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Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn has
always been a restless spirit.
Over the course of four
decades, the celebrated
Canadian artist has
travelled to the corners of
the earth out of
humanitarian concerns—
often to trouble spots
experiencing events that
have led to some of his
most memorable songs.
Going up against chaos,
even if it involves grave
risks, can be necessary to
get closer to the truth.
“My mother once said that I
must have a death wish,
always going to what she
called ‘those awful places,’”
laughs Cockburn. “I don’t
think of it that way. I make these trips partly because I want to see things for myself and partly out of my own sense of
adventure.”
Small Source of Comfort, Cockburn’s 31st album, is his latest adventurous collection of songs of romance, protest and
spiritual discovery. The album, primarily acoustic yet rhythmically savvy, is rich in Cockburn’s characteristic blend of folk,
blues, jazz and rock. As usual, many of the new compositions come from his travels and spending time in places like San
Francisco and Brooklyn to the Canadian Forces base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, jotting down his typically detailed
observations about the human experience.
“Each One Lost” and “Comets of Kandahar,” one of five instrumentals on the album, stem from a trip Cockburn made to
war-torn Afghanistan in 2009. The elegiac “Each One Lost” was written after Cockburn witnessed a ceremony honouring
two young Canadian Forces soldiers who had been killed that day and whose coffins were being flown back to Canada. It
was, recalls Cockburn, “one of the saddest and most moving scenes I’ve been privileged to witness.”
“Here come the dead boys, moving slowly past the pipes and prayers and strained commanding voices,” Cockburn sings
solemnly on “Each One Lost.” Over a mournful accordion, the simple chorus sums up the gravity of the hymn-like song:
“each one lost is a vital part of you and me.”
In contrast, one light-hearted number reflects Cockburn’s frequently under-appreciated sense of humour. “Called Me
Back” is a comic reflection on the frustrations of waiting for a return phone call that never comes. Meanwhile, listeners are
bound to be intrigued by “Call Me Rose,” written from the point of view of disgraced former U.S. president Richard
Nixon, who receives a chance at redemption after being reincarnated as a single mother living in a housing project with
two children.
Brooklyn-based violinist Jenny Scheinman is one of Bruce’s two female collaborators on Small Source of Comfort.
Scheinman, best known for her work with Bill Frisell and Norah Jones, provides some thrilling flourishes to instrumentals
like “Lois on the Autobahn” and the bluesy, gypsy-like swing of “Comets of Kandahar,” a track that Cockburn describes as
“Django meets John Lee Hooker.”
Produced by longtime associate Colin Linden, the album also features Annabelle Chvostek, a Montreal-based singersongwriter with whom Cockburn wrote two songs on which they also harmonize: the introspective “Driving Away” and
the driving, freewheeling “Boundless.” In addition to newcomers Scheinman and Chvostek, Small Source of Comfort
includes such regular Cockburn accompanists as bassist Jon Dymond, drummer Gary Craig and producer Linden, who
also plays guitar.
As always, there’s a spiritual side to Cockburn’s latest collection, best reflected on the closing “Gifts,” a song written in
1968 and but recorded here for the first time, and “The Iris of the World,” which opens the album. The latter includes the
humorously rueful line, “I’m good at catching rainbows, not so good at catching trout.”
That admission serves as a useful metaphor for Cockburn’s approach to songwriting. “As you go through life, it’s like
taking a hike alongside a river,” he explains. “Your eye catches little things that flash in the water, various stones and
flotsam. I’m a bit of a pack rat when it comes to saving these reflections. And, occasionally, a few of them make their way
into songs.”
Those songs, along with his humanitarian work, have brought Cockburn a long list of honours, including 13 Juno Awards,
an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and several
international awards. In 1982, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 2002. Last
year, the Luminato festival honoured Cockburn’s extensive songbook with a tribute concert featuring such varied guests
as jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti, folk-rapper Buck 65, country rockers Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, country-folk
singers Sylvia Tyson and Amelia Curran, pop artists the Barenaked Ladies and Hawksley Workman, and folk-pop trio
The Wailin’ Jennys.
Never content to rest on his laurels, Cockburn keeps looking ahead. “I’d rather think about what I’m going to do next,” he
once said. “My models for graceful aging are guys like John Lee Hooker and Mississippi John Hurt, who never stopped
working till they dropped, as I fully expect to be doing, and just getting better as musicians and as human beings.” Small
Source of Comfort, a reflection of Cockburn’s ever-expanding world of wonders, is the latest step in his creative evolution.
www.brucecockburn.com
What Critics Said
About Small Source Of
Comfort:
“A simple pleasure.” Darryl Sterdan, The Winnipeg Sun.
“The album is intriguing, melodic and beautiful.” - Eric
Volmers, The Calgary Herald.
“On the one hand, the album follows typical Cockburn
terrain. On the other hand, nobody does this sort of craft
any better.” - Wilfred Langmaid, Fredericton Daily
Gleaner.
“Bruce Cockburn is a rare gem in the world of singers
and songwriters. His depth and subtlety as both a
musician and lyricist puts him in rarefied air.” - Wildy's
World.
“…a consistently rewarding collection that demands
repeated listening.” - Paul Pledger, AllGigs.co.uk.
“Cockburn’s music here is emotionally engaging and
some of his most introspective work to date.” - Elmore
Magazine.
“Fans of Bruce Cockburn’s extraordinary acoustic fingerpicking will be thrilled with Small Source of Comfort, his 31st studio album.
Cockburn’s shimmering arpeggios, syncopated riffs, and hypnotic single-note lines blend elements of Mississippi John Hurt, Jerry
Garcia, Leo Kottke, and Brazilian greats Luiz Bonfa and Oscar Castro- Neves, yet remain entirely his own.” - Premier Guitar
Magazine.
“From the soaring intricate dances that the sixty five year old’s still nimble fingers trace up and down the neck of the guitar to the
incredible arrangements and sympathetic recording, ‘Small Source of Comfort’ is a musician’s record from beginning to end.” - Doug
Heselgrave, No Depression.
“After making music for the past 40 plus years, Bruce Cockburn basically has carte blanche when it comes to releasing new music. But
even with this artistic freedom, Cockburn still holds close to what he is best known for: insightful, thought provoking lyrics backed by
his highly underrated guitar playing.” - Ken Kelley, MusicNerd.ca
“As would be natural with an artist whose body of work is as large and as varied as Bruce’s, there are some of his albums that I’ve liked
more than others. Small Source of Comfort, I’m pleased to report, quickly assumed its place among my favorites of Bruce’s albums.”
Mike Regenstreif, Folk Roots/Folk Branches.
“…Small Source of Comfort, which -- for all its economy -- is abundant in wisdom, empathy, and acceptance; further, it is illuminated
beautifully in a deeply personal, even iconic, musical language.” - Thom Jurek, Star Pulse.
His music is entertaining, but often with a deep message intertwined into the lyrics, bringing a level of art and soul into his songs that
makes them both captivating and timeless in nature.” - Matt Warnock, Guitar International.
“Small Source of Comfort is a beautifully crafted collection of songs, with some instrumental tracks that highlight Cockburn’s deft
touch.” - Readings.com.au Online Store Review.
Bruce Cockburn
AT A GLANCE
• Born May 27, 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Has won 11 JUNO Awards and been nominated for 32.
• Is an Officer of the Order of Canada
• Has released 31 albums across the past four decades
• 2011 Contemporary Album of the Year Small Source of Comfort Canadian Folk Music Awards
• 2011 Contemporary Singer of the Year Small Source of Comfort Canadian Folk Music Awards
• 2012 Roots & Traditional Album of the Year Solo Small Source of Comfort
Juno Award
• 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award SOCAN [Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers]
LIST OF AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS
Going Down The Road (Soundtrack)
Canadian Folksinger Of The Year
Canadian Folksinger Of The Year
Canadian Folksinger Of The Year
Best Album Graphics (Night Vision)
Best Album Graphics (Joy Will Find A Way)
Top Single Recording Of The Year
Folk Artist Of The Year
Best Male Vocalist
Male Vocalist Of The Year
Folk Artist Of The Year
Wondering Where The Lions Are
Wondering Where The Lions Are
Best Album Of The Year (Inner City Front)
The Coldest Night Of The Year
Rumours Of Glory
Inner City Front
Best Male Vocalist
Best Folk Artist
Top Male Vocalist
“Lovers In A Dangerous Time”
"Making Contact"
Top Male Vocalist
“Call It Democracy” Video Of The Year
The William Moon Award
Cdn. Organization of Campus Activities C.O.C.A.
Berklee School of Music
"Wondering Where The Lions Are"
B.M.I. Award
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
RPM Award
JUNO Award
CFNY U-Know Award
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
P.R.O. Award
B.M.I. Award
CFNY U-Know Award
P.R.O. Award
P.R.O. Award
Edison Award (Dutch)
JUNO Award
JUNO Award
CASBY Award
P.R.O. Award
P.R.O. Award
CASBY Award
CASBY Award
P.R.O. Award
Hall Of Fame Award
Songwriter's Award
P.R.O. Crystal Award
1971
1971
1972
1973
1975
1976
1979
1980
1980
1981
1981
1981
1981
1981
1982
1982
1982
1982
1982
1985
1985
1985
1986
1986
1986
1988
1988
1988
Q-107 Toronto Music Awards
Two Awards
Waiting For A Miracle
P.R.O. Award
Q-107 Toronto Music Award
Folk Award
"If A Tree Falls"
SOCAN Award
Nothing But A Burning Light
Album Of The Year
Toronto Arts Awards
Musician's Award
"Lovers In A Dangerous Time"
SOCAN Award
"Great Big Love"
SOCAN Award
Distinguished Alumni Award Berklee College of Music Boston
Dart To The Heart
Press & Critics Award (Germany)
Global Visions Festival
Artist Award
"Wondering Where The Lions Are"
SOCAN Classics Award
"Lovers In A Dangerous Times"
SOCAN Classics Award
Helen Verger Award
Ottawa Folk Festival
Governor General's Performing Arts Award
1999 TENCO Award (Italy)
Lifetime Achievement
Best Roots & Traditional Album-Solo (Breakfast) JUNO Award
Native Heart Native American Music Awards
“The Coldest Night of the Year”
SOCAN Classics
Billboard International Achievement Award
Canadian Music Hall Of Fame Award
Inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame JUNO Award
Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the Winnipeg Folk Festival
Receives the first Humanitarian JUNO in Halifax JUNO Award
Canadian Folk Award for Best Instrumentalist
SOCAN Award for Franklin The Turtle Theme
Int’l Television Series Award
1988
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1993
1994
1994
1995
1995
1995
1997
1998
1999
1999
2000
2000
2000
2001
2002
2005
2006
2006
2006
DISCOGRAPHY/SALES HIGHLIGHTS
Bruce Cockburn
Debut Album Released
High Winds, White Sky
Released
Sunwheel Dance
Released
Night Vision
Released
Salt, Sun and Time
Released
Joy Will Find a Way
Released
In the Falling Dark
Released
Circles in the Stream
Released
Further Adventures Of Bruce Cockburn
Released
Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws
Released
Night Vision
Certified Gold
Dancing In The Dragons Jaws
Certified Gold
Humans
Released and Certified Gold
Inner City Front
Released
Resume
US only Release
Mummy Dust
Canada only Release
Dancing In The Dragons Jaws
Certified Platinum
The Trouble with Normal
Released
Stealing Fire
Released and Certified Gold
Stealing Fire enters - Billboard chart for 31 consecutive weeks
Joy Will Find A Way
Certified Gold
In The Falling Dark
Certified Gold
Rumours of Glory
Released in Germany only
Stealing Fire
Certified Platinum
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1979
1979
1980
1981
1981
1981
1983
1983
1984
1984
1985
1985
1985
1986
World Of Wonders
Released and Certified Gold
Winds White Sky
Certified Gold
World Of Wonders enters Top 30 in Germany
Waiting for a Miracle: (Singles 1970-1987) Released
Waiting For A Miracle (Singles 1970 - 1987) Certified Gold
Sunwheel Dance
Certified Gold
Big Circumstance
Released and Certified Gold
"If A Tree Falls"
Australian Top 30 Hit
Bruce Cockburn Live
Released
If a Tree Falls
Released in Australia only
Columbia releases 12 catalogue records
Nothing but a Burning Light
Released
Nothing But A Burning Light
Certified Gold
Waiting For A Miracle
Certified Platinum
Trouble With Normal
Certified Gold
Christmas
Released
Dart To The Heart released
Inner City Front
Certified Gold
"Listen For The Laugh"
NO. 1 AAA Radio U.S.A
Bruce Cockburn
Certified Gold
Christmas
Certified Gold
The Charity Of Night released
The Charity Of Night
Certified Gold
You Pay Your Money & You Take Your Chance - Live released
Breakfast In New Orleans Dinner In Timbuktu released
“You’ve Never Seen Everything”
released
Speechless: The Instrumental Bruce Cockburn released
“Wondering Where the Lions Are” is recorded by Jimmy Buffett for the movie “Hoot”
Life Short Call Now released
Release of Slice O Life (Bruce’s 30th Album and first Live Solo CD)
Release of 31st Album Small Source of Comfort
1986
1986
1986
1987
1988
1988
1989
1989
1990
1990
1991
1991
1992
1993
1993
1993
1994
1994
1994
1995
1997
1997
1997
1998
1999
2003
2005
2006
2006
2009
2011
PERFORMANCE/TOURING HIGHLIGHTS
Performance on Saturday Night Live (May 10)
Tour of Central America
Tour of Australia and New Zealand
Concert performances in Santiago, Chile
European Tour
U.S. Solo Tour
Nothing But A Burning Light World Tour begins
Live performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration Madison Square Gardens
Luminato Festival 40th Anniversary Tribute Concert in Toronto
1980
1983
1983
1983
1986
1988
1991
1994
2009
2010
HUMANITARIAN/ACTIVISM HIGHLIGHTS
Tour to Nepal for the U.S.C.
Tour of Mozambique for COCAMO
Second Tour of Mozambique for COCAMO
Cross-Canada speaking tour on Landmines
Fact-Finding trip/Cambodia & Vietnam
Fact finding trip to Baghdad
1987
1988
1995
1995
1999
2004
Performs at Live 8 in Barrie, Canada.
Performs “If A Tree Falls” at the UN Summit for Climate Control in Montreal
Fact Finding Trip to Nepal for USC
2005
2005
2007
SPECIAL FILM TELEVISION AND RADIO CREDITS---HIGHLIGHTS
Rumours Of Glory concert film released
Rumours Of Glory/Bruce Cockburn Live home video released
First annual Christmas With Cockburn
Radio Broadcast
Second annual Christmas With Cockburn
Radio Broadcast
Third annual Christmas With Cockburn
Radio Broadcast
River Of Sand Documentary (Mali West Africa)
Release of the film Return To Nepal
1983
1984
1991
1992
1993
1998
2008
CIVIC AWARDS AND CULTURAL HONOURS
The Order Of Canada
Honorary Doctorate/York University - Doctorate Of Letters
Performance at Presidential Inaugural Ball
Honorary Doctorate of Music
Berklee College of Music Boston
Honorary Degree (Doctor Of Letters)
St. Thomas University
Promotion to Officer of The Order of Canada
Honorary Doctorate
Queen’s University Kingston Ontario
Honorary Doctorate
Memorial University St. John’s Newfoundland
Honorary Doctorate
University of Victoria, Victoria British Columbia
Contemporary Album of the Year
Small Source of Comfort Contemporary Singer of the Year Small Source of Comfort Roots & Traditional Album of the Year Solo Small Source of Comfort
Lifetime Achievement Award SOCAN
1983
1989
1993
1997
1999 (Nova Scotia)
2003
2007
2007
2007
2011 Canadian Folk Music Awards
2011 Canadian Folk Music Awards
2012 Juno Award
2012
Bruce Cockburn Artist Biography
from AllMusic.com
Immensely popular in his native Canada, singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn has a rich, varied body of work
and considerable critical nods. He has won numerous Juno Awards and has kept the quality control on most of
his albums at a high level.
Cockburn's first decade of work (1970-1979) is largely literate, singer/songwriter folk-rock, often with a strong
Christian tone and mystical, devotional lyrics. In 1979, Cockburn had his only major U.S. single, "Wondering
Where the Lions Are," which peaked at number 21. The accompanying album, Dancing in the Dragon's Jaw,
saw him augmenting his music with worldbeat rhythms, an approach he would continue over his next few
albums.
Cockburn toned down his Christian viewpoint for much of the 1980s, partially as a way of disconnecting himself
from the American religious right, which he found antithetical to his own spiritual beliefs, and partially to
concentrate on more humanitarian, political subject matter. In 1984, Cockburn produced an AOR hit, "If I Had
a Rocket Launcher," whose accompanying video depicted conditions in war-torn Central America and gained a
fair amount of MTV play.
Cockburn's later 1980s work took on a more streamlined rock sound, and his political agenda was weighted
toward environmental concerns, as well as oppression. In the 1990s, Cockburn returned to a more introspective
feel recalling his earlier work, but moved toward a more global and political perspective with the issue of the
angry and polemical You've Never Seen Everything in 2003.
Speechless from 2005 was an all-instrumental affair, showing off the artist's skill on guitar, while the next year's
Life Short Call Now showed an artist at the prime of his musical maturity. A live set, Slice O Life: Bruce
Cockburn Live Solo, arrived in 2009. After a brief tour, Cockburn returned to the studio in 2010, where he
finished work on a new collection entitled Small Source of Comfort, which was released in early 2011; the set is
an intimate set of songs and guitar-based instrumentals (including the live but never recorded Cockburn
standard "The Gift"). The album was produced by Colin Linden and features violinist Jenny Scheinman.