Cheers to the Musicians!

KJ Jansen performing at the Calgary book launch in January.

I would be an empty shell without music. Over the course of my zig-zaggin’ national book tour, I have had the absolute honour of being joined by some of my favourite musicians and singer-songwriters who have complimented my stories with live acoustic performances of their songs.

Since October, over a dozen musicians have joined me on the “book tour stage”. So far, they are…

• Said The Whale (in Vancouver and Kelowna; nominated for their first Juno Award for Best New Group)
• Ben Bouchard (in Lund; Ben’s the end of the road troubadour)
• Michael Bernard Fitzgerald (in Kelowna)
• Aidan Knight (in Victoria; winner of 2010 Most Canadian Song at our CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards)
• Anthony McMorran (in Powell River)
• Matthew Barber (in Toronto; my brother-in-law!)
• Andy Swan (in Ottawa)
• Jim Bryson (in Halifax)
• Belle Plaine (in Regina)
• Del Barber (in Winnipeg; nominated for his first Juno Award for Best Roots and Traditional Solo [no relation FYI])
• Tailor Island (in Sechelt)
• KJ Jansen (in Calgary; new Chixdiggit album Safeways Here We Come out on Feb 15)
• Craig Cardiff (in Canmore)
• Snailhouse (in Fredericton)
• Tim Walker (in Fredericton)
• Gianna Lauren (in Fredericton)
• David Myles (in Fredericton and Moncton; nominated for FIVE East Coast Music Awards)
• and last but never least…
• Jill Barber (my lovely wife, who has graciously played events with me all over the country and continues to do so without complaint! xo)

I love all these musicians and truly appreciate all of them bringing these events alive with their songs.