From the Promoter

Just when you think his music is all lit up like a leaky propane tank in a fireworks factory, Paul Pigat can bring it down to 3am embers as he steps out and opens up his trunk full of Boxcar Campfire songs to romance you with.

Paul Pigat’s many fans are probably more familiar with him as the front man of the rockin’ Cousin Harley band. You might think that acoustic music is a new diversion for the already multi-talented Vancouver musician. Not so. His love for this type of music started back in high school when he discovered the genius of Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. But not everyone is familiar with this side of Paul … that of emotive singer-songwriter.

Paul Pigat’s Boxcar Campfire CD is a collection of songs about love, heartbreak, and redemption; mostly self-penned tunes along with a handful of creatively arranged covers. At one end of the scale are light hearted ditties, and on the other, dark fantasies of the mind. Although laced with tasteful musicianship, this recording is a departure in the sense that the songs rather than the playing are the main feature.

Originally created as a way of “bringing it down a bit”, Boxcar Campfire has taken on a life of its own as this new recording and touring project allows a more reflective and insular shade of Pigat’s creativity to come into play. Those with sharp ears will hear snatches of everything from Debussy to Jimmy Rogers blues inflections thrown into the mix, but — as always — the sounds Pigat creates are all his own. With long gone days of railroad steam trailing out back of his head as he sings of possums in the pot and holes in his heart, this music gets you in the mood to hit the open road.

Paul Pigat started playing the guitar at 11 years of age and was gigging steadily in downtown Toronto by the time he was 12. Through a lifetime dedication to live performance, recording and study he has developed into a superb instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and instructor, with an acute fondness for vintage guitars and amps. As well as headlining his own shows, Paul has appeared and/or recorded with Neko Case, Jim Byrnes, The Sojourners, Carolyn Mark, Ndidi Onukwulu, Michael Kaeshammer, Zubot and Dawson, CR Avery and many more.

Paul’s style is deeply rooted in the playing of Les Paul, Merle Travis, Doc Watson and Mississippi John Hurt, with a modern twist to create a style that is exhilarating in its intensity, at the same time both fluid and precise. His creative use of tone and dynamics is a hallmark of everything he plays. His superb talent as a guitarist is matched by his songwriting and his vocal abilities; a warm baritone equally at home singing flat-out rockers and or laid-back folk songs.

Lynn Miles

There is something to be said for experience, for taking the time to grow into your own skin. All sturdy things need time to root firmly into the ground to find their strength. Lynn Miles is one of Canada's most accomplished singer/songwriters. With twelve albums to her credit, the winner of multiple Canadian Folk Music Awards, and a 2003 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Solo Album of the Year, she has certainly found her strength over time.

Through a career that has seen her move from Ottawa to Los Angeles and back again, with stops in Nashville and Austin, she has always written music with unbridled feeling and vulnerability. Miles has consistently been unflinching in putting herself out there. Her eighth studio album Fall for Beauty was nominated at the 2011 Juno Awards in the Roots & Traditional Album of the Year category. In 2011, Fall For Beauty was also voted Penguin Eggs' Album of the Year.

Miles has recorded acoustic versions of her songs in a series called Black Flowers. The first two volumes were produced in 2008 and 2009 on her Cold Girl record label and later re-released by True North Records in 2009. A third volume was released in August 2012.

Lynn's latest album was done with Ottawa singer/songwriter Lynne Hansen. They call themselves The LYNNeS, and the CD is entitled Heartbreak Song For The Radio. It drops on February 2nd, 2018.

Lynn Miles is a musician in the rarest sense of the word, an unmistakable talent, an eye for both the subtle and sweet that can only be unearthed with experience.