Every once in a while, thanks usually to a happy coincidence, we get an artist at The Carleton that has no business playing a room as small as ours. Such is the case with Australian genre-bending Blues/Roots/Rock/Hip Hop superstar guitarist Ash Grunwald who will be playing our room on Friday, June 26th before heading to Folly Fest in New Brunswick the following day for his main stage show.
Show time will be after 10 PM and admission is a ridiculously low $10 at the door.
One of the hardest working players in the Australian industry, Ash has built his career the old fashioned way – tour, record, tour, record, tour record and repeat. Since the release of his first album – Introducing – over ten years ago, Ash has consistently pushed the boundaries of what could be done with Blues music as a jumping off point and created a unique body of work that can sound like ZZ Top at one end of the spectrum or Gnarls Barkey at the other.
Relentless touring in support of albums I Don’t Believe, Live At The Corner and Give Signs established him as a not-to-be-missed live act at home and saw him branch out into the international touring market with great success, opening for acts as diverse as James Brown, Keith Urban, Bo Diddley, Jack Johnson and The Black Keys.
Subsequent albums Fish Out Of Water, Hot Mama Vibes and the socially conscious Trouble’s Door cemented his reputation as a performer at festivals around the world (including Canada) and as an artist aware of the complicated problems we all face as humans on this fragile planet with the integrity to stand up and say something about it. His most recent release, Gargantua (made with Scott Owen and Andy Strachan from The Living End) is a huge-sounding record that you might want to sink your ears into as a primer for the Halifax show.
It’s not often Halifax has an opportunity to see an act this awesome in the intimate confines of a room like The Carleton. If you’re smart, you’ll be one of the people who’ll be able to say, “I saw Ash Grunwald when…” Don’t be stupid, be there. Ash’s upcoming album, Now (produced by Nick DiDia – Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against The Machine), is slated for release this year.