Gerry Griffin
and the
Gerry Griffin
Gerry and the XrAYZ
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Hour Glass
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Gerry Griffin and the XrAYZ are an intense and passionate performance act. Their music is original roots/acoustic and is best described as "folk and blues based with a rock spirit and a world view". It is inspired by intense life experiences and performed with conviction, honesty and integrity. Gerry calls it "... music for humans and other people."
Gerry Griffin is the lead singer and songwriter and performs on acoustic guitar, saz, mandolin, harmonicas and lap steel. His material is intensely poetic and ranges from observations of life and the human condition to songs of hope, love and irony. His music is an esoteric melding of musical styles and influences: folk, blues, rock, celtic, and elements of North African music.
Heather Houston provides harmony vocals, African thumb piano, Appalachian dulcimer and acoustic guitar.
Gerry and Heather have been performing together since March 1996 and have thousands of touring miles behind them. They were on the road full time from July 1997 to April 2001. They now live outside of Ottawa working on getting their new CD completed and on their new venture, Renegade Music, a full service production facility with Gerry at the helm as head engineer and producer.
Gerry has one solo CD already released. "Hour Glass" was recorded "live off the floor" at Lakeside Studios in
Clayton, Ontario, in July of 1995. The album was produced by Jeffrey Lesser who has worked with Lou Reed on his "New York" album, The Chieftains' on "Long Black Veil" with Sting and Sinead O'Connor, and Barbra Streisand on her album, "Lazy Afternoon".
"Hour Glass" is a collection of songs that form the incredible diary of his wrongful incarceration for two and a half years in the North African and Spanish prison system in the early 1990's. The CD was released in 1996.
"I have tried to capture the taste and essence of {Gerry's} lifetime of experiences and interpret it through his passionate and haunting performances. Enjoy and share this philisophical, reflective, often ironic, unusual autobiographical journey. It's kind of like life itself."
Jeffrey Lesser, Producer
"State of the art, ... chillingly gothic, ... listen if you dare ..."
Chopper McKinnon, CBC Radio Ottawa
"A European blues Tom Waits brings 'tough love' to lyrics, melodies and harmonies."
Dean Verger, Rasputin's Folk Cafe, Ottawa, ON