Grapevine Music Agency - representing some of the finest roots musicians from the UK and North America. Folk, Blues, Country, Americana.
Cam Penner
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Cam is making quite a name for himself, having now toured three times to the UK with his exceptionally gifted sidekick, Jon Wood. His music is rootsy, soulful and has an immediate impact. It also keeps improving, as one listen to his stunning new CD Gypsy Summer, makes very clear. This guy is definitely a little bit special.
"This album is already one of my favorites for the year. Soulful, innovative, and insightful songs throughout.” Larry Hillberg KVMR-FM radio
“Cam’s rootsy harmonica & rich, mellow honest voice interweaved perfectly with Jonny’s gently sparse but ever so complementary guitar workings. Their long set, as time passed so quickly, consisted of all the new stuff from their “Gypsy Summer” album & more, with simple yet pure songs and a confessional twist to most, lots of wayward & funny travel stories (that reminded me of the book, Travels with Charley- John Steinbeck) & when out came Jonny’s lap steel, some mighty fine countrypolitan fayre. They were, well.... what the club is all about really! Graham ‘Shipcote’ Anderson of The Jumpin Hot Club, Newcastle
“'Trouble & Mercy' is a highly emotive, travellin' troubadour's master class deserving of being bracketed with the illustrious likes of Steve Earle. It rarely gets more resonant and graceful than this.”Whisperin And Hollerin review (9/10), March 2010
“This record has caught me completely by surprise and has touched me in ways that music rarely does. This is 46 minutes of honesty and beauty that is quite simply wonderful” The Music Critic 5*
"An undeniable new star on the country side of Americana... so distinctive and powerful."Third Coast Music, Texas
"There's a freshness here outside comparisons that grabs me and demands attention."David Obermann, Folkways
"Americana doesn't have to come from America, and Canadian Cam Penner proves it beyond doubt." Clint Weathers, FreightTrainBoogie.com
"When Canadian troubadour Cam Penner blew into London for a handful of solo shows earlier in the year, those lucky enough to see him agreed that here was something special. His rough-hewn Americana combined with heartfelt melodies brought to mind a youthful Steve Earle, yet at the same time Penner was ploughing his own furrow." mulefreedom.com, London
“The sheer simplicity of the music on this album is breathtaking. The stories that he tells and the understated manner that he tells them in adds to it all and creates a close and personal work that reminds me of the material that Steve Earle made at his peak and that Arlo Guthrie wished he could have written. He has played alongside the greats like Glen Campbell and Lyle Lovatt and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath – if he had only played the music business games he could be an Americana superstar.”Music News
“Cam Penner and his emotional songs of lives lived and experiences endured and enjoyed deserve to be heard in all their stoical splendour.” Irish Times
In a complicated world, Cam Penner finds beauty in simplicity, with an honest, spare approach to folk music that is refreshing in an age filled with so much insincerity and irony. Singing uncompromising songs about redemption and truth, he is a voice for the disenfranchised, a storyteller for those who never reach their destination. Cam’s personal lyrics are complemented by a gentle acoustic guitar style, and the defiant heroes of his songs are weary, but they are never defeated!
He hails from a Mennonite community in Southern Manitoba, where his parents, the town rebels, ran an illegal roadhouse and his grandfather, a bootlegger, delivered his goods to the rural community bringing much needed remedy. Growing up in small towns in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Penner found an appreciation for common people's stories. He left at nineteen for Chicago where he ran a soup kitchen and worked at a women shelter. These experiences ignited a passion for social justice and after moving back to Canada, Cam continued working with the homeless for the next thirteen years.
Penner has described his philosophical outlook and songwriting muse: "Sometimes I feel the thousands of souls I've listened to are people living inside of me, telling their tales." Agreed. When listening to Penners songs you can hear the struggle, the hope, the yearning to be better. "I've never really written topical songs, I usually write about the emotional struggle, the pull between what's right and wrong."
Looking at the world through a windshield. That's been Cam Penner's view for the last two years. In those two years he has toured five countries, six provinces, twelve states and performed over three hundred shows. He has opened for Chip Taylor, Richard Thompson, Slaid Cleaves, Fred Eaglesmith, Greg Trooper, Carrie Rodiguez, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, John Prine, Glen Campbell, Lyle Lovett, and the Flatlanders. Cam has managed to find his way into the bars, theatres, cafes, arts centres, backyards, and honkytonks across this wide land.
The album 'Felt like a Sunday Night' has charted in Europe (Euro-Americana Charts) climbing its way to No.3. It also stayed in the top fifteen (peaking at No.3) for four months on the Freeform Americana Charts (across North America) outlasting any other artist. The song 'No Stars in the City' took third place in the 2006 International Songwriting Competition and his latest song 'Thirteen' has made its way to the finals in the 2008 competition. Other songs from Cam's repertoire 'Rye Whiskey' and 'When I Die' have been featured on compilations in both Canada and the UK. The album made it's way on many top ten lists and was given four star reviews in both North America and Europe.
His 2009 album, ‘Trouble and Mercy’, was recorded two days after a six month tour by side man and recording engineer, Jon Wood. With his road band taking a hiatus, Cam captures his most honest and contemplative songwriting to date. "I found these songs in the alleys and streets. Under a dumpster. In the remains of discarded trash. Faded phone numbers and addresses on cigarettes packs. In empty clubs, gas station pumps and front page headlines. On the bottom of a styrofoam cup. In the last drag, stuffed in the glove compartment. Between sofa cushions. On the side of the interstate. Waking up beside her, watching two worlds collide. In the dives and diners. At cheap no tell motel rooms where you sleep in your clothes, shoes on. Stopping when I saw something shiny. Walking through the ditch, kicking at the tall grass, searching for a dime. Living hand to mouth and waking up to stove top coffee. In the madness of a rich man's town, where the poor and elite collide. There in the midnight hours, I'd sometimes peel back the gauze and poke it to see if still hurt."
His latest album ‘Gypsy Summer’ is Cam’s most self assured outing to date, a richer contrast to the defiant stripped down sensibilities of Trouble & Mercy. The new album is a more personal affair - where his previous outings often featured stories of characters he had encountered, this album really feels like a confessional. With Gypsy Summer, Cam continues to successfully roam from his comfort zone into new territory.
UK TOUR DATES
March 2012
21st The Canteen, Bristol www.thecanteenbristol.wordpress.com
22nd No 8 Café, Launceston 01566 777369
23rd Eden Project Café, St. Austell 01726 338114
24th The Royal Oak, Lewes www.unionmusicstore.com.
25th The Slaughtered Lamb http://pulluptheroots.co.uk/tickets.htm
27th Kilbarchan Old Library – by invitation only
28th The Greystones, Sheffield www.mygreystones.co.uk/
29th The Maze, Nottingham www.cosmicamerican.com
30th AVAILABLE
31st The Milngavie Fraser Centre, Glasgow 0141 956 2633
April
1st Great Northern Wine, Ripon www.greatnorthernwine.co.uk/events/