Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

"An evening with 2002 & 2004 Juno Award Winner"
David Francey
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora St., Victoria
Doors 7:00pm - Showtime 7:30pm - Festival Seating
Tickets: $25 Advance/ $28 Door
Available at: Lyle's Place (cash only) 770 Yates St. 250-382-8422 & ONLINE at
www.hightideconcerts.net


David Francey was born in 1954 in Ayrshire, Scotland, where as a paper boy he got
his first taste of the working life. He learned to read at an early age, and by age
eleven was devouring the newspapers he delivered. This helped establish his
interest in politics and world events while developing the social conscience that
forms the backdrop of his songs.

He was twelve when his family immigrated to Toronto. He says he can trace his love
of the land, the history, and the people of his adopted country to weekend family
drives exploring southern Ontario. Music played a large part in these family outings.
They sang traditional Scottish tunes as they drove through the Canadian
countryside. Dad and sister Muriel sang melody, while mother and David sang
harmonies.


His attachment to Canada grew with travel. He hitched across the country three
times, then thumbed his way to the Yukon. This attachment surfaces in his songs of
rail lines, farms, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. He grew to understand the people
while working in Toronto train yards, the Yukon bush, and as a carpenter in the
Eastern Townships. These experiences colour his first CD, Torn Screen Door, with
songs like Hard Steel Mill, Gypsy Boys, and Working Poor and his second, Far End
of Summer, with Highway, Flowers of Saskatchewan and February Morning Drive.

In concert David is a singer and a storyteller who can establish, in minutes, a
personal rapport with his audience. His wry humour and astute observations
combined with his openhearted singing style have earned him a loyal following.

David lives with his wife, artist Beth Girdler and their three children Amy, Julia and
Colin in the quiet but charming Lanark Highlands in southern Ontario


Selected Quotes

"…one of Canada's best loved troubadours" Greg Quill, Toronto Star

"Francey has made a reputation for himself as one of Canada's most revered folk
poets and singers… [His songs] are small and beautifully crafted pieces of work that
have made Francey both a folk festival favourite and something of a latter-day
Canadian poet laureate."
Greg Quill, the Toronto Star

"A consummate craftsman…David Francey is one of the biggest stars of Canadian
folk Music"
Words & Music - SOCAN Magazine

"he's the closest thing this country has to Woody Guthrie" the Georgia Strait,
Vancouver

"one of today's finest folk-based singer-songwriters" "a working man's poetry" Sing
Out

"David Francey is coming into his own in middle age as one of Canada's best
songsmiths - and that's not damning him with faint praise." Daniel Gewertz, The
Boston Herald