Reflecting upon the recent holiday season, Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Charlie A’Court says he, his wife and two-and-a-half-year-old son did something unique: they stayed home.
In previous years, A’Court tells the Times & Transcript that they have often traveled to spend the holidays with family; A’Court’s family calls Truro home while his wife hails from Montreal.
“This past Christmas was the first year that we have spent Christmas at our house,” a chatty A’Court says. “My son is at the age where my wife and I wanted to start the tradition of having Christmas Day at home for his benefit and to help make these memories for him.”
Home is somewhat of a novel concept for A’Court. Though he tends to abstain from grueling, endless tours, A’Court has definitely done his fair share of picking up air miles.
His upcoming show Saturday night at George’s Roadhouse in Sackville, presented by the Tantramarsh Blues Society, is the closest that the acclaimed musician is coming to Metro Moncton for the time being. A’Court is a staple of live stages throughout Atlantic Canada and has been working to raise his profile on an international level.
Late last year, he had the opportunity to tour Australia for the second time in the span of a year. In March, he will be undertaking another tour of the land Down Under in March. Asked how these opportunities to tour Australia came his way, A’Court credits the East Coast Music Association with having instigated partnerships with their music association counterparts in Australia.
“The export development component of the East Coast Music Awards every year has been crucial in introducing East Coast artists to Australians. The East Coast Music Association had gotten in the habit of inviting international delegates to attend the ECMAs and the relationship with the folks from Australia just really started to blossom.”
A’Court says that in his experience, the reception that Australians afford to Canadian musicians has been a warm one.
“Australian audiences know that it involves a lot of travel to get there so I think there is a sort of innate appreciation of the artists that put in the effort to go play there. On a global level as well though, I think that audiences are a little more inclined to check out an international artist playing their city.”
As if planning international tours isn’t time consuming enough, A’Court has continued to keep busy promoting his newest record, Triumph & Disaster, released this past September. The record, A’Court’s first in more than six years, finds the singer-songwriter complementing his superior songwriting skills with the talents of other like-minded songwriters. Enlisting the likes of Kim Wempe, Ron Hynes and Triumph & Disaster producer Chris Kirby, A’Court says the decision to have others contribute was a relatively easy one for him.
“Before we had even gone into the studio to make the record, I had this desire to make it a comprehensively collaborative project from top to bottom. Having the opportunity to write with Ron, Kim and Jamie Robinson was something that I couldn’t help but be grateful for. They bring a kind of perspective and skill to the table that reinforces or complements my own skills. It makes the writing experience all the more rich.
“Deeper than that however, I knew everybody that came on board with this record. It was paramount for me to have players that I feel most comfortable with playing on this record. Had I chosen to go down any other road, I think that I would have ended up with a completely different sounding album. As it stands, I am positively over the moon with how the record turned out.”
Article published in the January 11, 2013 edition of the Times & Transcript