Dave Gunning w/ special guest Colleen Eccleston

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Friday, September 25th, 2015
7:30 PM to 10:00 PM

“Dave Gunning is the next big thing in the True North of Song, an artist as compelling, as assured and attentive to every nuance of the writing process as Lightfoot, Coburn and Stan Rogers before him.” -- Greg Quill, The Toronto Star Dave Gunning is the winner of 7 Music Nova Scotia Awards, 5 East Coast Music Awards, 2 Canadian Folk Music Awards and is a Juno Award Nominee!

There are stories that wash over you like a tide, and then there are stories that grab you by the heart. Dave Gunning has made a point of finding the latter and wrapping them up in song since he broke upon the East Coast music scene in Canada back in 1997. The Pictou County, Nova Scotia born and bred singer-songwriter and working class hero has built up from humble beginnings to a point where his name is regularly included in conversation with artists such as David Francey, James Keelaghan, Ron Hynes, Stan Rogers, Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot. Writing from a sonic menu that includes flavours of Irish, Scottish, French Acadian, folk and country musical styles, Dave Gunning transcends genre with songs that fill your senses and touch your soul. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Gunning as an artist is his willingness to just accept what the muse might bring. Unlike many artists, Gunning is almost superstitious about not trying to understand his songwriting process, indicating a fear that if he finally comes to understand it the music will stop.

This is the anxiety of a man who has always wanted music as a part of his life and simply wouldn’t know what to do without it. Gunning is a family man, with a wife and three sons to sustain him and hold down the fort at home. But if they are his life’s blood, then music is the air that he breathes. It’s rare in any realm of popular music (folk included) to find an artist so wholly cut from the land he grew up on. Dave Gunning’s humility and talent are both born of a farmer’s acceptance of the world around him. Gunning doesn’t sit down to try to create grand music. He views the world around him for the seeds of something to grow, and cultivates what he sees into life as stories and songs that will touch your heart; he’ll make you think, laugh and cry with classic story songs of underdogs and a world that’s perhaps not quite level but well worth the climb. Like Gunning himself is fond of saying, “There’s a song in there somewhere.”

Also featuring, special guest, Colleen Eccleston! Colleen is all about melody and rhythm, word play and humour and it is a rare and wonderful experience to see this woman doing what she is so obviously meant to do. Her emotional range is riveting and her voice will leave you breathless. Her love of life nothing short of contagious! Dave has just released his new album, "Life" and will make one stop on Vancouver Island while on a West Coast tour.

This concert is sure to sell out, so get your tickets soon!

Advance tickets available at Ivy's Bookshop, Long & McQuade, Lyle's Place and at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre. Online tickets available at www.beaconridgeproductions.com www.davegunning.com