The Short Story
Not Just for Guitar Geeks
Bob Evans is an award winning, Canadian finger-style guitarist. He combines an eclectic mix of contemporary finger-style guitar and traditional roots music with a warm vocal style, tilted sense of humour and down to earth stage presence to provide a refreshing performance experience for music lovers in general. Definitely not just for “guitar geeks”.
The Slightly Longer Story
“Bob effuses the melodic spirit of Chet Atkins and the fiery verve of Tommy Emmanuel with his own sense of humour here. Never self indulgent, each track is quick to the richly spirited and melodic chase.”
Penguin Eggs
He was the winner of the Contemporary Division at the 2012 International Home of the Legends Thumbpicking Competition and previously won the prestigious U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship ( Winfield, Kansas 2003). Two of his solo guitar recordings – 4 On 6 and Caffeinated Coffee – have been awarded Outstanding Instrumental Album at the Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMA). A third CD, The Voice in the Grain, was nominated for Instrumental Album at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the WCMA.
“I consider Bob Evans to be one of Canada’s National Guitar Playing Treasures. Bob plays MELODY – great melodies – some original, some time-honoured – all concisely and thoughtfully arranged and played with an easy flowing groove. You can listen to Bob Evans’ playing all day, without fear of being inspired to inflict bodily harm on yourself or those around you.”
Randy Finney – President & Founder, fingerstyleguitar.ca
Since returning to recording and performing at the “turn of the century” Bob has toured throughout Canada, the United States, Taiwan, and Japan. In Canada he has been both a featured artist and a host on national CBC Radio. In the US he has been a Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour featured guest.
“More seasoned” members of the Canadian music scene may recall Bob from his first musical career in the mid 1970’s. He performed at festivals and folk clubs across the country and appeared on national radio and television as a solo artist and as a member of groups like The Dumptrucks and Everyday Dirt. He recorded extensively during this period, including two solo albums and was featured on two compilations of international ragtime guitarists on the influential guitar-based label Kicking Mule Records.
Khamenkule is a piece I wrote as a tribute to John D. Loudermilk's fingerstyle guitar classic Windy and Warm.
In the world of fingerstyle guitar music there is a small group of pieces that have endured over the decades and become part of a core repertoire that almost everyone who plays fingerstyle seems to dip in to at some point. Windy and Warm is certainly part of that group, along with other classics, like Freight Train, Classical Gas, and Blackbird.
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"You Can’t Do That” is an early rocker written by John Lennon. I first heard it sometime back in 1964 on The Beatles’ Long Tall Sally. I still remember this song standing out as having a darker, edgier colour than a lot of their other early songs. Harrison’s ”Don’t Bother Me” stood out in a similar way for me.
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Some forty five years ago I got caught up in the ragtime music revival of the early 70s. A combination of the success of Joshua Rifkin's Nonesuch recordings of Scott Joplin's works, the soundtrack of the movie The Sting - which turned The Entertainer in a major hit record- , and probably the fact that Joplin's music was moving into the Public Domain making it cheap to publish, all came together to resurrect this musical style.
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The Slippery Slope is an original composition of mine celebrating a slip in' and a slidin' on the fretboard. A transcription and MP3 bundle is now available in the Acoustic Tonic Music Store
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Have Yourself Merry Little Christmas was written for the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis, starring Judy Garland. Garland balked at singing the original lyrics Read More ...
