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Tim Harrison
"Canada's cinematic songwriter."
the Boston Globe
DISCOGRAPHY
Most of the songs on the album include those which directly or indirectly relate to the area in which Tim was born and raised - Grey County! From the societal ill of hatred of "difference" which culminates in the death of a Grey County local ("Dan's Song"); the restlessness and dreams of hometown youth ("We Believed"); the tale of the lone gander from the pond by his childhood home ("The Canada Gander's Lament"); to the beautiful melodic ballad, "Grey County Winter", Tim's songs feature his compelling vocals and superb musician ship on 6 & 12-string guitar, mandolin, bass, dobro and banjo. Among other great songs, Tim also offers up a rollicking version of Richard Farina's tune, "Pack Up Your Sorrows", which he heard sung by Mimi Farina at Grey County's first Summerfolk Festival where he was founding artistic director. Guest musicians are the incomparable Paul Mills (aka Curly Boy Stubbs) on guitar, and the wonderful singer/bodhran player Beverly Kreller.

Grey County
(2005)
Wheatfield With Crows
(2002)
 Wheatfield With Crows is a collection of seven new songs, and seven newly recorded arrangements of songs previously released on a now discontinued CD, The Stars Above (1995).   The title track was inspired by a trip to the grocery store where a trivia question at the check-out video aked "What was Vincent VanGogh's last painting?"  The answer was "Wheatfield With Crows" which inspired me to write the song which concerns myself and a group of friends, our celebrations of life,  and our partings to pursue our separate lives.  Permission was received from the VanGogh Museum in the Netherlands to use Van Goh's painting for the cover of the CD.

Sara and The Sea
(2001)
Most of this material was written last year when the Ontario Arts Council kindly gave me the opportunity to ignore some other worldly concerns for a brief period, and to concentrate on writing. "One Woman" was an almost forgotten song from my early days which was recorded at that time by an artist named Don Lange. "When I'm Gone" is a song which influenced my own formative writing years and which my old friend Mitch asked me to sing for his buddy Joe Flexer's memorial service. I relearned it from a Phil Ochs songbook borrowed from Richard Carson in the early seventies...I finally  returned the book at the CD release at Hugh's Room...Richard's club.   Now I know why it was borrowed all those years ago! 

Tim Harrison
(1999)
I originally planned to re-release my two "pre-CD" albums, "Train Going East" (1979) and "In The Barroom Light" (1985) in CD format, but decided to choose the songs from those early days which seem to have endurance and are requested at gigs from time to time. The recording of the older material turned out to be a journey back to a mind-set of the past, a revisitation of a psychological and emotional place, which I did not expect. This caused some considerable inner turmoil, which, as we all know, ultimately leads to personal growth.
Of all the recording I have done, for public release or otherwise, this one has revealed the most to me and is a source of great pride. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Hugh Carson who encouraged me to re-record the older tunes and to Jaoa Carvalho whose strength and encouragement helped tremendously to keep things on track. Working with the fine musicians who played on the CD was very exciting and I thank them all. I hope that you enjoy this journey from past to present.  
For Helen, Glenn and Jimmie


Bridges
(1997)
"Bridges" is the CD the in so many ways kicked off a real performance career for me.  It was reviewed in England and the U.S. in highly respected publications (see "reviews") which led to airplay which led to bookings and so on.  These songs show me finding my own voice in my writing, and fresh off some some lit studies show themselves to be chock-a-block with literary allusions.  This CD was a struggle to make, was delayed in production twice, but that work has shown the CD to be in the words of Mitch Podolak "a seminal songwriter's CD".  I am very proud of this one. 
The Stars Above
(1995 No Longer In Available)
"The Stars Above" afforded me the opportunity to get serious about my writing, and became a kind of "dry run" for recording.  I was never happy with production values or the over-all sound of the recording, and ultimately pulled it.  The songs for the most part I thought were good, and so they got re-recorded on various later recordings.
In The Barroom Light
(1985 No Longer In Available)
This was a cassette-only release recorded for Ariel Rogers' Cole Harbour Music.  It contains some of my early songs, but its importance to me was really the musical influences which began to emerge and blend to form my own style of expression.  Influences like the right-hand rythymical guitar work of Ramblin' Jack Elliott heard on my cover of "Coal Tattoo" (recorded later on the "Tim Harrison" CD and Rhythm and Blues influences of Wilson Pickett and Van Morrison on songs like "Down To The River."  By the time a CD release was considered, I felt I had moved on so far that the project remained cassette-only and became a little-heard-from, but never-the-less important piece in my development as an artist.
COMPILATIONS

So this one started it all for me, though I had had the priviledge of recording demos at Eastern Sound in Toronto where all the "biggies" recorded prior to this.   But this was really the start.  Stan agreed to produce it at a an after-concert party when he had played for us in Owen Sound, and he recommended recording it at Grant Avenue Studios, owned by the Lanois brothers of Hamilton.  So I gathered up some friends, rehearsed them, and away we went.  This is all very early material, some of which does not stand, and some which wears a very rich patina for all that it is dated by being early work.  Again some material was re-recorded, some I took just the melody and created new lyrics for later works.  This was a real thrill to do and I feel truly blessed for the opportunity.    I literally wept at the beauty of the sound in the studio.  Didn't think music could sound that good.  Later I learned to hear through the "bigness" to what the effect would really be in the outside world.  Still it was a wondrous experience.
Click on the CD Covers
for Song Lyrics in
PDF Format

The CD covers for "Tim Harrison,"  "Bridges," and "The Stars Above" were painted by my friend
Diann Haist
....forever grateful.
Train Going East
(1978 No Longer In Available)
Includes Tim's Instrumental
"Lisa's Waltz"
As heard on "Sara And The Sea"