Mercury Lounge

showview

Jason Collett (of Broken Social Scene) 10:00

Paddy Casey 9:00
Tony Scherr 8:00
Justin Jones 7:00

Thu 4/10

Tickets

$12

Jason Collett

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=30217237
arts-crafts.ca/jasoncollett
Most singer/songwriters are lonely souls with only a stool, an acoustic guitar and a heart-worn sleeve. Not Jason Collett. Oh sure, the Broken Social Scene guitarist has his instrument and a stack of intimate tales to tell-but his new solo album, Idols of Exile, sounds more like a house party.
Since 2001, Collett has been considered the indispensable lynchpin of Toronto's booming indie scene, thanks largely to his casual (and still occasional) star-studded songwriting night known as Radio Mondays. Of course, most of these tunesmiths-such as Hayden, Kathleen Edwards, Weakerthans and most of the Arts-Crafts family-weren't stars yet. But Collett's beloved community-building series solidified the Toronto indie movement that would soon take off worldwide and connected Collett with his future social scene.
Collett was asked to join Broken Social Scene after their breakthrough album You Forgot It In People, but he was a solo artist first and never stopped writing his own tunes. When pressed for influences for his more roots-based style, he cites Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Nick Lowe. "My stuff is based around songs and the Social Scene thing is based around busting songs wide open," he says. "My thing is more schooled."
But after putting his own music on the backburner-aside from 2003's internationally-acclaimed Motor Motel Love Songs (which was actually a compilation of earlier efforts)-Collett is ready to fulfill his promise with Idols of Exile, his proper Arts-Crafts debut.

Paddy Casey

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=45654399
http://paddycasey.com
Irish singer/songwriter Paddy Casey's years as a busker on the streets of Galway and his home town of Dublin served him well. Not only did it allow him to associate from an early age with future breakout artists like Glen Hansard (of the Frames), Mundy, and Mark Dignam, but he developed a keen instinct for the type of melody and songwriting that are immediate and arresting, but with a natural intimacy not often heard in conventional pop music. Though an admitted pure soul devotee, Casey performs music that is heavily informed by its medium -- the singer and his acoustic guitar -- coming across as if Bob Dylan had taken to imitating Nina Simone, with elements of Prince and Public Enemy thrown in for good measure.

Casey began busking on Dublin's streets in the early '90s while still in his early teens. In 1998, the earnest street musician became a cog in the major-label machine, signing to Sony subsidiary S2 Records at the behest of Spencer Davis Group bassist turned A&R man Muff Winwood, who had spotted Casey performing in Dublin and quickly became enamored. Heading into the studio later that year just to transfer some basic ideas to tape, Casey inadvertently wound up recording his debut album, Amen (So Be It). Released in June of 1999, the album debuted in the Top Twenty of the Irish albums chart, eventually going triple platinum, and was awarded the Best Debut Album award at the Hot Press Irish Music Awards. Perhaps an overly self-conscious statement of the artist's diverse palette, the album was nonetheless accomplished, with a range of styles integrated into his folky soul core, from jazz to funk to reggae, and with hip-hop beats and scratches subtly incorporated; however, Amen (So Be It)'s most endearing moments were its simplest, and Casey soon became well known for his Dylan-esque protest song "Sweet Suburban Sky," which was featured prominently on U.S. television show Dawson's Creek. -Dave Donnelly, All Music guide

Tony Scherr

http://www.myspace.com/tonyscherr
http:// smellslikerecords.com/tonyscherr
Since coming to New York in the 80s, Tony Scherr has become one of the city’s most prolific and in-demand sidemen, playing integral roles in the music of such notable artists as Bill Frisell, John Lurie (Lounge Lizards), Steven Bernstein (Sex Mob), and Norah Jones, as well as some of New York’s better-kept secrets, such as Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos, The Wollesens, Ursa Minor, and Slowpoke.
Tony has recorded most of these latter artists at his Brooklyn home studio, helping to foster and document a tight-knit, intimate scene of players who are as skilled and daring as they are broadminded and modest.
Originally hailing from New Haven, CT, Tony played rock guitar in a garage band with his brother Peter as teens, before the two went their separate ways; Peter to become a concert bassist and film composer, and Tony to slug it out in the clubs of New York, ironically as primarily a bassist himself.

Justin Jones

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=8267695
http:// justin-jones.com
Justin Jones is from a small place in the western Shenandoah Valley called Rawley Springs. He grew up in the oak and yellow poplar forests, swimming holes and lakes, and battlefieds and burial grounds of that land. His Mother taught him to never give up, his grandmother taught him to never give in, and his friends taught him to never forget. He's had many struggles, like all do, and he's chosen to write songs about them. He moved to Washington, DC, linked up with the talented and ever intelligent Andrew Nelson and Adam Dawson, and together they have been delivering songs of inspiration to all who would listen.