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Mowbray and Mills play upbeat original songs that draw from contemporary
pop, lyric-based folk, blues, Pac-Rim funk, and classical sensibilities
– a pretty wide influence, but it shows as their music moves and
changes. A recent review of their debut CD GAME commented “the
fine-wine of music; the songs are lovingly crafted…and performed in such
a way as to let the lyrics, the emotions, and the melodies shine
forth.” (To listen visit New Music Canada at
http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/Mowbray-and-Mills/.)
Past audiences have remarked:
"They have such a remarkable rapport with one another and really made
me feel engaged” J.B., Victoria
"I felt a bit like I was listening to a musical conversation between
two friends - interesting, intimate, and beautiful.” E.H., Sidney
Paul and Tracy met preparing for the release of Paul’s solo acoustic
album
Prairie Stop.
Their 3-song “first date” has since blossomed into a fully engaged
writing and performing effort. They’ve entertained audiences of all ages
on and around the Islands for the past two years. Current plans are to
entertain further abroad this summer at music festivals and new venues,
and catch the ears of music lovers Canada-wide.
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Paul Mowbray comes from Saskatchewan via
Afghanistan and Java, but has called the West coast his some since
1985. He is a prolific songwriter, a gifted guitarist, and a caring and
effective teacher. (In a funny six-degrees-of-separation kind of way, he
taught Tracy’s cousin guitar in Saskatoon over 15 years ago, years
before Paul and Tracy met). Paul draws musical influence from the great
pop songwriters of Tin Pan Alley to today. He has been passionate about
writing songs since high school, and believes pop music is the
soundtrack to our lives. Previous releases include
"Prairie Stop", a gorgeous instrumental disc of solo acoustic guitar
reflecting his prairie roots, and "The Wave Project", a world jazz CD
of original instrumentals with Mike Wall on sax.
Paul's 2001
release, "A Sweet Kind of Blue", which featured three Salt Spring
vocalists interpreting his songs, received national airplay on
"Discdrive" and Ross Porter’s jazz show, ”After Hours".
Tracy Mills
comes from Edmonton. She grew up on classical Suzuki Violin (one of
Canada’s “original 26 Suzuki kids”), then developed her improvisational
and songwriting ear playing pop/blues/rock. Tracy’s classical background
fuses with her love of pop music to give the guitar/violin sound that
defines much of the Mowbray and Mills material. Her vocal influences
tend to blues/jazz stylings and her strong improvisational abilities
lead to much excitement live. Tracy released a CD of original material,
"Passion and Pain" with James Ross in 2003. Always into music, but
never exclusively so, Tracy competed for Canada's National Volleyball
team in the 1980’s and later played professionally in Europe. An
athletic highlight was competing in the Olympic Games in 1984.
As Mowbray
and Mills say, “art makes sense of what will never make sense, it
dances, it sings, it is beautiful, it is shocking, it tells us who we
are, it is an essential part of our many lives. Hope you like the
tunes.”
Check their websites (www.mowbrayandmills.com
and www.paulmowbray.com) for performance info, teaching tips, guitar
tabs and more.