Ten Years of "William": A Celebration!

We’re celebrating the 10 years anniversary of my album “William”, a show, an EP release & a video!

Remember 2014??  Malala Yousafzai won the nobel prize, we doused ourselves in ice water & we lost Philip Seymor Hoffman, Robin Williams, Paco De Lucia and former Canadian Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty. On November 29th of 2014, I had the official "William" release party at Array Space with my good friend The Young Novelists opening.  This wasn't my first album, but it was the first time I released something that felt professional, something I could be really proud of. A lot of that had to do with the help of producer James Bunton.  I loved his work with artists like Evening Hymns, Ohbijou & Donovan Woods, and I was lucky enough to enlist his help on this album.

We're celebrating this monumental release in a 3 ways, and I'd love you to join us!  

1. An intimate show!

This Saturday Nov 16th, I'll be performing most of "William" at Sellers & Newel Bookstore in Toronto.  On the bill is my good friend Graham Nicholas who is also celebrating the 10 year anniversary of an LP!  We will both be joined by the guitar-man extraordinaire, Mike T. Kerr .  And as a nod to the original release show, Laura Spink from the Young Novelists will be singing along with me. 
 

To book your spot, simply email  sellers@sellersandnewel.com or phone  647-778-6345. Let them know how many seats you want and they'll let you know what to do next. It's that simple!

2. A Live in-Studio EP!

Recently I went into Lynx studio with some friends and recorded a few tunes from William (plus one from Softer Scissors).  On Friday November 29th I'll be releasing the 5 song EP where ever you stream good music.  YOU CAN HELP by following me on your favourite streaming site (here are some choices!)

3. Videos!

Here’s the first song from that EP, in video form! It's a medley of some of the "hits".  Featuring The Young Novelists (Laura Spink & Graydon James), Erik Bleich & Kristian Noel Pedersen.  Filmed by Jesse Yules & Cody Walker, edited by Jesse Yules. Audio recorded and edited by KNP.
More videos will follow, so follow my Youtube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@shawnclarkemusic

My Key Light (Quiet Company) - live video

I recently went into Lynx rehearsal studio to record a few videos with some great friends. Most of those videos will debut in November, but here’s a little taste! This is a version of “My Key Light (Quiet Company), off of my latest album Softer Scissors

Let me know what you think!

My Key Light (Quiet Company)
Cameras: Jesse Yules, Cody Walker
Video Editing: Jesse Yules
Audio recording & Mixing: Kristian Noel Pedersen
Live Band: SWC - Guitar / vocals, Erik Bleich - Bass, Graydon James - Drums, Kristian Noel Pedersen - Wurlitzer, Laura Spink - vocals

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Hey friends! I’ll be showcasing at the Folk Music Ontario conference this weekend in Mississauga, and if you’re going you should come out! Here’s my Showcase schedule:

International Indigenous Music Summit Spotlight Showcase:
Tonight, 12:05am, Grand Ballroom

Official Showcase
Fri Oct 4, 10:20pm, Grand ballroom 

UPDATE: Showcases were fantastic, and I had a wonderful time at the conference. I met so many great artists and folks from festivals etc. I had my good friend Laura Spink (who’s singing in the video above), sing and play glockenspiel with me! Very fun. Very neat.

Videos Videos Videos!

Going to the Country (Bruce Cockburn Cover)

I just had the chance to see one of my favourite guitarist, Bruce Cockburn. This is one of the few tunes of his that I can play, so I sat down with my guitar, and special guest Tony Broccolini.

Live at Burdock, Softer Scissors Release Show

Franny Stares - From the recently released album Softer Scissors

Autumn In New Brunswick - from the 2017 album TOPAZ

New Normal - from the recently released Softer Scissors

Live Performance in The Church of Marc!

Me and a few friends popped into a studio to record this 4 song set, live for The Church of Marc youtube channel! Featuring Guitarist Mike T. Kerr, keyboardist Kristian Noel Pedersen, and bass player Michael McDonnell! Let me know what you think in the comments, and check out more videos on Marc Meriläinen’s channel.

"Time Intervenes" out now PLUS Bandcamp pre-order

Hello my friends, it’s February (the month of looooove) and the 2nd single from Softer Scissors is here! It’s called Time Intervenes, and you can listen to it at any streaming site of your choice (here’s a bunch!)

Bandcamp Pre-order

And you can pre-order Softer Scissors today! Available on CD / LP / Digital. I have the LP’s in my possession so, conceivably, you can get yours before the release date!

Listen / Order here!

FANCY SOUNDING BIO

For Shawn, the lockdown solidified how important it is to be creative with other musicians.  With that in mind, he wrote a number of tunes for a full band, including this Americana rocker, in the tradition of Wilco and Blue Rodeo, “Time Intervenes”.  Lyrically, this song explores how memory can differ between two people, and how revisiting the past can stop a person in their tracks.

“Time Intervenes was initially written as an experiment, I thought it might be interesting to check in on characters I wrote about in 2010 (on a song called “Empty House”).  I ended up writing two songs, this and “To Walter, Sincerely”, which will also appear on my upcoming LP, Softer Scissors. Both deal with the memory of a past relationship, each song capturing a perspective, together they act as a sort of Rashomon situation where there are many sides to a story”

The track was recorded at Curries Music in Gravenhurst, Ontario with Rob Currie, who recorded, mixed, and co-produced “Time Intervenes”. It features Graydon James (The Young Novelists), on Drums, David Gluck (Will Moor) on bass, singers Laura Spink (The Young Novelists), Katie McLeod, and fantastic country guitar by Rob Currie.  The album "Softer Scissors" coming April 19th 2024.

The LP Softer Scissors is set for release on April 19th

"Tall Trees" single, out now!

Hey Hey Hey!

The first single is out now from my upcoming album Softer Scissors! Listen to it today on your favourite streaming site. I like Tidal, but no judgement here.

Driven by delicate finger-picked style guitar and Clarke’s knack for image-rich storytelling and winding melodies, “Tall Trees” brings its listener a bittersweet comfort. Feeling all at once modern and nostalgic, “Tall Trees” sits somewhere between the dynamic nuance of Jeff Tweedy and the ‘60s singer-songwriter tradition of Simon and Garfunkel.

Written on the balcony of his upstairs neighbours while looking after their cat named Eugene, Clarke braids the comforting simplicity of the sights and sounds of his neighbourhood with the emotional heaviness of pandemic life. Clarke shares, ”We were right in the middle of the pandemic, and I was worried about how it was affecting certain people in my life (“Narratives make strangers of us all”). At the same time, I was doing research into my family history, eventually joining the Metis Nation of Ontario (“Generations weighing on our minds”). I’m not sure if there was a message in ‘Tall Trees’ for other people, it was more of a self-examination. While all these things were going on, I still had a life to live, songs to write, and bills to pay. This song is such snapshot of a time & place in my life, and hopefully it resonates with others in a similar way.”

The track was recorded at Curries Music in Gravenhurst, Ontario with Rob Currie, who recorded, mixed, and co-produced “Tall Trees”. Clarke brought in musician friends Claire Coupland and Sarah Hiltz to add background vocals, with Graydon James (The Young Novelists) on percussion.

Softer Scissors is set for release April 19th 2024

Softer Scissors Pre-Order Campaign

We’re Live! Friends, I need your help. So, the new album Softer Scissors, is recorded, mixed & mastered. The next stage is production, and that’s where a lot of fees happen at the same time. CD & Vinyl production, T-shirts & promotion are all about to happen at the same time.

That’s where you come in!

To help alleviate some of these fees, I’m running a pre-order campaign! You can secure your copy of Softer Scissors on vinyl or CD, book a live solo or band show, get a T-shirt specially designed by one of my favourite screen printers Stacey Case, or pick a single for the album!

Check it out here: Shawn William Clarke - Softer Scissors Pre-Order

Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot.

Mailing Lists are back!

Hey friends, things on the internet have been getting pretty weird. I can’t keep up with the algorithm, and Facebook is taking news away from us… Basically, I don’t think I can reach you the way I used to. So I’m bringing back an old standard, the Mailing List.

So here’s the deal. Each month, on the first Sunday, I’m going to send out an email. In that email I’ll feature music news, a free download, a bit of movie fun (since I love movies, and I want to talk movies ALL THE TIME!), and finally a cute pic of a pet. Probably just my cat Tony, but I do know some suuuuper cute pets.

The September email has been sent out already, but I’d be happy to send it to you if you join the mailing list before October. The free download this month is of Beck’s Golden Age. Great tune, and as a treat I’ll show you the pet pic of the month below.

So sign up for my mailing list! I have a new album in the works, and you don’t want to miss a detail!

Recording my fourth full length studio release!

Hello folks, I just wanted to pop in and update you on some great news, I’m currently finished tracking my fourth full length studio album! I went back to my favourite place in the world, Curries Music in Gravenhurst Ontario, and I’ve been working closely with Rob Currie in making this release. Rob has been engineering and co-producing the album with me, and he’ll start mixing very soon! Here are a few pics from the sessions, hope to get some new music to you very soon!

David Gluck on bass, Rob Currie engineering. Photo by Bet Smith

Katie McLeod joined us one day for organ & vocals

Graydon James played drums, then later we recorded percussion at his place. Photo by Bet Smith

Special guest vocalists Claire Coupland & Sarah Hiltz joined on a few songs

my musical brother David Gluck flew all the way from Portland to join us. Photo by Bet Smith

Photo by Bet Smith

Photo by Bet Smith

A few words about Gordon Lightfoot

I spent the first half of my life in Orillia Ontario. Growing up I didn't have many hometown heroes; people who made it out of this sleepy boring city to make something of themselves. The city would desperately harp on about Stephen Leacock, a man who happened to have a cottage there, and wrote an incredibly mean spirited book about Orillia. The only other name mentioned was Gordon Lightfoot. There was never a time in my life where his music wasn't around, but when I was young, to me his music was the corny, AM radio stuff I'd hear at the local breakfast restaurants. (Though, quietly to myself, "If I could read your Mind" always moved me, and "Sundown" was always badass).

Orillia didn't have a music scene to speak of back then. Mariposa Folk Festival was long gone (wouldn't come back until 2000, a year after I left for Toronto), and if you wanted a gig you had to rent out the Oddfellows hall, or maybe play a high school event. Some of my first gigs were in surrounding areas, Stroud, Barrie, Newmarket. Kids had nowhere close by to play and nowhere to see live music. Thankfully, that seems to have changed a bit. I hope it has.

So i got out. I took the first chance I could to move to a city that had an abundance of music, and I soaked it up. The funny thing is, as time progressed, I would begin hear Gord's tunes differently. I didn't understand his songs before, because I'd never lived. The more I lived, the more his songs made sense to me. The more I travelled, loved, felt, played, interacted with other people... the closer I felt to his songs.

I owe a great deal of my guitar style, and my 2014 album "William" to Gord's early albums "Lightfoot!" and "The Way I Feel". Without his 80's albums "Salute" and "Shadows", my 2017 album "Topaz" would be entirely different, or maybe wouldn't exist at all.

A few years back I got a chance to interview him for a friends radio show. I showed up early, and because of that I got a whole 10 minutes to talk with him. I recorded our conversation, but I haven't listened to it since, and honestly I was never going to give that interview to anyone. It was too precious. To me it was an excuse to talk to a hero, a fellow Orillian who "got out", if just for a few minutes, and I will always cherish that brief interaction.

See you at Mariposa this year. Let's sing some Lightfoot songs.