I write, read, watch, listen, remember, imagine, play and practice, while I'm waiting to find the next song that sounds like itself, that has character and spirit.
When we were teenagers, my brother used to buy records- LP's. A few that really got me into singing, playing the guitar and eventually songwriting were Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads, the first side of Neil Young's Live Rust, the early Dylan records, and the first Kate and Anna McGarrigle record.
I think I started calling myself a musician in 2001, when I was 30. Through my 20's I tried and abandoned various kinds of work, but I kept a guitar and a passionate interest in all the possibilities of song. I busked full-time in Halifax for a couple of months, then caught a lift out west, and settled in Prince George, B.C. I began playing at coffeehouses and festivals in B.C., and wrote a bunch of songs that ended up on my 2004 album Caledonia.
"Sing Out' magazine described the record as "...a charming collection of songs about some very peculiar characters...".
In 2006, I decided to step back from touring and recording as a singer/songwriter. I stayed put in Prince George for the next year or so, learning the banjo, playing in a roots music duo called the Cottonweeds, hosting a weekly fiddle music jam, teaching and working up some new songs in a rock band we called Jawbone.
I moved to Victoria(B.C.) in September, 2007, and have resumed touring and recording. This past spring I released a new EP- Petal Press, which was recorded and produced by Corwin Fox. In the fall, we worked together to finish my new full-length album. Blue Girl feels like the most adventurous recording I've made to date, and is due for release in Victoria on February 27 at the Solstice Cafe.
hey raghu, wicked new songs, im going to sesh your new record. you were one of the few constants on all our driving last year....beautiful music, i even played looking for emily in kamloops a few weeks back. looking forward to seeing you in may
Hey ~ thanks so much for trading spaces with us Raghu ! It was sooooooo nice to have Corwin here to master your new project. Such coooooool and clever stuff ! We thank you for all that ~ and wish you the very best with it ! janet + phil x 2.5 ... and counting ...
