D'Arcy Wickham

Thursday, March 10, 2005

D’Arcy Wickham

Feather Fingers
(Independent/www.darcywickham.com)

Veteran Toronto guitarist, music teacher and singer/songwriter D’Arcy Wickham’s latest is both a tasty showcase of his exceptional facility with all styles of guitar picking, from elegant folk to atmospheric blues, and of his gifts as a composer of comfortingly retro, acoustic-based pop songs.

He’s in fine voice as well – a full, truly pitched baritone graces most of the 11 pieces – and in full control of a fine band (Strangely uncredited on the one-sided CD Cover). Standout tracks are Mississippi John Hurt’s “Satisfied and Tickled Too,” the eerie “Hanging at Owl Creek Bridge,” and “Malahat Highway” (collaborations with Bob Carmichael).

Wickham is showcasing material from the album in concert tonight at Hugh’s Room (2261 Dundas St. W.), performing with bassist David Woodhead, drummer Al Cross, guitarist Jason Fowler and keyboard/accordion wizard Denis Keldie. Tickets are $12 in advance (416-531-6604), $15 at the door.

- Toronto Star

by Darya Kotova

Monday, April 18, 2005

For those that enjoy good old-fashioned guitar music, there is something new in store, from an artist that has been part of the music industry for decades. Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist D'Arcy Wickham has now finished an independent album, which took a large amount of thought and hard work to complete. The album, Feather Fingers, is mellow, pensive, and meaningful music, with poetry that speaks of personal growth and reflects on the content of one's character. Wickham had successfully overcome the challenge of putting together a 10-song CD that is both easily listenable, and memorable.

The sound presented in this album is soft, acoustic, with distinct country and folk influences that will be welcome among the admirers of those genres. Although Wickham demonstrates expert skill at music and vocals, his songs are immediately accessible, with neither the unnecessary simplicity, nor the unnecessary complications. There are great tunes to be encountered on this recording, from the opening "Malahat Highway", to the title track "Feather Fingers". That particular, entirely instrumental, song displays intricate guitar sound that is missed in the works of most recent artists. The album turns to the traditions that made music so great in the past, rather than to the formulas of today.

D'Arcy Wickham values focused songwriting very much, since it is a crucial aspect in creating impressive music. Feather Fingers features great quality lyrics as much as excellent guitar skill. His vocals spin tales of changes in personality, following the things Wickham has endured and enjoyed in his life. There is a distinct feeling of realness in Wickham's songs, which can only be delivered by a person that has lead an eventful and purposeful life, with many things to tell and share.

Feather Fingers does indeed feature the skill that has been acquired over a long while, as well as a natural talent. D'Arcy Wickham is a born-to-be entertainer, who has been performing nearly for his entire life. Ever since he started playing guitar at the age 14, he became fascinated with the art of musicmaking enough to sustain the wish to play until today. He started out playing music at parties and dances, later at coffee shops, then began touring with various bands, after which he put a lot of effort into the rewarding job of teaching music. He has worked with many other renowned musicians, including Ian Thomas and Sarah McLachlan. This is only a brief summary of D'Arcy Wickham's life so far, which inspired his newest record.

Whether or not you are familiar with D'Arcy Wickham's work, his teaching, or the story of his life, I highly recommend that you check out this enchanting record. Both relaxing and thought-provoking, it is bound to appeal to your musical side.

Visit www.darcywickham.com
- Canada Free Press

www.thelivemusicreport.com/received/2005a/darcyWickham.html

Featherfingers • SOCAN • 11 Tracks • 41 minutes
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D’arcy Wickham has a fine new CD entitled Featherfingers. Three of the eleven tracks are his fingerpicking-style instrumental compositions. The brief title track is a lucid, lyrical melody, lively, warm and appealing.

“Remembering” is a longer, low-key reflective piece, darktoned, minor and hypnotic, which has an open, slightly unresolved ending that speaks for itself. “Hooked on you” is upbeat and quite repetitive. These tracks reassure one that good as the lyrics he writes alone or with Robert Carmichael are, and good as his voice and delivery are, supporting all that is a fully-fledged artist on the guitar.

Two of the tunes, “Malahat Highway”, and “Hanging at Owl Creek Bridge”, show D’arcy as a traditional balladeer, a chronicler of events of moment in a community, be the event a hanging (with Tom Dooley or Danny Deever or Kevin Berry as the victim), or an epic pattern of important stories embedded in geography, such as Lightfoot’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” or Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited”. Mr. Wickham’s songs in this genre are convincing and the material in “Malahat Highway” could become an historical document.

On the musical level, I like the native drone the guitar lays down in the instrumental bridge between verses in these and other of his tunes, though one also gets the feeling that some of his melodies blend into a sameness. The lyric writing is quite masterful in these and other songs such as “Only Trying to Say Goodbye” where this sharp line occurs:” Don’t confuse me with words about what a great guy I am when you’re only trying to say goodbye. ”Brother of Mine” epitomizes Wickham’s skill in varying rhyme-schemes to create surprise phrasings, particularly when the end word of the first line in a couplet is ‘mill’ which rhymes with the word ‘hill’ that is placed only two-thirds of the way through the next line so that it becomes an internal rhyme.

D’arcy Wickham is also the songwriter of the sad, the balladeer of the blues (think of Ewen McColl), who’s woman’s ‘got that goodbye look’. He gets some good lines in that kind of tune such as “Come back to me, that’s all I ask/I need you in my future like you were in my past.” This is from the tune “Can’t Imagine Any Future”, that rises, in my opinion, above the level of popular bluegrass to the level of a genuine, traditional folksong because of the high quality of story, lyric, and above all, his featherfinger picked guitar.

Featherfingers is available at www.darcywickham.com.
- The Live Music Report