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Stephen Fearing

THAT'S HOW I WALK  •  Stephen Fearing

This is one of those fantastic albums where you hear a great artist and also a great person at the same time. I'm having that experience right now that we hope Puremusic occasionally creates for our readers: stumbling upon an artist new to you that moves you immediately to the bone, as only "one of your people" can.

The artist is wise, in many ways. The stories are street and life wise. The lyrics are articulate poetry, the guitar playing is superlative and everything grooves like a sonofabitch, regardless of tempo.

I loved every song. After just listening to five records on which I couldn't get past three cuts without moving on, to love every song on a record is such a relief, a simple joy that moved me to tears.

This is Fearing's fourth solo record. He's also a founding member of a well loved Canadian outfit called Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. The group consists of three great songwriters: Fearing, Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson. They formed a tribute band to honor the music of Canadian icon Willie P. Bennett ("the Jimi Hendrix of the mandolin," of whom more can be learned in our interview with fellow Canadian Fred Eaglesmith), and have toured and recorded widely as such, gathering at least one Juno award (the Canadian Grammy) along the way.

We are very excited to have stumbled upon this great artist, and hope you will check him out straight away, and go in pursuit of all his fine recordings. That's certainly what we're going to do. Thanks to my friend Cynthia Dunitz of Fleming Artists for providing me with her (signed!) copy of this soul satisfying record. • FG

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