They had a benefit concert one year to raise money to put a new foundation under the church," he explains. "There were lots of people there and I was the only white guy who showed up. I gave them lots of CDs to auction off.

"At the end, some of the elders came up to the stage - with Alex and Richard in tow - and presented me with a feather with my name engraved in the shank and made me an honourary member.

"It was an awesome thing; I was in tears."

Cormier is looking forward to the Cape Breton leg of the tour to promote Now That The Work Is Done. Being on the road almost 300 nights a year, he and his wife, pianist Hilda Chiasson-Cormier, don't get to spend as much time as they'd like with friends and family at their home near Cheticamp.

"I hope everyone in Cape Breton likes this album," he says. "I apologize for not being home much. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and we really miss Cape Breton when we're away."

Hilda, bass player Joe Butcher and fiddler Howie MacDonald will join Cormier for shows Thursday at Glace Bay's Savoy Theatre; Saturday at Port Hawkesbury's SAERC auditorium; and Sunday, April 15 at Mabou's Strathspey Place.

For other tour dates, visit Cormier's Web site at www.jp-cormier.com.

March 28 2001

Finest 'work' songs - J.P. Cormier launches latest CD with tour

by Stephen Cooke - Entertainment Reporter, Halifax Herald

ANYONE WHO'S MET multi-talented roots musician J.P. Cormier knows his sense of humour is as big as he is. But when it comes to his music, he doesn't joke around.

And when he titles his latest CD Now That the Work Is Done, he's not kidding either. For a man to whom making music comes easily, it's with a sigh of frustration that he describes the 18 months it took for him and his wife Hilda to get this record made and released.

"It wasn't just musical. Everything in our lives was upsidedown for a year," says the tall Cape Bretoner, sitting back in one of the cozy private booths at the Old Triangle Irish pub. "So it took a long time to get it out, and get it out right."

Cormier is relieved to be focused on making music again, starting a Maritime tour on Friday in the wake of the release of Now That the Work Is Done. The major obstacle to its arrival was clearing away the "flotsam and jetsam" of a deal with Canadian folk music label Borealis Records that turned into a meddlesome legal tangle, preventing Cormier from taking his place in the spotlight where he belongs.

Now That the Work Is Done sees Cormier starting anew with a clean slate, an open heart and a satisfied mind. He's got new career guidance via Pier 21 Artist Management (whose clients have included The Rankins and Sloan) and national distribution through Tidemark Music.

But most importantly, he's got a fresh batch of original compositions, telling deeply personal tales of rebirth and redemption, love and loss. Many of them are true, a few imagined, but they're all told with a profound level of sincerity and musicality that few performers can muster.

Recorded at musician/engineer Dave Gunning's Wee House of Music in Pictou, Now That the Work Is Done features a select cast of East Coast players, including drummer Dave Burton ("He scares me because he understands me," quips Cormier), bass master Jamie Gatti, Hilda on keyboards and the now-defunct vocal trio Modabo providing robust back-up.

For his part, Cormier juggles guitar, fiddle, mandolin, claw-hammer banjo, piano, dobro, guitjo, bass and vocals.

"When I make an album, I have a concept, and it isn't about music," Cormier explains. "It's about the structure of the story that I'm trying to tell throughout the recording.

"Somebody brought this up yesterday, which I thought was quite brilliant, not only is the record about redemption, but it's also about loss and death and all kinds of dark things as well. That was accidental, since this album is mainly about me coming out the other side of something."

Listing to Cormier sing of a husband's misguided rage on Angeline or recount the true tale of a Yarmouth sea tragedy on The Teazer, you're reminded of how fellow islander Mary Jane Lamond often labels her Gaelic laments "More Songs About Death and Drowning."

Since Cormier's influences span Gaelic, Acadian and bluegrass music - a trio of genres rich with some of the most forlorn songs known to man - the vein of troubled lives and love runs deep in his music.

"There's always somebody dying in one of my songs," he says with a dark chuckle. "I'm not quite sure why that is . . . probably because there's been a fair bit of tragedy in my own life, and one of the things that helps people heal is to talk about it.

"So few of these things are spoken about, because they're so unpleasant. It's not pleasant to go out in a fishing boat with three men and just come back with one, and the dead men all have children," says Cormier of the Teazer, swamped by a freak wave in 1910 and left to drift as a ghost ship.

"Nobody's spoken about that, it's forgotten. But I hope I meet people related to those three men - because I use their real names in the song – I know one of the men, Myron Lennox, had five children. And they must have had children. It'll be interesting to find out, because it's a pretty tragic story and it should be told."

As Cormier reveals in his personal liner notes, many of the new songs are based on real people, places and events. Penny Hearts comes from an encounter with a Montreal panhandler who placed his copper coins in a Valentine shape on the sidewalk. The Key describes how his wife Hilda saw their family farm sold out from under them.

But it's not so much the tale as what's being taught that makes a song complete for Cormier.

"Whether a song is about tragedy or not, there's always a positive moral behind these stories," he says. "Even a song like Angeline, which is about mistrust, doubting the one thing in your life that belongs to you, even though you know you shouldn't. The man in that song pays the ultimate price.

“It’s not a true story, but you see other like it in the papers and I write songs like that because of the moral that comes out of the tragedy, and people relate to it. There’s something about a dark story with a strange twist that they never forget.”

It should come as not surprise to learn that Cormier worked for a gospel ministry for 10 years, and his deep spirituality is an essential part of all he does.

“A song like How Will I Be Saved is a really good example of where I stand on that front, because I’ve seen so many people struggle to come to terms with whether or not they have faith.

“I awoke out of a deep, sound sleep to write that song as fast as I could. I sang it right there, never even turned the light on, and finished it just a the dawn was coming in the window.”

Cormier notes “Only by the hand of God I do all things” in the CD jacket, and he’s not one to discount devine inspiration as the key to his creative process.

“Most of the songs on this album were written in 20 minutes or less, music and words just come to me at once. Later I worry about fixing the rhyme or the grammar, but the actual body of my songs comes from somewhere else,” he explains. “I believe they were given to me. I can’t sit down and try to consciously write a song. That doesn’t work for me.”

Copyright © 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited

March 28 2001

J.P. Cormier's work has now just begun - Singer, songwriter is ready for a life of 300 shows a year

by Sandy MacDonald, Daily News

Celtic music seems to benefit from the musicians sitting within arm's length of a beer. On Tuesday night at the Old Triangle, the setting was right for a fine session. Fiddler Robert Deveau, singer/guitarist Dan MacKinnon, piper Ryan MacNeil and a few others sat elbow to elbow with special guest J.P. Cormier, the gentle bear from Cheticamp who dropped by for a tune and a pint.

They passed round guitars and the fiddle, trading old tunes and a few laughs. Even in this relaxed setting, Cormier's presence loomed large behind his dark glasses. He's just released a stellar new CD, Now That The Work Is Done (Tidemark), and begins an 11-date Maritime tour tomorrow night at Wolfville's Festival Theatre. Saturday night, he's at the Opera House in Lunenburg, joined by his pianist and wife Hilda Chiasson-Cormier and bassist Joe Butcher. Howie MacDonald will open the show.

"This is the best album I've ever made," says Cormier, 32. "It's the first record I had any control over in the proper environment, with all the players and tools to do what I had in my head. That's never been given to me before."

Still, Cormier brought drummer and keyboardist Dave Burton to the project to co-produce, and provide a sounding board and an objective ear.

"You should never think you're good enough to produce yourself," says Cormier. "Burton is the best guy for me because he understands what I'm trying to bring out of my head. And if I come up with an idea that really sucks, he's not afraid to tell me. A lot of people are afraid to tell me when I suck - I hate that."

It's understandable that some folks might be a tad intimidated by Cormier's considerable talents. Not only is he one of the best flat-top guitarists in the country, he easily shifts over to fiddle, mandolin, bass and banjo. He also writes all the tunes and sings in his fine tenor voice.

He's emerged as a potent songwriter on this record, mixing flashes of his instrumental fire among the well-crafted story songs. The title track is his ode to the death of the once-proud mining industry in Cape Breton.

"Nobody seemed to be saying a damn thing about the mine closures, and it was frustrating. We lost 3,500 jobs in 10 seconds, and nobody said a word so I decided I'd say a word. I wrote that song in 10 minutes. It's so easy to say all those things because it's all true."

Cormier isn't counting on taking his career the "conventional" route that relies on commercial radio and video channels to help sell albums.

"There's no future in that for me," he says. "I would appreciate it if radio played me, but it doesn't really matter."

Instead, Cormier counts on selling his CDs off the stage, building his profile by playing 300 nights a year. "That's hard, but it's the honest way and I love it."

On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, J.P. and Hilda will guest on the Stuart MacLean radio taping at the Rebecca Cohn. Then Cormier's tour resumes with a few nights in Glace Bay, Port Hawkesbury and Pictou, and then wraps in Mabou on Sunday, April 15.

He has an all-instrumental guitar record and a fiddle album with his uncle Joe Cormier planned for the spring. And he's recently signed on with Mickey Quase, the former manager of the Rankins and one of the most respected artist managers in the country.
"I like the way the record turned out, and the people I'm working with," says a contented-sounding Cormier. "Everything that happens after this is just cake."

March 10 2001

Cormier just gets better - Triple threat player, singer and song-writer shows no signs of slowing down

by Ron Foley Macdonald, Daily News

A triple threat instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Cape Breton's J.P. Cormier may be the most prodigiously talented musician working out of the East Coast. His 1997 collection of songs, Another Morning, was a landmark, effectively weaving pop, bluegrass and Celtic strands into a powerful and very original sound. His new album, Now That the Work is Done, provides ample proof that Another Morning was no fluke.

A little darker and bit more dramatic, Now That the Work Is Done integrates the Celtic and pop elements even more convincingly. The difference is fascinating to hear. Cormier seems to have appropriated the late Stan Rogers's facility with story songs, delivering a clutch of riveting, edge-of-your-seat narratives that form the new album's core.

Songs like The Teazer, Angeline, The Fisherman's Daughter and Penny Hearts retain the ringing acoustic confidence of Cormier's previous work.

Layered vocals

But beyond the obvious intricate storylines that deal with dark tragedies the sonic palette of each song reveals a growing fascination with layered vocal backups played for for maximum effect. Artists like Pictou's Dave Gunning and New Brunswick's Modabo have their own distinctive singing styles, and they are used expertly to fill out and flavour tunes like How Will I Be Saved and the title track Now That the Work Is Done. The result adds a Beatlesque quality to the songs.

While the general tone of Now That the Work Is Done is a bit sombre, there is at least one upbeat number that recalls the joyous feel maintained throughout most of Another Morning. Northwind is an early J.P. Cormier classic revived for this album. An ode to the open road, Northwind's sprightly pace and celebrates the call of epic and endless landscapes.

Instrumentals

And true to Cormier's parallel career as one of the region's most forceful and distinctive multi-instrumentalists, Now That the Work Is Done includes a modest selection of non-vocal tunes, including the hornpipe Haslam's Castle and rip-snorting pipe, fiddle and banjo piece Touch Me If You Dare. Musicians on the album- drummer Dave Burton, bassist Jamie Gatti among them must have had quite a time keeping up with Cormier's
scorching violin, mandolin and guitar licks.

Produced by Burton and Cormier at Dave Gunning's miraculous Wee House of Music Studio in Pictou and mixed with Jamie Foulds at the controls of Soundpark Studio in Cape Breton, Now That the Work Is Done has an earthier sound than Another Morning. Complete with lyrics and extensive, often very personal notes, the album is substantial and deeply satisfying, from an artist whose vitality, vision and insight distinguish him as one of our very best.

March 4 2001

Cape Bretoners set Pops toes a-tapping

by The Hamilton Spectator

"I don't know what good this does," said J. P. Cormier, tuning his fiddle at the Hamilton Philharmonic Pops Concert in Hamilton Place, Friday night. "Only I saw (Juno Award-winning fiddler) Natalie (MacMaster) do it once, so I guess I should."

"I'm a rare fool for bringing it here tonight, anyway," added this award-winning instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton, looking at the rows of violinists in the HPO.

"You'll find fiddles everywhere you go in Cape Breton," he said. "Under rocks, in every kitchen and, of course, at weddings and funeral wakes. Mind you, in Cape Breton, a wedding is almost the same as a wake. Except there's always one less drunk at the wake."
Real wit was called on when the fly literally exploded on his far-too-tight leather pants -- shining tautly above crimson cowboy boots -- just before the first half ended.

"I'll never borrow anything from Ashley (MacIsaac) again," he vowed.

But that was almost the only thing that went wrong at this sold-out concert. Conductor Michael Reason had done it again with an innovative program called Celtic Passions, most of it Canadian -- a fine evening of hilariously entertaining fun.

I do wish he'd had enough rehearsal time or ability to get his own trumpets, fiddles and trombones ready to gig and reel without dropping notes all over the place, but no one seemed to mind much. They were too busy watching the Shiehallion Dancers, who gigged and reeled to perfection.

But J.P., with his wife Hilda Chiasson-Cormier dynamic on the piano, raged through a treasure trove of songs, many of them his own, like The Key and Kelly's Mountain. He sang, played fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin, all with the most astonishing virtuosity.

Cormier was telling us about Kelly's Mountain, so steep that "if you can't smell your brakes on the way down, you're in worse shape than if you can."

He told us of waiting at the bottom curve for the beer truck to overturn.

"You can't carry a lot of it away, now," he cautioned. "But, bye, you can sure drink a heap before the RCMP arrive and then you just lie in the ditch and wait for the ambulance."

"Sure," chimed in the tiny Hilda from the piano, looking at his beer belly. "That's what happened to your pants."

© 2001 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.

March 31 1998

Home At Last

by Cape Bretoner Magazine

JP Cormier was five years old, he learned to play his brother's guitar by listening to Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald records. By the time he was six, he was an old pro, and he and his father, an accomplished fiddler, could play all of Winston's tunes, just as they sounded on the records.

"They say I was a prodigy," JP says without any trace of vanity. "It's a God-given gift, and I've always been thankful for it."

JP's father, Paul Cormier, was born and raised in Cheticamp. He was a carpenter by trade, and in the late l960's, like many other Cape Bretoners, he moved his family to Ontario, where JP was born. When JP was eight, his father died. But he had managed, in that short time, to pass on to his son not only his love for Cape Breton music, but a love for Cape Breton itself. Though JP was too young at the time to realize it, his father had planted the seed of a longing to come home someday to Cape Breton.

Ever since JP can remember, the Cormier household was filled with music.

His parents were musical and his brothers sang, played the guitar and wrote music. JP's uncle, Joe Cormier, was, and still is, one of New England's most celebrated traditional fiddlers.

From Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald, JP moved on to teach himself, once again from records, the three-finger picking style of Chet Atkins, and mastered just about every piece Chet had ever recorded, note for note. Later, when JP moved with his mother from Ontario to Bridgwater, Nova Scotia, he got to listen to his brother's bluegrass records and picked up the flat picking style of Doc Watson and other bluegrass musicians.

"I was just like a tape recorder. Once I heard the music, I could play it back. The strange thing is that when I was a child, I didn't know it wasn't normal to be able to do that. I just let it happen. Now, as an adult, things get in the way and it isn't as easy. I just kept listening and playing. I had no idea what was going on outside my own little world. My world was inside my house, listening to records and playing my guitar."

Then one day, when JP was twelve, the television show "Up Home Tonight" held auditions in Bridgewater. JP went. Not knowing he'd be playing with some of Canada's best bluegrass musicians, he recorded his rhythm guitar tracks on a tape recorder so he'd have accompaniment while he auditioned. He got the job on the spot. It was his first taste of the outside music world and it was from that television debut that his public life as a musician began.
At the ripe old age of fifteen, JP cut his first album. It was a bluegrass, mostly instrumental album, called "Out of the Blue" and it wasn't long afterwards that he, and a friend named Murray Freeman, hitched up a rented trailer to the back of Murray's Buick and hit the road for the US bluegrass circuit. From the music magazines, they plotted their course through Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi-gypsies in a Buick, looking for a gig.

"We'd just show up at the festivals, walk up to the promoter and I'd play for him. We were never turned away. After the performance, we'd sell some of my records, and move on to the next festival. We'd be on the road sometimes for forty-eight, forty-nine days at a time."
"One of the stops we made was in Mississippi. There was a band there called the Sullivan Family, a bluegrass gospel band. They were looking for a mandolin player. I'd never played the mandolin before, but I didn't tell them that."
JP got the job and, as it turned out, ended up playing with the Sullivans off and on for ten years. He left them to join their uncle, Jerry Sullivan, who was also a bluegrass gospel singer. This took JP all over the U.S., including Nashville where he got to work with some of his childhood heros like Earl Scruggs and Chet Atkins, and other big name entertainers like Travis Tritt and Waylon Jennings.

But the good times didn't diminish JP's longing for "home" and when the time came to leave the U.S. behind, he knew it was the right thing to do. He had, quite by chance in New Orleans, run into Hilda Chaisson, a well-known Cape Breton piano player whom JP says he had a crush on since he was a kid. Not long afterwards they were married and Hilda began trying to convince JP that he was good enough to try making it on his own.

"I've always believed that everything happens for a reason-that there's a plan for me and I'm just carrying it out. It's not always clear what the plan is. One day, when I was trying to decide whether I should stay in the U.S. or to take Hilda's advice and go home to Cape Breton, I opened the Bible to no particular page, and there it was, a passage basically telling me to separate myself from certain people who were not what I thought they were. The next day Raymond Ellis, the Cape Breton fiddler, called to say he had fourteen dances coming up in the next couple of months and he needed a piano player and someone to sing for the round dances. Hilda and I went home."

Hilda and JP bought 22 acres of land on the Cabot Trail near Cheticamp overlooking the ocean. In the spring they plan to build a house. Since they've come home their musical journey has been on a steady incline and it doesn't look as though it's about to hit a plateau any time soon. JP won an East Coast Music Award in February in the Roots/Traditional category and a week later he was nominated for a Juno award in the same category for his latest album "Another Morning". The title song of that album was written by JP in memory of Hilda's grandfather, Joseph Romard.

"I write songs about real things. The human experience is a vast and beautiful thing. There's a dark and a light in everyone's spectrum of experience. And there's always hope. "Another Morning" is about getting old, but it's also about hope. It's about saying to the world 'Yes, I'm old, and I'm going to die soon, but don't write me off yet, I still have a lot to offer if you just look my way.' It's an important message."

In spite of the fact that JP is not yet 30, he has packed a lifetime of experience into the time most of us spend just warming up. He has developed a philosophy of life more suited to a man twice his age and, although his startlingly blue eyes possess the clarity of youth, he appears to be a man who has seen hardship and triumph well beyond his years.

I guess that's how it is when you learn to play the guitar at five, make your television debut at twelve, hit the road at sixteen, and cut ten records before you're 30.
"Someone said to me not long ago, 'JP, you don't look 29, you look more like 50.' My answer was, 'I earned it!'"

June 30 1996

J.P. Cormier does it all

by Dirty Linen

J.P. Cormier does it all. He's well-known as a Cape Breton fiddler, for one thing. His major influence in that department was Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald; "There's no other fiddler," he declares, and he still plays a lot of Fitzgerald's tunes. "When we go play dances," he says, "people are really freaked out, because they hear these tunes that haven't been played since he died!" Cormier's parents knew the great fiddler quite well. "The story goes that my mother almost married him instead of my father," he confides. "Imagine where I'd be now!"

So what else can he do? Irish folk music. Contemporary folk music. Songs that he writes himself. Covers of everything from Gordon Lightfoot to Stan Rogers to the Beatles. "When I was comin' up, trying to make a living playing music," he explains, "I had to get into everything in order to survive."

Cormier comes from Chéticamp on the island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. Acadian French in heritage, he comes from a family of musicians. "My grandfather was an accordionist and a fiddle player, and he passed that down to my father and all his brothers, and that's how it came to me. My father played, my mother played, and a couple of brothers strummed a guitar." Cormier's family has deep roots in the area. "All my people were born in Chéticamp. Although I don't speak French, because I lived most of my life in English places."

Okay, so he doesn't do everything, but he's certainly versatile. He plays the fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, piano...and probably other instruments as well. He also sings and writes terrific songs. With his longish hair, his tall and sturdy frame, and his powerful voice and playing, he is a commanding presence on stage; when he was playing as part of John Allan Cameron's band, he sang a version of his own "Gilgarry's Glen" that threatened to upstage the veteran showman he was supporting.

The song, although it's about old-time life on Cape Breton island, has a sound that comes close to country music - indeed, much of his music seems to me to have a country influence. "It's more along the lines of bluegrass," he corrects me, "because that was my first love. I played it first, and it still kind of bleeds into my guitar style. It's not hardcore bluegrass anymore, because it definitely has a Celtic tinge to it now, but the technique is a bluegrass technique."

Following the bluegrass muse, Cormier spent four years in the United States, touring as a sideman with Marty Stewart, Carl Perkins, Travis Tritt, Pam Tillis, Mark O'Connor, and other great country and bluegrass performers. He played at the Grand Ole Opry and won countless titles on fiddle, guitar and banjo. He ultimately wound up working in Nashville, but gave up that life at the age of 26 to return to Cape Breton and play his own music. His solo album, Return to the Cape, demonstrates his instrumental abilities, and another CD is in the works that will concentrate on his songs.

Cormier's current band is a family affair. He rightly calls his wife, Hilda Chiasson-Cormier, "one of the greatest Celtic pianists ever." His first cousin, Gervais Cormier, plays bass. Perfectionists who "get on each other's nerves a lot," the trio are bound to make a splash on any scene they choose to take on. Check them out if you can.

February 15 1996

Cormier's fiddling adventure

by Ron Foley Macdonald, Daily News

Cheticamp-based J.P. Cormier has carved out an enviable reputation as a multi-instrumentalist adept at Celtic and straight country styles. On Return to the Cape (Main Tripp Records) he applies himself to an album full of traditional and original fiddle tunes that sound remarkably fresh and varied.

Adding some striking modern touches -- including atmospheric synthesizers, banjos and layered mandolins -- Cormier makes Return to the Cape an adventure in textures. Not nearly as brash as fellow Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, Cormier shares some of MacIsaac's visionary ability to see traditional music in new and relevant settings.

The album begins conventionally enough with a couple of Winston Fitzgerald tunes -- The Haggis and Caber Feidth. Cormier's jaunty fiddle playing is supported by a shuffling acoustic guitar, probing bass, and a subtle, slowly surging string keyboard sound that adds a mysterious, almost mystical element. While Cormier's wife Hilda is responsible for the surprisingly delicate piano accompaniment, Cormier himself played the rest
of the instruments.

The second selection, the Scottish-penned Cowie's Clog and Winston's Tune from Cape Breton, sees Cormier happily breezing his fiddle through some astonishing twists and turns. The playing is full of a hearty confidence that doesn't mind taking a few liberties. By the time the second part kicks in, Cormier breaks out with some impressive rhythmic
figures.

Slow Air starts off with some shimmering keyboard textures that provide an ideal backdrop for Cormier's fluid, supple fiddle playing. The deliberate, restrained arrangement suggests a quiet, concentrated sense of dignity. It's an unexpected and quite haunting soundscape, a little more than what we're used to hearing but by no means overwhelming. By the time he rips into Moving Cloud, however, we're back to the joyous familiar territory of guitars and fiddle at full tilt, roaring through the changes.

Horseshoe Reel, Winter Carnival Reel and Pigeon on the Gate are French tunes Cormier learned from his father. The pieces are a bit bouncier than the other selections and feature some rapid-fire plucking that abruptly quickens the pace.

Cormier's own Hilda Chiasson-Cormier's Reel is a slightly more complex and layered reel that features two fiddles accompanied by banjo. Showing a heavy bluegrass influence, it wanders a bit too far from the rest of the album's Cape Breton's origins.

Shetland Hornpipe and The E Flat Tune are two more of Cormier's compositions, this time simpler and more successful variations on straight Celtic themes. The bulk of the rest of the album is more strictly traditional. A highlight is Cormier's version Sleepy Maggie, a selection rapidly becoming Ashley MacIsaac's signature tune. On Return to the Cape it's much closer to its actual origins as an ancient dance piece. Interestingly enough, Cormier plays it with a similar intensity and a somewhat more developed sense of dynamics.

Produced and mixed by Cormier and Bill Tripp at Beachtree Recording Studio in Sanford, North Carolina, Return to the Cape resists drowning the selections with fancy sound processing. It's clear the producers wanted the instruments to speak for themselves, and they do, clearly and precisely.

The muted color photography and underplayed typography make the packaging as attractive as the music itself. Return to the Cape is a solidly imaginative collection of classy Cape Breton neo-traditional music.