STRONG RELEASES SOLO RECORDING

After playing backup on some of the most successful recordings made in the province over the past thirty years, Newfoundland and Labrador’s foremost flute and whistle player, Gerry Strong, has finally released a solo project. Named for an Emile Benoit composition, Velvet in the Wind features traditional tunes from this province, Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, as well as some of Gerry’s own compositions and even a Willie Nelson tune.

Strong was a founding member of the legendary Newfoundland traditional group, Tickle Harbour, with whom he recorded three albums, the last of which won three MusicNL awards. He has also recorded with his current band, A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, and backed up internationally renowned Irish piper, Paddy Keenan. He has also accompanied the Irish Descendants, the Fables, Shirley Montague, John White, Bob MacDonald, Phyllis Morrissey, Ed Kavanagh, Jenny Gear and Shawn Lidster. His first recording was with the Grant Collegiate Brass Band in Springdale, where he attended school while growing up in Little Bay.

Strong first became interested in the tin whistle when his family moved to Ireland just before he finished high school. “My mother bought me a recorder around the same time as my older sister brought home a Planxty album”, he says, “and I was hooked. I switched to the tin whistle and eventually also took up the wooden flute.” A job in Stephenville Crossing in the early 1970’s brought him in contact with several Port au Port musicians, with whom he became immersed in the instrumental music of this province.

The new album was recorded in St. John’s in late spring, and this time Strong has turned the tables and brought in some of the province’s best-known musicians to play backup for him. Accompanying musicians include Duane Andrews, Don Walsh, Fergus O’Byrne, and Jean Hewson among others. It even features Gerry’s long-hidden talents as a singer on two songs, including the Newfoundland classic, the H’Emmer Jane.

Velvet in the Wind is available on the SingSong label and is in stores now. It will be formally released in Carbonear on 19 November, and Gerry will host an informal celebratory session at Erin’s Pub in St. John’s on 20 November.

For more information, please contact:
Erin MacArthur 709-754-4665 erin1@nf.sympatico.ca (email)
Gerry Strong 709-596-3324 (email)