Saturday, January 22, 2011

Artist: Bahamas, Album: Pink Strat, Song: Whole Wide World

"When I was a young boy, my mama said to me.  There's only one girl in the world for you and she's probably in Tahiti."Afie Jurvanen (aka Bahamas) is a singer songwriter from Barrie, Ontario.  He's spent a few years accompanying Feist on tour and in the studio as a guitarist and pianist.  In 2009, following a break in touring, he laid down his first independent release on Nevado Records entitled, Pink Strat.  His band included members of the Golden Dogs, Great Lake Swimmers, Zeus (see blog 8/12/10) as well as Ms. Feist herself.  The album was nominated for Roots/Traditional Album of the Year at this past year's Junos but lost out to Amelia Curran.  He's been touring across Canada on his own as well as in a supporting role for artists like Wilco and Jason Collett.  The song, Whole Wide World, is the only cover song on this album.  The original was done by a man named Wreckless Eric from Stiff Records, the label that brought us the likes of Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello way back in the late seventies and early eighties.  Afie does a great down tempo version of this tune.  He is apparently finishing up work on his second release.  You can follow him at http://www.myspace.com/bahamasbreeze.  The album, Pink Strat, is available on Itunes.  You can hear the song, Whole Wide World, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWirzmJ-w2w).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!