Canada’s Gordie Tentrees is not your average twang-laden folk balladeer. The former boxing champion (three-time Golden Glove winner) and youth worker found music after his sporting career and now finds himself surfing hotel rooms, couches, planes and buses to bring his engaging stories to audiences around the globe including a stop in Australia for thirty shows this March and April.
His sixth album Less is More brings together his knack for melody with his amazing ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hands (both during and between songs!) and is a deeply personal, moving, melodic and sometimes humorous look at life through the eyes of a unique and infectious personality.
New album keepers include ‘Somebody’s Child’, written after watching the bombs go off at the Boston Marathon, all while wondering if his wife had crossed the finish line, and ‘Tired of Time’, the heartbreaking story of a man who dies of brain cancer years before his prime, while watching his family grow.
Themes of despair turn to courage in ‘Wheel Girl’, an ode to northern hero Jessica Frotten who went from accident victim to wheelchair athlete. Tentrees’ attraction with the downtrodden human continues in ‘Broken Hero’, a collection of vivid shots of everyday heroes, and the story-driven hit ‘Love in Ink’, co-written with childhood friend Oliver Greer.
Produced by Juno award winner Bob Hamilton who also contributes textured beauty with tasteful tones, the album features Tentrees blend of folk, roots and blues sounds on which Tentrees plays dobro, guitar, harmonica, porchboard bass with stellar accompaniment from Aiden Tentrees on upright bass & Fabian Brook on guitar and fiddle. The album also includes guest appearances by Patrick Hamilton, Annie Avery, Lonnie Powell and the voice of east coast darling 2015 Juno winner Catherine MacLellan.
Joining Tentrees for his Australian tour is legendary Canadian musician Jaxon Haldane on banjo, mandolin, fiddle-saw and cigar box guitars. Haldane is known for leading his mutant-bluegrass band (D-Rangers) on the festival circuit for the last 10 years, as well as producing and appearing on some of the most prolific records to come out of North America. He will be performing a short solo set, then performing with Gordie in a duo format.
GORDIE TENTREES ‘LESS IS MORE’ 2016 AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Thursday March 17 – Coogee Diggers, Coogee, NSW
Friday March 18 – Folk Festival, Yachandandah, VIC
Wednesday March 23 – Murrah Hall, Murrah, NSW
Thursday March 24 – National Folk Festival, Canberra, ACT
Tuesday March 29 – The Old Church, Canowindra, NSW
Wednesday March 30 – Food Angel Café, Dorrigo, NSW
Thursday March 31 – Tintenbar Upfront Happ, Tintenbar, NSW
Friday April 1 – Magda Community Artz, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday April 2 – Community Centre, Hervey Bay, QLD
Monday April 4 – Marion’s Place, Alstonville, NSW
Tuesday April 5 – Wingham Concerts, Wauchope, NSW
Wednesday April 6 – Lizottes, Newcastle, NSW
Thursday April 7 – Goldmines Hotel, Bendigo, VIC
Friday April 8 – The Singing Gallery, McLaren Vale, SA
Saturday April 9 – Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide, SA
Sunday April 10 – Try Thai Concerts, Kangaroo Island, SA
Wednesday April 13 – The Music Shack, Donnybrook, WA
Thursday April 14 – Lulu Concerts, Duncraig, WA
Friday April 15 – Fairbridge Festival, Perth, WA