About Me
A former motorcycle racer and pro photographer who didn’t get serious about playing guitar till the tender age of 31, Art Turner certainly hasn’t wasted any time turning the world on its ear. In the past few years he has been featured in the popular American magazines Guitar Player and Fingerstyle Guitar, included in the all-star Canadian guitar compilation Six Strings North of the Border Volume II, nominated for both WCMA and Prairie Music Awards, won a rare Formal Showcase at the North American Folk Alliance, made CBC Disc Drive host Jurgen Gothe’s Hit List of Best Albums of the Year, released four critically-acclaimed, self-produced albums featuring collaborations with some of North America's most sought-after instrumentalists, and performed from Dawson City to Denver, from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver Island, sharing stages with some of the world’s best players. A fixture on CBC Radio and the folk festival circuit, Art’s unique brand of percussive, hauntingly emotive “aboriginoceltic fingerstyle worldfolk†has been called “feverishly bright and achingly beautiful†(Dirty Linen); “big, bold, atmospheric, percussive, lyrical, full-frontal, tranquil, meditative, and incendiary†(Jurgen Gothe); and “beautiful... with all the polish in the world without the sterilization that often happens when polish outshines emotion†(Will Ackerman, Grammy-winning guitarist). His fourth album, Sonora, is his most impressive effort to date, and heralds the return of violinist Hugh Marsh (Bruce Cockburn, Loreena McKennitt, DaVinci Code soundtrack), and fretless bass wizard Michael Manring (John Gorka, Michael Hedges).Art Turner lives in Winnipeg, Canada with his wife Carolyn and a varying number of cats, guitars and canoes.
