(Left): Chris Coole, Mark Westberg, Tannis Slimmon, David Francey, Darren McMullen, and friend.
Today marks the official release of David Francey’s tenth record titled So Say We All, on Red House Records. Canada’s reigning troubadour of the land and her people has released another winner. This may be his best record yet, perhaps as a result of the stellar support crew he assembled, including Mark Westberg on guitar, percussion, and harmonies; renowned banjo picker Chris Coole (who also plays guitar and dobro here); and Darren McMullen on mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, and piano. The band provides a sympathetic accompaniment to David’s poems of the road, the land, the people, and his own personal demons and angels.
At the age of 45, David Francey began his career as a folk singer after a lifetime of hard labor. Since than he has won three coveted Juno Awards, the equivalent of Grammies in the USA, and has been called “Canada’s best contemporary songwriter” by Sing Outmagazine.
Yes, I have broken my own prohibition against reviewing singer-songwriters here on Fiddlefreak. God knows there are plenty of them out there, and bloggers to cover them. But David Francey is the kind of writer who creates instant classics that endure long after we are gone from this earth. Writers like him feed the folk tradition like cold clear tributaries feed the river of life.
“The songs on this album seem to me to encompass what proved a very difficult year. From the heights of joy to the depths of grief, the lesson learned was to celebrate every day spent on this side of the soil and to keep marching no matter what comes our way. So say we all.” –David Francey
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