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About Alan Moberg
Alan Moberg is to be inducted into the BC Country Music Hall of Fame in August,
2008. Among the various awards that he has received in his long career is an
award by BMI (Socan) for "outstanding contribution to Canadian music".
The Music Director of Radio Toronto, CIUT, had this to say recently
about award-winning country folk gospel singer Alan Moberg.
"Alan is no doubt one of Canada's best."
He is known as "The Saltwater Cowboy" for his blended identity,
a singer of the coast and its peoples, a singer of BC's interior ranch
lands. He is arguably one of the best yodelers on the coast, but is
also known as a great story-teller in song, in the original folk
tradition. He has been called the West Coast Stan Rogers.
His new 16th CD, "REMEMBER ME" has songs of the Heart, Songs of the Coast,
Songs of the Country. The single "Please Remember Me" will be released to
commercial Country radio in Canada. Request it from your favourite
station. It will also soon be available on iTunes.
Moberg himself is the stuff of folklore. Born on the Sunshine Coast
in Pender Harbour, BC, he lived in Langley, North Vancouver,
Victoria, and Kamloops before settling on beautiful Salt Spring
Island. He has worked on the sea as a fisherman, on land as a
landscape gardener. His songs reflect an affinity for people who
live close to the land, including the Native Indians. In 1972
Alan was given a hereditary name and adopted into the Gitskahn
Killer Whale Clan of Kispiox, BC. He has become a part of the
Kwakiutl clan of Fort Rupert through marriage, and has been honoured
by being given a chief’s name, Hemidi, by Chief Alfred (Hutch)
Hunt (Sisakolus).
Moberg's songs speak to the human condition, evoking notions of
ongoing endurance, perseverance, travails and triumphs with
simplicity and directness. He is honest and observant, his
lyrics have courage and conviction. He celebrates the lives
of ordinary men and women, giving them identity and dignity.
He puts smiles on our faces and in our hearts. He gets toes
tapping. Soon we're all celebrating.
His music is receiving airplay in Canada, the US, Ireland and
Australia. His last CD FARTHER ALONG has charted in the top ten
on Canadian University radio in Kamoops, Lethbridge, and Nanaimo on their
Roots Playlists. His choral songs have been sung from Czechoslovakia
to Jamaica to Nashville, Tennessee, and of course in his own
beautiful British Columbia. He has played in prisons and
churches, concert halls and community halls and just about
anywhere you can think of. He has had national, local and
regional television exposure.
Alan's repertoire is broad. Take his last three CD's for instance.
His FARTHER ALONG is early influences: Cash, Kristofferson,
Nelson, gospel and Christian Roots, folklore of AA, and gems
like Memories are Made of This. His HOME AND DRY is a
collection of folk and Western Roots - Canadian Americana.
And yes, Valdy does sing harmonies on Alan's song Valdy,
honouring this Canadian icon who also lives on Salt Spring
Island. His NORTHERN LOVE captures the beauty and history
of British Columbia. Earlier, his folk CD DOGWOOD COUNTRY
was chosen by the province of BC for promotion, and was used
also in a German film about the province.
Born and living in a coastal community, he has written songs
about the coast and its peoples and the BC Rivers such as the
Fraser River that run to that coast. Songs such as Wild
Salmon, Cold Green Sea, Sunday Night Seine Boats,
Return to the River.
One of Alan's very popular songs is Williams Lake Stampede
where he honours rodeos and the old friends who meet once a
year to "watch the cowboys ride". This song has promoted the
BC cowboy way of life for decades around the world.
He sings of early settlers in songs like Spell of the Cariboo
where he talks of stagecoach wheels and gunshots, hanging judges
and ranchers; or his Fulford Valley where he writes of many
traditional western themes like bravery, innocence, survival.
He has many songs about his admirations for the first peoples and
the cross cultural friendships that exist in this beautiful land
we share. His Song for an Indian Carver was written for his
adopted brother, Chief Walter Harris (Simogyat Geel), recipient
of a Governor-General's Award for visual and media arts. Or there
is his Northern Love, which has been put to 4-part harmony.
Of course, a relationship with God often went hand in hand with
survival living, and Alan's Amazing Grace or Whispering Hope could
as easily be heard in the early days.
Alan has a body of work of the folklore of Alcoholics Anonymous
(and other 12-step movements) in such songs as his Serenity
Prayer or in his version of Kris Kristofferson’s One Day at a
Time. Alan has walked the long hard row of life and knows when
to ask for a helping hand.
Alan even has a wide collection of soft country/rock 50's and 60's
cover material. And he invites local choirs to perform his BC
choral songs as openers to his concerts, or in concerts of their
own.
Alan Moberg is Canada's most authentic troubadour. He is a simple
and powerful performer, just a man and his guitar, but a big presence.
Do listen to and buy his music. See the
CDs Page. Let his music uplift
and enrich any event.
Bookings at
anniep@saltspring.com
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