Craig Cardiff and Ryan McMahon at the Duncan Garage

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Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
8:00 PM

Craig Cardiff builds landscapes of sound using live digital loops & brings the room to a hush. Ryan McMahon wears his influences on his sleeve, where Waits, Buddy Holly, Zevon & Springsteen reside.

�Craig Cardiff is a rare talent. You're never quite sure what you're going to get � spoken word, songs that break your heart, stories that put them back together again. There's usually either a fist fight or a wedding after a show, sometimes both."

Craig Cardiff's voice has been described as �warm, scratched, sad and sleepy.� He builds landscapes of sound using live digital loops and brings the room to a hush.

The prolific songwriter from Ontario released his latest album, Floods & Fires, in November, and it has just been nominated for a Juno Award as Roots and Traditional Album of the Year.

Cardiff has played with and opened for some of the best artists around, including Kathleen Edwards, Blue Rodeo, Hawksley Workman, 54-40 and more.

Visit www.craigcardiff.com for more information.

Cardiff will be joined in Courtenay by special guest Ryan McMahon.

�Like Neil Young, I�m an epileptic who loves both the scream of distortion and the peace of the acoustic,� says McMahon. �Like Eddie Vedder, I wear all of my influences on my sleeves, where Tom Waits, Buddy Holly, Warren Zevon and Bruce Springsteen all reside.�

For the past decade, McMahon has been writing and performing in Vancouver and his hometown of Ladysmith. He released two new full-length albums in the past year � the stripped-down, acoustic All Good Stories, and the full-band Put the Past in a Flask and Drink It.

�Music is life, and I�m just as happy playing to 10 people in an intimate house concert as I am playing to 10,000 at a folk or country festival,� he says. �Either way, a day above ground playing my songs and supporting my family while doing so is a great day.�

Learn more about McMahon at www.ryanmcmahon.com.