Artist: Jimmy George, Album: A Month Of Sundays, Song: Four Feet From Shore

Jimmy George were a Celtic rock band from Ottawa, Ontario.  The 8pc band which included mandolin, banjo, accordion and fiddle players, formed in 1991 and established themselves as the nightly entertainment for a small pub in Ottawa called, The Duke Of Somerset.  However, by 1993, their energetic live presence was beginning to spread and they landed some opening gigs for The Spirit Of The West (see blog 5/28/11).  The band's growing popularity also caught the ear of CBC personality, Bill Stunt, who agreed to produce and help fund the band's debut album, A Month Of Sundays.  The album was released in 1994 and was picked up by Cargo Records and later, MCA for distribution.  The band played shows coast to coast in Canada as well as some select cities in the U.S..  Many of the members travelled to Europe as well, to busk in the streets of London and Dublin.  The band would go through a number of member changes throughout the years but the group responsible for their debut recording was Eric Altman, Joel Carlson, Steve Donnelly, Michael Eady, Jeff Kerr, Mike Lawson, J.Todd and Mickey Vallee.  The band would follow up their debut with a sophomore release in 1995 before disbanding in 1997.  The band has regrouped on numerous occasions since, to play the odd show in the Ottawa area.  You can read about them at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jimmy-George/.  You can also check out a recent reunion show on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StWKFwv3Wds).  Four Feet From Shore is one of a number of very strong tracks included on their debut recording.  You can watch the video on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_q5h3yLE7Q).  The album is a very difficult find today but there were used copies trading at Discogs for $40 and new copies from New World Cd's (http://www.newworldcds.com/) for $24.99.  The band did release a compilation in 2001 entitled, Same Shit Different Day.  That release includes a live version of this song as well and it is available for download from Tune Vault (http://tunevault.com/).  The members have all gone on to play in other Ottawa based bands.  Namely, 40 watt monkey (see blog 11/14/11) included members J.Todd and original drummer, Rob Porter.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!