introduction

Ivan Wassam live fan video from Blackdog, Edmonton

Introduction:

Albertan folk musician Trevor Tchir unites the sounds and images of rural and urban spaces. His music tells stories of the people who work and love in the pulsing cities and austere hinterlands of Alberta, in particular, and Canada, more largely. His recordings and live shows are dedicated to the ideals of cultural preservation, community building, and artistic collaboration. His third and latest album, Wooden Castles Fall (2005) crosses a spectrum of folk-country laced with pedal-steel and Rhodes organ, horn-driven shuffles, and bar room ballads. The lyrics’ characters on this record include Ukrainian-Albertan moonshine makers circa 1917, Redwater farmers, Canmore Hotel barflies, Alberta grain elevator operators, Athabasca valley dreamers, and Great Lake princesses.

In 2006, Tchir completed a self-organized 25 date cross-Canada solo acoustic tour that saw him drive, bus, ferry, and fly to St. John's, Newfoundland and back, sharing his songs with diverse audiences and collecting stories for more songs. On this tour he shared the stage with Peter Webb, Amelia Curran, Marcel Desilets, John Carroll, Jesse Rivest, and Ron Hynes. He continues to perform steadily, based out of Edmonton, and has recently shared bills with Danny Michel, AA Sound System, Cam Penner, Mark Davis (Old Reliable), Jeff Stuart, Bramwell Park, and Mika Vember (for a recent show in Vienna, Austria). The current version of the Trevor Tchir Band features his brother, Stephen Tchir (Five O’Clock Charlie) on guitar, organ, mandolin, and banjo, Allyson Rogers on drums, Steve Badach on bass, and Mickey Vallee on accordion.

Tchir was born in St. Albert, Alberta. It was at Alberta festivals, such as the Edmonton Folk Festival and North Country Fair, that Tchir began to appreciate acoustic roots music, especially that which told a story. It was also here that Tchir first heard folk musicians who had a significant early influence on his own musical ideas, including Bill Bourne, under whom Tchir studied guitar for two summers.

Tchir left Alberta at age 17 to spend a year working as a page in the House of Commons, where he got a behind-the-scenes look at Canadian political theatre. In 1997, he began playing regularly at Sandy Hill's Dunvegan Pub. This began years of fruitful creative collaboration, spawning Tchir's first release, The Way I Feel Today (1999). In June 2001, Tchir released his second full-length album, November. Tchir’s songs on November center on themes of devotion, ecological responsibility, and the place of spirituality in an increasingly scientific and technologically geared society. Tchir continued to play Ottawa venues such as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Black Sheep Inn, National Library Auditorium, and the Canadian Tulip Festival, backed by musicians including Pierre Chretien, Chris Lochner, Peter Webb, and Nathan Morris, and sharing the stage with acts including Garnet Rogers, Emm Gryner, and Julie Larocque.

From 2001-2004 Tchir was the host of Café Nostalgica’s popular weekly open stage of music and poetry, along with his partner, poet K.L. McKay. In 2003, Nostalgica recorded a live collection of music and poetry: Thursday Heroes - Live at Café Nostalgica, which Tchir co-produced. He continued to play regularly around Ottawa, backed by Webb and members of the African funk fusion band Soul Jazz Orchestra, including Chretien, Jesse Cooke, and Phil Lafreniere. In 2004, Tchir returned to Edmonton and has been based there since.

Tchir’s influences include Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, and The Rheostatics.