Craig Mcintyre has been playing music and singing forever and I mean past lives forever.  Music is so firmly and intrinsically intertwined with who he is that there is no way to separate them from each other.  In his younger years, Mcintyre was inspired by an array of artists from different musical genres including Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Bob Seger and Supertramp, and more recently credits acts such as Coldplay, Ray LaMontagne and Jason Mraz with stimulating his muse. 

His career took off after winning a contest in his teens to open for the legendary goddess of country music, Tammy Wynette.  His first album (2004), recorded with seven-time Juno winner Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster, sold approximately 5,000 copies with medium airplay nation wide and Craig's music was chosen for a national television show that ran for three seasons.  Mcintyre, with his dynamic energy, “has been able to create a new style cross-genre of soul music.”  On Silent, Craig “exemplifies a tremendous amount of strength, spirituality, and wisdom beyond his years.”  “From his own life long confrontations, to sexy sheet messing love, to questions concerning the destiny of his own soul, Craig Mcintyre delivers.”  So it says on MySpace (www.myspace.com/craigmcintyre) and one discovers in Silent that ain’t that the truth!

Craig played guitars and piano on his latest project which was a genuine collaboration with Rick Moulton, who sang back-up vocals, played almost all the lead guitars, and orchestrated some really fine sounds.  In fact, Moulton co-wrote all of the songs with Mcintyre who when I asked him about the process, had this to say:

“Interestingly enough, a few years ago, I wanted to go back and learn piano (you are probably thinking as most people do, "yeah right"), as I had only taken lessons for a year when I was about 10.  So I naturally taught myself how to play, slowly and surely, and am still not a great player, but was able to do it all on the CD.

Honestly, we started working on this a long time ago.  “Rainy Day Woman” was written on Nov. 7/2005.... but grindstone recording started last September, and we finished in June. There is more than 1000 man hours in the album. 

The way I song-write is interesting in itself.  I only ever have an idea, no lyrics. Rick and I write the music, and then once it is completed, I go into the booth, turn off the lights, and close my eyes.  Then I start singing...whatever I feel.  Ray Charles called it "pure heart singing."

Some songs take longer than others, but some take only one or two passes and that is what you hear.  Songs like "Someday" and "Slow My Mind" were written and recorded in the same day having never been touched before walking into the studio that morning.

I have a great partner in Rick, as it is not an easy task to be open spiritually and artistically with someone.  His patience has helped me develop ten fold.”

Silent or Bob Seger meets The Eagles at an Indian sweat lodge for spiritual revelations, opens with the empathetic “Blue Sky Baby” followed by the rootsy, acoustic, up-tempo ballad “Finding Forgiveness” which for me has some of the best lyrics on the album about seeking and finding forgiveness.  It’s the first time on the album that tears brimmed.

“I threw the kick stand out for a little break,
When I pulled over to the side to fill the tank,
An old man was standing there, to wait on me.

He flipped the cap, and checked the oil,
I leaned back on the pump and toiled,
Said, "I am also looking for some direction."
With a slow weathered grin he turned to me and said,

"All of this time you have been searching for a reason,
All of your heart for some purpose and meaning,
You are looking for something, that you cannot find,
Living on a road best left behind.
Let it all go and you will recognize the sign,
To forgiveness in your life."

I took one more drag off my cigarette,
Then I sat down, and thought for a bit,
I had been running from my past too long to count.
Years went by and I had wasted life,
I was angry with what I had not done in that time.
Shattered thoughts, dreams, and "what might have beens".
In a moment a revelation changed my mind.
Changed my life.”

“Rainy Day Woman” is a ballad with a gorgeous, sexy California beach feel reminiscent of The Eagles, followed by the sacredly introspective but upbeat “The Silence” which is powerfully punctuated by Kayla Noakes’s voiceover and the gorgeous voices of The Boys and Girls Club Choir of Kingston.  “Fall Like That” opens with a dramatic piano solo and then smoothly adds Latin guitar and piano for a smoldering, “sexy sheet messing love” scorcher, following which, the short and sweet “Home” invokes a scratchy, old 78 recording of Robert Johnson style blues.  One of my favourite tracks is the extremely catchy, as in clap your hands and stomp your feet, affecting full-out rocker “Drive”.  A slightly whiskey and cigarettes soaked vocal in “Sugar Bowl Soul” makes this radio friendly rocker an obvious choice for the first single but then again, the passionate and expansive head-bobber “Before California” could be as well.  “Someday” chronicles the love story between the singer and a few of his past loves, his appreciation for lessons learned and his hope to be able to pay them back someday.  It’s another song that tends to choke me up.  Craig is quick to point out that “the greatest lesson…is the one still not learned, to which I reiterate, of course it is.  If we knew what we were here to know it would be time for us to go.

“To Find You” is another tear duct over-loader because it is quite possibly one of the most romantic love songs I’ve ever heard, right up there with “All I Want Is You” by U2.  Yes, I’m a sap and a geek and if I used the word “soul” too many times in too many ways during this review it’s simply because this man has got SOUL in SPADES, baby!  The quiet but compelling ballad, “Slow My Mind” reminds us of the need to get quiet with ourselves in order to get in touch with our Higher Power and the closing song, “Forget My Ashes” is an anthemic requiem that will undoubtedly be used to uplift spirits at funerals everywhere for many years to come.  I would like it to be played at mine.

The enigmatic Craig McIntyre is playing at the Next Church, 89 Colborne Street, at 8:00 pm in a triple bill with Edmonton’s Ann Vriend and Vancouver’s T. Nile on Thursday, October 30, 2008 and again in a solo performance at 7:00 pm on November 8, 2008 at Chapters in Kingston.  You can purchase your copy of Silent at Chapters, as well as at Kingston Mills Esso, MP Nails and the tourist office downtown and of course, online at www.craigmcintyre.com.

Christine Bode
c.bode@partyinkingston.com