Canadian Juno Award winner Bill Bourne has received international acclaim for his recordings and live performances. A veteran of the international blues and roots music scene, life on the road is reflected in Bill's music - powerful rhythms and soulful songs, steeped in blues, world beat, cajun, celtic, folk, latin, funk, poetry and more.

Bill Bourne was raised in a musical family in rural Alberta. When he was two years old, he was known to sleep behind the piano at country dances. His parents played dance music in community halls in beautiful farming country. The love of nature and of music and people gathering for celebration has been with him for his whole life.

Bill Bourne began his professional music career in 1975. In 1982 his first album was released by Radio Canada International. He has toured and recorded solo - and with Scotland's Tannahill Weavers, Bourne & Macleod, Shannon Johnson, Hans Stamer and Andreas Schuld, Tri-Continental, Eivør Pálsdóttir (Faroe Islands), Bop Ensemble and the Free Radio Band.

Bill loves to collaborate with friends (musicians). In 2010 Bill recorded his latest CD, 'Bluesland', with his son Patrick Bourne, (guitar - The Get Down), Pa Joe, (guitar - African Guitar Summit), Moses Gregg (bass), and Miguel Ferrer, (drums). His next most recent collaboration is with Jasmine Ohlhauser and Wyckham Porteous in the band Bop Ensemble. Bop's debut recording, 'Between Trains' (2009) has charted on American Radio formats across Europe and North America. Previous to Bop Ensemble, Bill collaborated with Eivør Pálsdóttir  from the Faroe Islands. He produced and performed on Eivør's third solo CD 'eivø r'. The recording won double at the Danish Music Awards Folk in 2006.

Other collaborations with Allan Macleod, Shannon Johnson, Hans Stamer and Andreas Schuld, and Lester Quitzau & Madagascar Slim, as well as his solo projects, have all attained award status in Canada.

• Since 1990, Bill Bourne has been nominated for 8 Juno Awards and has won 3 Juno's.
• 1990 - Bourne & MacLeod - "Dance and Celebrate" - Juno Winner
• 1992 - Bourne & MacLeod - "Moonlight Dancer" - Juno Nominee
• 1993 - Various Artists - "Saturday Night Blues"  - Juno Winner
• 1996 - Bill Bourne & Shannon Johnson - "Victory Train" - Juno Nominee
• 1997 - Bourne, Schuld, Stammer - "No Special Rider" - Juno Nominee
• 1998 - Bill Bourne - "Sally's Dream" - Juno Nominee
• 2000 - Tri-Continental - "Tri-Continental"  - Juno Winner
• 2003 - Bill Bourne - "Voodoo King" - Juno Nominee

Press

"Bourne flows with this almost indescribable soul infused with a lonesome strain of blues... This man was put on this earth to play music." - Jon Colcord - Crossroads Magazine

...'stellar'...'ravaged poetry'...'mesmerizing'...'scat-charged'...'gritty'...'a veteran storyteller'...'performance art'... 'inimitable'... - various sources

"He is a beautiful guitarist. When I heard him play, I said to myself, 'He's the one, he's the musician who will understand me." - Eivør Pálsdóttir - Gøta, Faroe Islands

"I always thought Bill Bourne should have starred with Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood in 'The Unforgiven.' He's a goddamn movie star, I'd say, with that black top hat and card shark face.

More importantly, he is a 'shining light' in the 'North American' Folk Roots scene. He sings, plays guitar and writes with deep soul, and on the current musical landscape these talents constitute a revolutionary act of ART. Listen to Bill Bourne; get Religion, brother and sister. This is the real thing". - Tom Russell, El Paso, Texas

Canadian roots rocker Bill Bourne has the voice of a soul that's lived life at its toughest and survived to tell about it. With the same bent as Tom Waits under the influence of a strong bourbon, Bill Bourne's delivery is as much performance art as it is musical. His vocals are expressive and resonant as he accompanies himself with sparse, raw, in-your-face acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric slide guitar, walking bass and percussive drumming. Bourne is seemingly comfortable with any genre he attacks. Whether it be gutbucket blues like 'Hilfiger Heaven' or 'Which Way?', the African rhythms of 'Holy Holy', the storytelling of 'The Ballad of Moses Jane', the Celtic strut of 'Whadiddydo', or the Cat Stevens infected 'Burning Candles', Bourne wraps it up tight and sells it in convincing style. He's a veteran storyteller and his new album Voodoo King is proof positive that he's got some tales he'd like to share in his own inimitable way. Stellar.- Douglas Sloan, Metronome Magazine - Bill Bourne - Voodoo King

Veteran Canadian folk artist Bill Bourne has the whiskey soaked, smoke cured voice of a barroom poet who has been around the block more times than he can remember. He opens Voodoo King with a loping, spoken-word introduction to 'Hilfiger Heaven', then his lonesome strummed acoustic guitar is joined by a plaintive saxophone before he begins to sing, 'Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, where's the water all gone down'. This powerful CD's 11 masterful songs are full of broken hearts and reflective regrets balanced by a streetwise philosophy of acceptance. 'Portland', for example, reminds one of Tom Waits crying over a warm beer. Bourne's backing crew includes vocalists and instrumentalists on electric and slide guitars, cello, saxophones, percussion and bass, adding to the bittersweet moods that draw you back again and again. - Gary Joyner, Acoustic Guitar Magazine - Bill Bourne - Voodoo King

Bill Bourne, who is practically a household name in Western Canada, has had a long and varied career. Most of his albums with piper Alan MacLeod, with fiddler Shannon Johnson, and as part of the Tri-Continental blues trio are well worth checking out. He is known for having a very distinct and soulful voice and for being a deft guitarist. Just as importantly, he's also an intelligent songwriter, one who imbues his songs with a sense of rhythm that draws from blues, swing, and Celtic. 'Holy Holy', which features the Be Good Tanyas on harmony, is given an African Highlife beat. 'Portland' could almost pass for a Tom Waits track. 'The Ballad of Moses Jane' is a powerful song. 'Grace', the last track, mixes aboriginal chanting with scat jazz to dazzling effect. Bill Bourne can generally be depended upon to make compelling music, and Voodoo King is no exception. -  Dirty Linen - Bill Bourne - Voodoo King

Music

Bill Bourne & The Free Radio Band - Bluesland (2011)
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Bill Bourne - Boon Tang (2007)
Buy Bill Bourn'es Music

Bop Ensemble - Between Trains (2009)	Eivør Pálsdóttir -  'eivør' (2004)	Voodoo King (2002)	Tri-Continental "Live" (2001)
Tri-Continental (2000)	Sally's Dream (1998)	Farmer Philanthropist & Musician (1997)	No Special Rider (1997)
Victory Train (1996)	Dear Madonna (1994)	Moonlight Dancers (1992)	Dance & Celebrate (1990)

Video

Bill Bourne Links