It’s been a fun several months of Arizona golfing and Alaskan cruises, but the Dust Poets are set to come out of early retirement. The hiatus couldn’t be helped, but neither can the reunion. Armed with brand new vintage clothing, weird new stories to tell, and even a few new tunes, the Dust Poets will be starting out in some familiar stomping grounds this summer with shows at the storied Onanole Rec Centre, and the fabulous showcase of Manitoba music and food, The Harvest Sun Festival.
For the first week of September the band will be stretching the road legs for a trip to our favourite early autumn destination, Jolly Olde New England. We hope you'll catch us for shows in Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York State.
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Happy post-holiday sobering up, everyone! We hope you enjoyed a bit of time to kick back and relax over the holidays, coz we sure did.
Murray is off roving through northern Thailand on rented motorcycles and leaky kayaks these days, on some sort of quest to find the "perfect bushmeat". Sean and Karla rocked the Winnipeg Xmas office party circuit pretty hard before retiring to the ancestral ranch in Saskatchewan to check on the yearlings and shoot frozen eggs off the top of a fencepost with a 12-gauge. Gordie and his bride jumped in their new car and drove from Toronto to Winnipeg without any gigs on the way (madness!) in order to play shinny with the rellies at the Burton Cummings Community Centre rink. Not to be outdone, Corey did a longish road trip as well, from his apartment in northern Japan down to the southern island of Kyushu and back. Eight days driving to find the really good ramen seems like a bit much, but at least there were castles on the way.
We're looking forward to being back on the road this fall, so we'll be seeing you all then!
The Dust Poets first ever UK tour is underway! The 9-seat van is hired and packed, Lloyd proved himself best producer EVER by not killing us on the motorway, and Gord somehow arrived on time after spending 10 days toodling around France and Spain with his bride. Sleep deprivation aside, we are now completely geared up for the fabulous Shrewsbury Folk Fest and look forward to a busy weekend of music and English beer tasting. Check out our Facebook page to get late breaking newsbits as it happens. Cheers!
We did it! World At Large is out in the world, and our CD launch concerts in Winnipeg, Brandon, and Onanole were all smashing successes. It was a real treat having producer/electric guitar whiz Lloyd Peterson join us onstage for all three shows. The album reviews are starting to trickle in and we'll be posting them in the next while.
Coming up next: second weekend in July, the Winnipeg Folk Festival. We'll be performing for the first time at this prestigious event and look forward to seeing many Manitoba folkies out in full force! Then it's off to London ON for the Home Country Folk Festival before returning to Manitoba for two shows in Onanole and the Friday night July 24th kickoff of the Brandon Folk Music and Art Festival, the beloved wee event of which our very own Murray Evans was a founding member, and the Artistic Director for its first 13 years. The BFMAF turns 25 this year. See you there!
World at Large hits the streets May 26 with three Manitoba release parties set for May 28-30. Check out the shows page for details on the CD release concerts in Winnipeg, Brandon and Onanole. Mail order the record on the music page, or check itunes in the coming days, it will be ready to download soon.
Here's a blurb from the official release press release: World at Large is the fourth record by the eclectic chamber folk ensemble the Dust Poets. Melding perceptive and melodic songwriting with the creative juices of five sensitive and worldly musicians, the Dust Poets have spent the last seven years touring across North America honing the trademark sound that binds World at Large together. Continue reading 'World at Large - Released May 26'
The Dust Poets will release a new record this spring. World at Large is a collection of a dozen songs, most penned by Murray, plus a song of Sean's and a Woody Guthrie cover from Mermaid Avenue. The songs were arranged and recorded by the band over the last year. The album was recorded at Lloyd Peterson’s wonderful Wonder Dog studios, mixed by the extraordinary Shawn Pierce, and mastered at Sterling Sound. World at Large showcases Murray's trademark mix of insightful sarcasm and thoughtful reflection, accompanied by a very Dust Poets blend of musical styles ranging from bluegrass to mariachi to rock.
World at Large will be released Canada-wide on May 26, available in stores and for download. A release concert at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg on Thursday, May 28 will be followed by shows in Brandon and Onanole MB - watch here for details. The record comes out on our own Productive Apathy label and will be distributed by Outside Music. Check the Dust Poets myspace page to preview the first few tracks.
Northern BC is a beautiful chunk of the world, and we were sorry to only get 6 days of touring in up there. Audiences were wonderful, and it's just so damn easy to find great coffee. It was great to see old friends in Smithers, and party with lots of new friends at "post-concert receptions" [Read: decadent psychedelic rock'n'roll groupie parties] in Burns Lake, Kitimat, and Terrace. Sean still isn't sure at which of those parties he received his latest tattoo, and Gord's corduroy suitcoat is now sleeveless. The scenery was all rather spectacular, and the highlight was the entire band going skiing in Smithers. Some of us prairie types were a little terrified by skiing on an actual mountain, but no limbs were broken and we had a blast. We're more used to skiing being something you do in a ditch while being towed behind a truck with a length of bailer twine. But whatever. It was actually nice not to have to watch out for culverts when jumping the approaches.
It's our first tour of Ought-Nine, and what better place to reacquaint ourselves with twisty snowcovered highways, tepid gas station coffee, and frisbee practise at roadside rest stops than - you guessed it - northern BC! This week the Poets land in Prince George BC to begin a 6 show mini-odyssey [ED: can odysseys be miniature?] across the legendary Highway 16, ending up on the west coast in spectacular Prince Rupert. As usual, you'll find all the salient info on our live shows page. If we're not back by Monday Feb 9, send a skidoo search team!
It does sound like a dream come true, doesn't it?
One of Canada's most delicious breweries, Big Rock Beer, has announced the finalists for their Big Rock Untapped CD Vol. II. Out of over 500 submitted songs, Walk Away by the Dust Poets made the cut and will be included along with 14 other tunes by unsigned Canadian artists on this compilation CD which will be distributed in 30000 specially marked cases of Big Rock beer beginning in February 2009. Continue reading 'Dust Poets Inside 30000 Cases of Beer?'
Winter has hit Manitoba with a vengeance, and we're not ready. So it's off to BC for 10 days of gigs and seasonal readjustment. The eight-show tour starts on Nov 13 at our favourite downtown Courtenay hotspot Joe's Garage and then heads inland from there. We'll be playing in far-flung and exotic locales such as Ashcroft, Quesnel, Grand Forks, Vancouver, and many others. Get the full sked over here.
In other news, we're very close to being finished with tracking for the new album. We're very excited that the 13 new songs are almost ready for mixing and we're shooting for a release in March. Stay tuned for release dates, and also info on how you can pre-order the CD. Check out our MySpace to preview a couple rough mixes of the new tunes!
"Get your cans on and let's roll some tape." That is to say, "pass me the headphones and press record on the computer." We've been spending time with our good friend and producer Peterson, in his well appointed and oh so comfy home studio, working on the next Dust Poets record. Murray has been pumping out some great new tunes and the performances so far have been thrilling - and we haven't even got to the tambourine parts yet. It is always amazing to watch a new record come together and we're working hard and having fun. With everyone's crazy summer schedules - book stores to run, weddings, etc. - it's taking some time. But every day we've spent in the studio has been a blast and we're looking forward to getting back at it early in the fall.
Our early May New England tour is in the books, and a very excellent time was had by all. Too bad our gig in Cambridge at the Harvard Square Mayfair was cancelled due to flaming manholes. We briefly considered changing our band name in honour of the blazing metal discs, but thought it was probably already taken. Binghamton rocked as usual, we saw our friends Callie and Jen in New Paltz, we LOVED hanging out in Vermont - the folks in Ripton know how to have a good time and treated us like family. Since our agent had clearly done the tour routing while drinking heavily, we drove through Albany about 14 times that week - but found great coffee, serious Mexican food, and some wicked architecture in the NY capital.
We're happy to let you know that the Dust Poets recent concert at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg is going to be broadcast live on CBC Canada Live, on February 28 - dial in CBC Radio Two starting at 8 PM. Then on Saturday, Manitoban's can relive the live experience on Shaken Not Stirred on CBC One at 5 PM.
