Tag Archives: Tree Ring Records
Meaford Summer Concert Series Features Sean Cotton
The Meaford Summer Concert Series wraps up on Friday, August 24th with a concert featuring Sean Cotton and the Muskoka Connection. Sean has appeared in Meaford before as a solo one-man-band at The Leeky Canoe. This time he brings his band with him.
Sean Cotton is a veteran musician who was born into the business, son of country singer Neil Cotton. For many years he toured with Corin Raymond as a duo called The Undesirables built around original songs with lyrics by Raymond and music by Cotton. After a decade touring as a sideman he relocated to Muskoka to put more emphasis on family time, but he didn’t give up music. His interest in playing with others led to an involvement in the local scene that evolved into a collective called Tree Ring Records with a mission to promote the local music scene in Huntsville and surrounding areas.
He’s bringing many of his musical cohorts to Meaford, billed as The Muskoka Connection. The full band will allow him to rock out in a way he’s unable to do as a solo. He describes his music as having a 70’s, from the stylings of greats such as Bill Withers, Van Morrison and Waylon Jennings.
The free concert on Friday starts at 7 p.m. with the Emma Wright band, fresh from the Boots and Hearts festival, as opener.
Sean Cotton Returns This Week To The Leeky
Muskoka’s Sean Cotton is returning this week to The Leeky Canoe, Thursday Jan. 12th. If you caught him last October this is a chance to catch up with him again.
In Muskoka, Sean Cotton is a driving force, working with local artists as a record producer, radio host, arts community developer and, of course, singer-songwriter. Although he has spent years on the road and can perform a wide variety of classic songs touching on blues, folk, jazz and soul, he also tells stories of life in Muskoka through his original songs. He is regularly an artist-in-residence at The Eaglewood Folk Festival.
Concerned about cultivating more of a local music scene in Muskoka, he and some musical friends formed Tree Ring Records, which is more of a cooperative than a company with the goal of musicians helping each other, specifically to improve the opportunities for original music.
Sean often uses his guitar case with an attached cymbal as a percussion instrument, playing it with his feet as he strums and sings.
We have some cultural similarities to Muskoka, the other “cottage country”, an area that gets as much or more snow than we do in the winter. Sean’s visit to The Leeky is almost like a diplomatic visit from another Ontario small town music scene. It will be good to hear his stories and his songs.
Here’s a kind of jazzy blues called “Same Old Story”. Some interesting details to this story:
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Click on the album cover to check out Sean Cotton’s music:
