Gunning and Cormier

Two of Canada’s greatest roots singer-songwriters have finally done what everybody’s wanted — heck, what they’ve wanted — for years. Dave Gunning and J.P. Cormier are releasing their first album together, called Two. Great friends, frequent collaborators, co-writers and touring partners, the pair has been talking about this album since pretty much the day they met. Now it’s here, and it’s everything fans hoped and dreamed it would be. Two is made up of everything the duo excels at. There are new collaborations between the two writers (Brothers, Home To Mary), new arrangements of antique folk numbers (Johnny Armstrong, Katie o’ the Gowrie), and some tasty, surprising covers (Never Picked Cotton, Stompin’ Tom’s Songbird Valley). Every song had to meet their very high, combined standards. “We didn’t take it lightly,” confirms Gunning. “We really put our heart into it.”

Arguably one of the best guitar players in the business today, J.P Cormier has a long list of accolades from all over the world and from performers like Chet Atkins, Marty Stuart, Waylon Jennings and Gordon Lightfoot to name a few.

36 years later after stepping on stage as professional union musician for the first time at the tender age of 13, JP is still going, and frighteningly, still getting better. 16 albums followed the success of Another Morning, winning 12  ECMA’s,  Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award and 5 Music Nova Scotia Awards. Each album is a snapshot of each thing that he can do. There are fiddle albums, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, tribute records, songwriting collections, a purely astounding spectrum of talent and musical vision.

With fourteen albums to his credit, there’s no denying Dave Gunning’s impressive body of work. Fortunately, he’s just getting started…

The Nova Scotian folk musician has shared the stage with legends like Ron Hynes, Rita MacNeil, Stuart McLean, and Stompin’ Tom Connors, and has been recognized in his own right as a master of his craft, both as an award-winning singer-songwriter and a captivating performer.

Known for his abilities as a gracious storyteller, Gunning’s knack for connecting with audiences precedes the skills and experience he’s earned on the road—It is, for him, very much a way of life. Gunning shares the same sort of relationship with music as an eagle does with the sky. From a very young age, music has been Gunning’s way of interpreting the world around him, the lens through which he sees it, and the medium by which he engages with his community.

Dave has never needed to look far beyond his Pictou County, Nova Scotia backyard for inspiration. That’s where the characters live. That’s where the stories come from. Often shining a light on the well-deserving underdogs, he’s also never shied away from tougher topics, staying true to the folk music tradition. In recent years, those topics have tended to be more social and environmental in nature - causes that he holds near and dear. Nowhere has that been more evident, or public, than Dave’s strong stance against a local bleached kraft pulp mill - a proven polluter in the community.

Despite delivering some very important messages in his songs, audiences should also be prepared to laugh at a Dave Gunning show. His banter is perfectly timed, self-effacing, and very, very funny. It’s this finely-tuned balance of sincerity and impeccable performance that makes him one of the country’s most engaging entertainers.