From
One Great Musician to Another
Ron Foley Macdonald
One
of the key figures in the East Coast's musical revival of
the last decade, Cape Breton's J.P. Cormier, has just released
a remarkable new album. Entitled The Long River, it's a
19-song tribute to one of Canada's greatest songwriters,
Gordon Lightfoot.
Of
course, J. P. Cormier is no slouch in the songwriting department
himself. At least one of his albums--Another Morning--ranks
as some of the finest work ever produced in Atlantic Canada.
The globe-trotting musician is also a killer multi-instrumentalist,
with stellar abilities on almost every string instrument
whether it be guitar, banjo, or fiddle. Talents, in fact
that kept him on the road through much of 2002 as the musical
utility man in Stompin' Tom Connors road band.
In
fact, Cormier is still collecting kudos for his recent mandolin
album, X8. In recent years the imposing Cape Bretoner has
released guitar albums, fiddle albums, and an extraordinary
follow-up to his song collection landmark Another Morning,
entitled Now That the Work Is Done. J.P. may just have the
most impressive canon of recordings of any East Coast artist,
bar none.
There
are few recording artists in the entire world that can compare
to J.P.'s burgeoning stature. The only one that comes to
mind is Britain's legendary guitarist and songwriter Richard
Thompson, a musician who helped found the landmark English
folk-rock group Fairport Convention. Cormier shares Thompson's
extraordinary instrumental abilities, and is roughly comparable
to the dry-humoured Brit when it comes to penning pithy,
profound and poignant songs that rank with the very best
contemporary songwriting going on right now in the English
language. >> more
