Episode 226: Jay Aymar

Toronto-based singer-songwriter, Jay Aymar joins us this week to chat about “The Chicken Came First”, his new book/live CD and his show at Hugh’s Room on Thursday November 26. We also have something very special, new music from Scott Merritt. Scott has just released his new album “OF” and will be on tour across southern Ontario through December.

We started off the hour with three songs about the on-going worldwide refugee crisis. Fearing & White kicked things off with the beautiful and thought-provoking “Emigrant Song” from their 2014 album “Tea & Confidences” (Lowdenproud). And a reminder if one is needed that most of us came here as immigrants and, yes – some came here as refugees displaced by war and persecution, which is why, despite the dreadful events that recently took place in Paris, our hearts must remain open to those less fortunate than ourselves. Andy White gave a beautiful solo rendition of that song as part of his encore at the Erin Roots show this past weekend, teaming it up with his fabulous new song about the refugee situation in Australia, “Dignity”. You can check out that song HERE.

And we followed the Emigrant Song with a new song from Lynn Miles, “What If You Were A Refugee”. All profits from the sale of the new single, which you can buy on CD Baby HERE, will go to support organizations helping refugees in Canada.

And we finished up the set with James Gordon with “Faith”, his great song about making a difference from 2013’s “Coyote’s Calling” (Borealis Records). And James Gordon will be joining many other musicians from the classical, jazz, folk and blues world alongside some theatrical and dance artists for… 5000 Miles: A Benefit Concert for Syrian Refugees taking place on Saturday November 28 at Knox Presbyterian Church 51 Church St in Elora. Joining James will be… Matt Brubeck, David Earle, Tony McManus, Heather Taves, Willem Moolembeck, Brenda Lewis & John Zadro, Ben Grossman, Colin Fox, Loretta Bailey, Marion Samuel-Stevens, Rein Rutnik & Rob Morris, Deborah Overes, Anna Ronai, Dylan Paycak & Daley O’Keefe, Jerry Prager and Morvern McNie. All proceeds will be directed towards the Presbyterian Refugee Fund. Tickets: Adults $20; Age 8-18 $10 and are available at The Bookshelf (Guelph), The Shepherd’s Pub (Elora), Roxanne’s Reflections (Fergus). 5,000 Miles is but one of several similar benefits that are being held across southern Ontario.

Jay Aymar has just released his seventh album, a live album “The Chicken Came First”. This album is a little different though, it comes as part of a book “The Chicken Came First (And Other Half-Truths From My Life as a Touring Songwriter)”, a collection of short stories culled from his popular blog, the twelve songs on the live CD bookending the twelve chapters in the book. Jay wraps his summer tour with a show at Hugh’s Room on Thursday November 26 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance online HERE and $22:50 at the door. Joining Jay for the Hugh’s Room show will be Sahra Featherstone (violin, harp), Joe Ernewein (guitar, piano), Vivienne Wilder (upright bass) and Justin Rappel (drums). Richard Flohill, a Toronto-based publicist well-known in the folk community, will read a chapter from Jay’s new book while Jenie Thai will be bringing along her piano-based folk and blues to open the show. We caught up with Jay Aymar at home in Toronto. You can listen to the interview again HERE.

Scott Merritt is playing a series of shows across Southern Ontario as part of the launch of his new album “OF”. He’ll be at the Princess Cinemas in Waterloo on December 3 and at the Guelph Black History Society Hall on December 12, with accompaniment from multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird. Tickets for the Guelph show are available at The Bookshelf (41 Quebec St., Guelph), Dis-a-Ray (3 Wyndham St. N., Guelph) and The Beat Goes On (23 Wellington St. E., Guelph). For more information on Scott’s tour, visit scottmerritt.com.

Well, that’s all we have time for. Check out the full playlist with artist links below and share your love for all the great folk and roots music out there. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We have a lot of great music to bring you on future shows. I hope you’ll join us! You can listen to this show again on Mixcloud by following the link below.

Folk Roots Radio – Episode 226 Live & Local by Folk Roots Radio on Mixcloud

Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (expected 2015)

Fearing & White
Emigrant Song
Tea & Confidences (2014, Lowdenproud) CDN

Lynn Miles
What If You Were A Refugee
Demo (2015, Self) CDN

James Gordon
Faith
Coyote’s Calling (2013, Borealis Records) CDN

Beppe Gambetta & Tony McManus
La Bergamasca
Round Trip (2015, Borealis Records) CDN

Jay Aymar
Crow
The Chicken Came First (2015, Self) CDN

Interview: Jay Aymar joins us to chat about his new book/live CD “The Chicken Came First”. Listen to the interview again HERE.

Jay Aymar
Always in Her Dreams (feat. Jadea Kelly)
The Chicken Came First (2015, Self) CDN

Jay Aymar
Walls are Pages
The Chicken Came First (2015, Self) CDN

Jenie Thai
So Lovely
Only The Moon (2013, Self) CDN

Scott Merritt
Willing Night
Of (2015, Self) CDN