Just in case you thought political and topical songs were pass?, we?ve got a treat for you as our final program of the season.
Jon Brooks is an award-winning songwriter and singer who has gained acclaim in his native Canada with incisive, thoughtful commentary on contemporary life. He unites folk song tradition with today?s stories, drawing from real life and headlines. Realism, yes, with inspiration, empathy and hope.
After a visit to war-torn Eastern Europe, it took the songwriter several years to feel relevant again. Rebounding from that, he wrote about subjects and locations in urban Toronto and told Canadian war stories from World War I to today. He continues to write about various aspects of the human condition, including Alberta?s tar sands, guns, suicide bombers and honor killings. His latest release has been blithely described as ?an album of rural Canadian murder ballads? ? death count 75, with literary references and occasional reminiscences of Woody Guthrie, Leonard Cohen or Steve Earle. But it?s highly listenable, rhythmic and includes an update of the Child ballad ?The Two Sisters.?
Nominated three times for Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, Jon was a Canadian Regional Winner of the Mountain Stage New Song Contest and a New Folk Winner at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.
Toting his guitar and banjitar, he has toured Canada, visited the US, the UK and Australia. You can?t argue that you?ve seen too much of him. Once a theatre usher, a bike courier and a beer brewer, Jon is a troubadour who argues for compassion, ?I owe today?s listener some compelling argument as to why we should believe our present world can be improved, or healed.?
Opening for Jon Brooks will be local singer and songwriter Lou Dominguez. He too sings commentary on the world around us ? from guns to Facebook, from returning soldiers to the loss of record stores to the court?s ?Citizens United? decision.
Preview them online: jonbrooks.ca and loudominguez.com .
Then come see two compelling performers whose work will make you think and even make you smile. Join us at 3:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, May 17 at Seekers Church, 276 Carroll St., NW, in the Takoma neighborhood. General admission is $15, free to members.
The Takoma Metro stop is across the street, and the WMATA website tells us that ?Weekends and federal holidays: Parking at Metro-operated lots is free.?
