Artist: Bob Wiseman, Album: Accidentally Acquired Beliefs, Song: William

Bob Wiseman is a singer songwriter from Toronto.  My first introduction to Bob came when he was a member of the band, Blue Rodeo.  He played a number of instruments in the band but his work on the keyboard was the most prominent.  From the debut Outskirts, through the Casino and Diamond Mine years and culminating with the wonderful Lost Together album, he was a big contributor to their rapid popularity and success.  At the same time, he was dabbling in other musical projects and by 1989, had released his first solo album.  Following the Lost Together recording with Blue Rodeo, he left the band permanently to pursue his solo career.  I imagine it takes a man with big cojones to pick up and leave a gig like Blue Rodeo but I think for Bob, the chance to be artistically free was likely a no-brainer.  To date, he's released 10 albums and collaborated with some big names in music like Feist, Wilco ("Heavy Metal Drummer"), The Wallflowers ("One Headlight"), Edie Brickell ("What I Am") and Garland Jeffreys ("Wild In The Streets").  He can also count David Bryne (Talking Heads) as a fan of his work.  Bob is a multi-instrumentalist and if you are like me and are expecting to hear a lot of piano driven music upon first listen, you will be shocked.  There isn't a genre of music he doesn't explore.  At times, controversial, but very entertaining.  A true genius.  Accidentally Acquired Beliefs was released in 1995 and includes the power pop gem, William.  An accessible track but certainly not indicative of his entire body of work.  Bob is currently touring through the Maritimes and New York State over the next two months.  You can keep up with his career at http://www.bobwiseman.ca/.  While there are some of his releases available on Itunes, this particular album is not.  At the time of this blog, there were new and used copies of Accidentally Acquired Beliefs trading on Ebay and Amazon between $2 and $80.  You can hear the song, William, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfSCQMqnxXo).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!