Rick Bockner

Wie das Leben einem manchmal so mitspielt und dabei eine neue Melodie erfindet: Im Spätsommer 2008 trafen wir in den unendlichen Weiten von British Columbia nur durch schicksalshaften Zufall und erst noch in familiärem Rahmen den Gitarristen, Sänger und Songwriter Rick Bockner. Daraus kann sich eine neue schöne grenzüberschreitende Bekanntschaft ergeben: Am 11. Januar 2009 gibt Rick Bockner ein Hauskonzert in Bulliard - Cordast.

Rick Bockner – exzellenter Gitarrist, begnadeter Songschreiber, gefühlvoller Sänger und erfahrener Entertainer aus Kanada – tourt seit Jahren durch ganz Nordamerika, auch durch mindestens halb Europa. Zur Zeit gibt er Konzerte in Holland und Deutschland. Im Frühling und Frühsommer dann tritt er in Irland und England auf. Nur auf einer Schweizer Bühne war er noch nie. Dies ist der Hauptgrund für ein Hauskonzert in Cordast: MusikerInnen, Musikinteressierte, JournalistInnen und VeranstalterInnen sind am 11. Januar 2009 ab 18 Uhr dazu eingeladen, sich «live» in das wunderbare Werk und Wirken von Rick Bockner hineinzuhören. Platzzahl beschränkt. Anmeldung erbeten bis 10.1.09, 20h, via ->Kontakt.

Bio Rick Bockner
Rick Bockner is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and performer who has spent over 50 years exploring folk, blues and early jazz styles of music.
He began playing guitar when he was seven.  Some of his teachers have included Pete Seeger, Mel Bay, Stefan Grossman, and Woody Mann.  Rick was a member of the seminal 60’s San Francisco band, Mad River (Capitol Records). He is known for his lush fingerstyle arrangements and penetrating, intelligent lyrics.

 Rick grew up in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) where his father worked as a social worker, using the music of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and Pete Seeger in his work with children.  Seeger was a frequent houseguest, and the family home was a stopping point for some of the best folk and blues musicians on tour in the 50’s.  Music was in the home and Rick soon became attracted to learning the guitar.

By age 13, Rick had tapped into the rich vein of black music present in St. Louis, and went to hear blues, boogie-woogie piano, and gospel musicians play whenever he could.  This music helped form the foundations of his own style, which blends the message of the folk movement with the energy of roots blues and jazz.

The 60’s brought the expansion of the music scene and the dominance of the West Coast as a place to be for musicians. Rick’s band, Mad River, played for 3 years in the Bay area and were friends and contemporaries with Janis Joplin, Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, poet Richard Brautigan (some of whose early publications were funded by Mad River), Michael Bloomfield, and other luminaries of the music scene there.  Mad River disbanded in 1969 and Rick moved to Canada.

Living quietly in the mountains of south-east British Columbia, Rick began to develop his own  language and playing style that gave birth to his songwriting repertoire.  He performed and taught at festivals, colleges, clubs and halls in B.C. during that period while he continued to write and arrange his music.

After moving to Cortes Island (near to Vancouver Island) in 1982, Bockner began to expand his travels and toured more widely in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Rick has recorded 4 cds, including the acclaimed «Fret Lizards» featuring duos with Ken Hamm, John Reischman, and Woody Mann, and «Think For Yourself» with jazz harmonica player Keith Bennett. 
In 2003 Rick collaborated with Brazilian pianist Plinio Cutait to record the instrumental cd «Egregora».
Rick is currently working on a new cd featuring his daughter Amy on some vocals, and produced by Simon Kendall.

                                                                                                                     rb/dlb

Contact:

Rick Bockner’s music can be heard on his site at
http://www.myspace.com/rickbockner.  
His cds can be purchased by emailing him at
rickbock@island.net.  
His publishing company is
Harby Dar Music
Box 224, Whaletown, B.C., Canada, V0P 1Z0