Bio

“…filled to the brim with swag­ger, ten­der­ness, a pen­chant for per­cus­sive clank and above all, charisma.” - Hero­Hill

“…a swing­ing roots/​country artist whose writ­ing smacks of expe­ri­ence well beyond his years.” - Van­cou­ver Province

Shin­ing a mod­ern light on the roots of North Amer­i­can pop­u­lar music, Patrick Brealey blends ele­ments of folk, coun­try, cabaret and blues to deliver lyri­cally dri­ven songs with a uniquely pow­er­ful voice. Patrick’s lat­est album Mer­cury in Song­birds (Boompa Records) is a col­lec­tion of songs born in a dif­fer­ent era, raised today and fed by the influ­ence of song­writ­ers like Lyle Lovett, Roy Orbi­son and Willie Nel­son. From the early rock and roll swing of “I Don’t Want to Hear Another Love Song” to the foot-​​stompin’ romp of “My End of the Deal” to the croon­ing heartache of “Some­thing to Do with You”, these songs rem­i­nisce of days gone by while carv­ing a dis­tinc­tive niche in today’s Cana­dian folk and roots scene.

In the past few years, Patrick has per­formed at the Mari­posa and Eagel­wood Folk Fes­ti­vals; received national CBC radio play; toured from coast to coast in Canada; played mul­ti­ple dates in New York City; show­cased at Toronto’s NxNE Fes­ti­val and Vancouver’s Inter­na­tional Jazz Fes­ti­val; and par­tic­i­pated in the Ontario Coun­cil of Folk Fes­ti­vals Con­fer­ence (OCFF) and Folk Alliance in Mem­phis. Recent spots include per­for­mances with Jim Cuddy, Ser­ena Ryder, Justin Rut­ledge, Dan Man­gan, Basia Bulat, and The Good Lovelies.

“It’s not often a roots artist emerges who can remind the lis­tener of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band one moment and Chris Isaak the next. But Brealey han­dles both with aplomb.”
- snob​smu​sic​.net

His abil­ity to engage an audi­ence is a sig­na­ture of Brealey’s live shows. Whether it’s through his clever song­writ­ing, quick sense of humour or soul bar­ing voice, he cap­ti­vates crowds and moves them to laugh, cry and to join in — a tes­ta­ment to his belief that art is noth­ing with­out an audience.

The debut album, City Blood, Coun­try Heart was released in May 2007. This full-​​length trav­els a rolling land­scape between soul-​​touching bal­lads and the­atri­cal rol­licks in which lis­ten­ers find them­selves in a world where influ­ences like Willie Nel­son, Elvis Costello and Neko Case roam. City Blood, Coun­try Heart cre­ates a per­fect sound­track for week­end morn­ings, sun­sets at the cabin or a long drive along a dirt road.

Patrick Brealey is record­ing his third album in 2012.