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String Bone is songwriter Barry James Payne who is based in Southern Ontario, Canada and has just released his first full-length record produced by Shannon Lyon and Chris Giesbrecht.
A songwriter who currently plays live with Dan Henshall on upright bass, he has shared the stage with some fabulous artists in the last year - Shannon Lyon, Mel Brown (Etta James), Rob Szabo (The Groove Daddies), Roger Marin (Fred Eaglesmith), Romney Getty, Mike Alviano, Bill Toms (Bruce Springsteen, The House Rockers), Allison Brown (Girls With Glasses), Matthew De Zoete, Montreal's Kaya Fraser, John Allaire (The Town Cryers), Kim Clarke (The Falcons) and many others.
Payne has been playing and writing songs for many years having played in roots and rock bands since the 80's. He set out in 2006 to write and record a collection of songs which eventually has turned into the new release entitled nadir released May 21, 2009.
Halfway through the recording of this album, he met Latvian violinist, Antonia Munro in the spring of 2008. Together they started to create a unique sound at String Bone's live shows, feeding off each other musically and vocally. He immediately brought Munro into the studio to add her incredible musicianship to his solo project.
The first song that starts the record is called "Nietzsche Finds A Bullfight" and demonstrates their early chemistry while jamming. They collaborated on that intro song, which really takes the unit out of the folk and country americana sound and puts it smack dab into the middle of a gypsy, european folk melodramatic traditional approach.
At the beginning of September/08, Payne hooked-up with Dan Henshall from London who joined the duo on upright bass providing additional foot-stomping bottom-end.
With the record close to finished, the trio went on a short tour of Ontario playing shows from London to Montreal, with several stops in between. The tour met with receptive audiences at every stop and received positive response.
String Bone writes songs about real life struggles and his powerful lyrics “often paint vivid portraits of some of the darker corners of Southern Ontario life, as in the tracks Killing Town, Wash Away Our Sins and Southern Ontario Chill†(quoted from The Kitchener-Waterloo Record—Sept. 17, 2008).
His sound has been described as Roots-Americana, but also defined as diverse and having influences in Folk, Blues, Rock, Country, Gypsy, Celtic and Classical with the help of fellow musicians Munro and Henshall and others. Payne's approach to songs are conversational, at times almost talking while delivering songs, to singing with some serious soul & passion.
As Lyon and String Bone started this project in January 2007, they each chose their top ten songs from a pool of 24 songs that String Bone had played for him one night. They ended up with 14 songs after their lists were combined. The next session they recorded all 14 songs with just voice and guitar, so they could listen and work out arrangements and later decide the final cut of 10. During the recording, Payne kept writing and so, two of the songs from that original batch were replaced by a couple more newer and more appropriate songs. In particular, the intro written by Payne & Munro and the second song on the record, Wash Away Our Sins, which fit perfectly with the intro.
Enjoy the tunes, come back often....be a friend, leave a comment.
Past 2008 Performances
January 10 - Kitchener, ON, Molly Bloom’s
January 12 - Stratford, ON, Queen’s Inn
January 24 - Kitchener, ON, Molly Bloom’s
January 31 - Kitchener, ON, Molly Bloom’s
February 14 - London, ON, London Music Club
February 25 - Toronto, ON, Mitzi's Sister
February 26 - Kitchener, ON, Boathouse
March 12 - Stratford, ON, Othello's
March 13 - London, ON, London Music Club
April 4 - London, ON, London Music Club
April 11 - London, ON, London Music Club
April 17 - London, ON, London Music Club
April 21 - Guelph, ON, Manhattan's
April 28 - Toronto, ON, Mitzi's Sister
May 5 - Guelph, ON, Manhattan's
May 12 - Guelph, ON, Manhattan's
May 15 - London, ON, London Music Club
May 25 - London, ON, London Music Club
May 27 - Kitchener, ON, The Boathouse
June 3 - Kitchener, ON, The Boathouse
June 4 - Stratford, ON, Othello's
June 7 - Sarnia, ON, Artwalk Festival
June 11 - Stratford, ON, Othello's
June 18 - Kitchener, ON, The Boathouse
June 20 - London, ON, London Music Club
June 29 - Kitchener, ON, The Boathouse
July 6 - London, ON, The Alex P. Keaton
July 12 - Burlington, ON, The Blue Moon Lounge
July 13 - London, ON, The Alex P. Keaton
July 17 - London, ON, London Music Club
July 26 - Waterloo, ON, Maxwell's Music House
August 16 - Kitchener, ON, Sadiefest, 4:00pm show
August 16 - Stratford, ON, The Boar's Head
August 27 - Stratford, ON, Othello's
September 6 - Kitchener, ON, The Boathouse
September 11 - Kitchener, ON, The Registry Theatre
September 18 - Hamilton, ON, The Freeway Cafe
September 19 - London, ON, London Music Club
September 20 - Burlington, ON, The Blue Moon Lounge
September 21 - Toronto, ON, The Tranzac Club
September 23 - Peterborough, ON, The Spill
September 26 - Ottawa, ON, The Rainbow
September 27 - Montreal, ON, Centre St-Ambroise
October 15 - London, ON, CHRW "Live in-studio" performance
October 17 - London, ON, Grooves Records "Instore performance
October 17 - London, ON, London Music Club
November 21 - London, ON, London Music Club
December 19 - London, ON, London Music Club
