NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Fred Eaglesmith Official Website) - Fred Eaglesmith is known and widely admired for his eloquent songs that depict the humanity and unique lives of seemingly everyday people as well as a career that had been built up from the grassroots to bring him international praise and the respect of his peers. In a similar fashion, his longtime ties to the land - from growing up on a farm to fighting forest fires in the Canadian West as a wandering teenaged troubadour - are at the core of his being and expressed through his commitment to supporting biological uniqueness and preservation. He will do that this year at his 14th Annual Fred Eaglesmith Charity Picnic from August 15-17 in Aylmer, Ontario, joined by 20 of his musical friends and favorites from across North American and even the other side of the world as well as his devoted followers and fans to raise funds for two conservation organizations in his home province.
The picnic will be held in the unspoiled natural beauty of the Springwater Conservation Area and raise funds for the Long Point Basin Land Trust and the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority. Joining host Eaglesmith - whose latest album Tinderbox is winning rave reviews for its "alternative gospel" songs and style - are his longtime musical compatriots and former band members gone solo Washboard Hank and Roger Marin, popular Tasmania born Americana darling Audrey Auld Mezera and a host of rising singer-songwriters and roots music artists selected and invited by Eaglesmith to join him for three days and nights of musical diversity for a worthy cause.
The Long Basin Land Trust protects and preserves ecological, agricultural, scenic, historic and recreational lands on a peninsula on Lake Erie that harbors 2200 species of plants, 107 species of trees, 27 species of reptiles, 20 species of amphibians and 400 species of birds. "When I get off the road and onto my boat I look out on Long Point and I think, 'I want that place and everything in it to be there forever,'" says Eaglesmith of the peninsula near his home that offers him feelings of tranquility when he is not on the road playing the hundreds of shows that have made him a cornerstone of the North American roots, country-folk and Americana music scenes as well as a popular musical artist in Europe and Australia. The Catfish Creek Conservation Authority is mandated to ensure the conservation, restoration, and responsible management of Ontario's water, land, and natural habitats through programs that balance human and environmental needs.
Eaglesmith's Charity Picnic is one of a number of diverse festival events built upon and centered around him and his uniquely devoted audience of fans and loyal "Fredheads." He celebrated his fifth annual Fred Eaglesmith Texas Weekend earlier this year at historic Gruene Hall, the mother church of the Texas music scene, alongside such Lone Star favorites as Jimmy LaFave, Jesse Dayton and Guy Forsyth as well as Americana stars Darrell Scott and Audrey Auld Mezera. In June, the Roots on the River Festival in Bellows Falls, Vermont, of which he is the founding father and host, had its eighth and most successful year yet with such featured performers as Steve Forbert, The Bottle Rockets, Mary Gauthier and others. This fall Eaglesmith hosts two Roots on the Rails music festival train trips (inspired by his teenaged years hopping freight trains): One along historic narrow gauge railroads of the American Southwest and a Polar Bear Train into the Canadian arctic.
The evocative power and real life resonance of Eaglesmith's songs and his engaging live performances have fostered one of the most unique and distinguished careers in contemporary music for the award winning singer-songwriter. His songs have been recorded by such notable fellow songwriters as Toby Keith, The Cowboy Junkies, Chris Knight, Kasey Chambers, Todd Snider and Dar Williams as well as bluegrass stars James King and Ralph Stanley II. Martin Scorsese and James Caan have used them in film projects, and Keith included Eaglesmith's recording of "Thinking 'Bout You" in his film "Broken Bridges" and its soundtrack CD. His songs have even become part of the academic curriculum at two colleges.
His 17th album Tinderbox has evoked comparisons to Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Ry Cooder and even noted author James Agee. The Montreal Gazette hails it as "vividly cinematic" and "powerful," and the Philadelphia Inquirer notes how Eaglesmith "distills his work to its potent essence" and "evokes a hauntingly vivid world with a vision that's all his own" with his "devastatingly good, economical songwriting."
