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Folk Thief  http://www.folkthief.com/home.cfm

http://www.myspace.com/folkthief

Folk Thief is the latest incarnation of Canadian singer /songwriter Dave Hadgkiss. Born and raised in Kamloops B.C., Dave began playing guitar at the age of 14. He spent some time screaming his head off and stomping on distortion pedals in the Kamloops-based geek rock band, the Gelcaps, and his own punk rock recording project, Weapons Will Kill. But a borrowed copy of the Townes Van Zandt Biopic Be Here to Love Me inspired him to blow the dust off his acoustic guitar and re-examine the ability of music to tell stories and express the full range of human emotion…. Folk Thief was born.

With influences ranging from folk to punk, from country to rock’ n’ roll, Dave has developed his own unique style. Sharpening his song-writing and guitar-playing skills playing local gigs in Vancouver led to being invited to open for Blind God at the Railway Club. It’s been non-stop since then.

Love, Heartache and Oblivion is Folk Thief’s first album. As the ‘one part happy, two parts sad’ recipe of the title suggests, the album is a fun, soulful and sometimes haunting collection of acoustic folk-pop. When asked where his inspiration comes from, Hadgkiss says he plays the way the song feels like it needs to be... “There’s a rock opera in me somewhere!”

His debut album is receiving critical acclaim in music magazines and blogs and is being picked up on local radio stations across Canada, making the top 10 on folk/roots/blues charts, as well as the top 30.

“Undeniably intimate and likable...like a young Leonard Cohen.” Tom Harrison, The Vancouver Province

“A definite example of less is more...Folk Thief stole my heart with this lovely debut” – les siemieniuk, Penguin Eggs

“A less angry but no less earnest early Bob Dylan” - BC Musician Magazine

Folk Thief is currently touring across Canada promoting his critically-acclaimed debut album, Love, Heartache and Oblivion. As he explained in an interview with the Golden Star, the inspiration for the title of his album came after he realized that “these themes are universal and important to our understanding of each other and ourselves.”

Watch for Folk Thief’s new album, Then the West was Lost, next spring...
 

My Boy Rascal http://myboyrascal.com/

My Boy Rascal is the ongoing folk-pop project of Colby Ramsay, a Canadian singer-songwriter who spent his formative years in Naramata, a tiny town nestled on the shore of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. Perhaps his laid-back vibe and smooth vocal stylings can be attributed to growing up near the water, characteristics that have led some to liken him to "a Canadian cross between Jack Johnson and John Mayer." However, his fingerstyle playing is possibly his most defining characteristic, and in this capacity My Boy Rascal is more reminiscent of Iron & Wine or Damien Rice. Then again if you ask him, he might tell you that he sounds like "Uninhibited Animal Magicality," and leave it at that.

After spending a summer working with Canadian music producer Malcolm Burn in New York, he recorded his debut album "The Study of Animal Magicality" in North Carolina. Immediately listenable and beautifully orchestrated, the album is a collection of seven well-crafted songs that takes listeners on a journey through the trials and tribulations of love and life's absurdity.

Following the album release Ramsay returned to his native British Columbia where he met up with Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Folk Thief. In the summer of 2011 the monikered duo teamed up for a tour of British Columbia followed by a tour of Western Canada. My Boy Rascal and Folk Thief are currently on a cross-Canada tour that will see them play from Vancouver to Newfoundland and back over the course of two months.