Burchill, Bob - Hugs

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Some People	02:46
	2	Four Seasons	04:00
	3	Only Honesty	03:06
	4	Whatever Ship We Sail	03:16
	5	We'll Be Flying	02:52

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Oh Annie	02:26
	2	Feel A Little Better	03:31
	3	I Wonder Where You Are	03:19
	4	Come on and Move It	02:51
	5	Marimba Jam	02:16

Photos

Videos

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Information/Write-up

Bob Burchill was a quietly influential figure in Ontario’s folk and rock scenes, a musician whose path wound from a farm in Dublin, Ontario to the heart of Stratford’s countercultural movement in the 1970s. Music was woven into his life from childhood, when he played piano alongside his father’s fiddle in the old Don Messer style, but his true awakening came as a young man when he heard Bob Dylan for the first time. The “chimes of freedom” set him on a new course—he sold his Mustang, grew a beard, left his job, and committed himself wholly to music. Travels through Europe deepened that commitment, and on his return to Canada he immersed himself in the Black Swan Coffeehouse in Stratford, pouring coffee by day and building musical connections by night.

By 1973 he had joined the Perth County Conspiracy (does not exist), the celebrated Stratford collective that fused folk, psychedelia, and political theatre. His guitar, mandolin, and songwriting fit seamlessly into the band’s free-spirited blend of music and message, and his years with the Conspiracy carried him across Canada in a blur of tours, communes, and concerts that defined an era of Canadian folk. In 1975, still in the orbit of the Conspiracy, he released his first solo album, Cabin Fever, on the Rumour label. The record gathered many of his Perth County compatriots—Richard Keelan, John Jackson, David Woodhead, Michael Butler, Jerome Jarvis, Paul Gellman, and others—and reflected the cooperative ethos of the scene. Side one was recorded at the Schoolhouse Sound Studio Co-Op in Perth County, while side two captured the group live in Calgary during the Spiral Band tour, a split that gave the album both the intimacy of the studio and the immediacy of the road.

Burchill continued to write and record long after the Conspiracy’s heyday, releasing albums such as Hugs, Two Blue, It’s a Grand Garden, and When I Was a Kid, each one rooted in the same blend of honesty, craft, and rural lyricism that had marked his debut. Beyond his own music, he poured his energy into teaching and mentorship. From 1989 to 2001 he ran R.B. Music Studio and the Stonetown Music Centre in St. Marys, Ontario, where he taught guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and piano to hundreds of students, passed on instruments, and offered a gathering place for young players to discover their voices.

Looking back on his life, Burchill described it as “a path less travelled,” and it was true. He never chased commercial trends or big-city success. Instead, he chose to remain close to the soil, to the community, and to the spirit of music as a way of life.
-Robert Williston

Bob Burchill: vocals, guitar, percussion
Dorit Learned: vocals
Layna Basson: vocals
Pat Kell: vocals
John Till: electric guitar
David Woodhead: guitar, lap steel guitar
Ken Kalmusky: bass
David Woodhead: bass on 'I Wonder Where You Are'
Toby Small: drums
Murray Scott: keyboards
Glen Soulis: saxophone, flute, violin

All compositions by Bob Burchill except 'Oh Annie' by Terry Jones
Produced and arranged by Bob Burchill
Engineered and mixed by Bob Burchill, John Till, Ken Kalmusky, and David Woodhead at Maxim Studio, Carlingford, Ontario
Recorded by Glen Soulis
Mixed by David Woodhead, John Till, and Ken Kalmusky

Design and photo of me with watermellons by Anne Lundequist
Cover picture by Lennart Linjer

"Marimba Jam" was recorded on midsummers day in Skåne, Sweden with friends from Peps Blodsband.

These songs are written to encourage people to stay together and gain strength through shared experience. We all face uncertainty at times and must reach our and embrace others if we are to find love. Hugs...

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