THE MAC CARTHY FOUNDATION
SUPPORTED ARTISTS
By
THE MAC CARTHY FOUNDATION
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WHO WERE THEY ?
Marcel Gauthier
Edmonton Based Songwriter
MARCEL GAUTHIER BIO
Marcel Gauthier spent a decade and a half slicing and dicing the eclectic Sudbury Underground, touring around Ontario and leaving a trail of grooving bodies in his wake. His intricate guitar playing, impeccable sense of rhythm, songwriting skills and versatile singing voice have all been honed into a poignant catalog of original music with depth.
A multi-instrumentalist and musical chameleon, Marcel tells a beautiful story and uses his samurai skills to inspire hope, love and gratitude.
https://linktr.ee/marcelgauthier
This link connects to all major platforms where his singles can be found, including his latest songs, "To Be Human", "St. Quentin" sponsored by The Mac Carthy Foundation.
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Al Brant
Edmonton Based Songwriter
Al Brant grew up in a musical household with his mother
being a classically and New York trained opera singer.
His first foray into the Edmonton music scene was as
one-half of the acoustic duo, Brant and Skelly (Ian Skelly).
While performing in the finals of a music contest at the
Sidetrack Café, Al caught the ear of award-winning producer, George Blondheim. The result was a three-song demo that caught the interest of Bruce Allen at Penta Records.
At a recording session with Blondheim, Al met guitar wizard, Eddie Patterson (Hometown Band, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, Hans Staymer). Patterson asked Al if he would perform with his jazz fusion project and that exposure to live improvisation of vocals and lyrics truly expanded Al's musical horizons.
Al has written songs for and performed annually in
The Christmas Carol Project, along with other
Edmonton-based musicians including Maria Dunn,
Bill Bourne, Dale Ladoucer, Tom Roschkov, Terry Morrison,
and Kevin Cook.
He has also been a musician with the Artists-on-the-Wards program at the University of Alberta Hospital,; a program designed to bring art to the bedsides of patients.
Al released his first solo album, Let It Fly, in 1991. Around
this time, Al connected with the late Duane “Wink” Smith
(Tacoy Ryde) and Wink invited Al to sing with his band. This
led to Al starting a 31-year run with Tacoy Ryde, one of
Canada's longest running jam bands of that time.
In 2010, Al recorded his 5th solo album Wide Open.
Kevin Breit, a Toronto-based guitar virtuoso who was
originally scheduled to play a few tunes, wound up lending
his touch to the entire recording. Ditto for drummer Gary Craig (Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Bruce Cockburn), and Bass player Mike Lent, who also became part of the core band.
Jump forward to 2020. Al joined forces with his bandmate
Dennis Meneely from Tacoy Ryde to form the duo
Meneely/Brant. The result was a 5 song EP entitled
Coming Days - “an inspired batch of tunes built on muscular grooves, strong melodic and harmonic structures, intelligent and thoughtful lyrics, and tasty and top-drawer vocal and instrumental performances”.
With the generous funding from the MacCarthy Foundation, Al is back in the studio currently working on his next solo recording with Sandro Dominelli (Producer/Drums), Mike Lent (Bass) and Ariel Posen (Guitar)
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DAHLIA WAKEFIELD
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Edmonton Based Songwriter
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Dahlia's Bio:
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Dahlia was born in the Philippines and was raised in the small rural town of Maidstone, Saskatchewan, Canada. She left to attend a music school in Edmonton, Alberta.
As a performer, songwriter, recording artist, mentor, band member and manager, Dahlia wears many hats and has been touted by many various people in the industry as “the hardest working woman in show business in Edmonton.”
After Dahlia graduated from the Grant MacEwan Music program with Distinction, she has been a professional vocal and beginner piano coach since 2011, specializing in teaching vocal exercises, vocal health, and harmonies.
Dahlia has been a finalist in several international songwriting competitions, releasing three solo albums and several singles: “Let’s Talk About Love”, “All The Way To Heaven”, “Unsatisfied”, “You Don’t Get To Win”, “Visiting Hours” and an Alice Cooper cover, “Poison”, two duets: “While The City Sleeps” that she co-wrote with Zackaria as well as another duet released on Valentine’s Day 2020 with Stirling John called “This I Know”. Dahlia and Stirling are co-writers on Stirling’s single called “Weight of the Call” and Dahlia’s single “Visiting Hours”, which is a tribute to her Dad, Clement Wakefield. Her latest single is “Now’s The Time” to be released on Nov 27, 2023. She has also released three albums with Dirt Road Angels, including her own songs “Little One” and “Enjoy the Ride”. They’ve also officially released several videos as well as ten singles to Canadian country and satellite radio, with their songs “Extra Dirty” and “Call it Home” both hitting #1 on the Euro Chart. Nominated as ACMA Group and Fans Choice of the Year for the past seven years in a row, the Dirt Road Angels have had the opportunity to open for many top U.S. country acts as well as Canadian acts.
Dahlia has been performing with talented guitarist/singer Alan Tymofichuk for the past 20 years and they are also band members of the Dirt Road Angels (aka DRA). Dahlia also performs in SHOCKER, an 80s metal cover band and her newest band is a hard rock band KEROSENE.
Music will always be Dahlia’s passion as she reaches for the stars and teaches other to do the same regardless of age. She’s in it for the long haul and looks forward to a lifetime of making and performing music!
KEVIN FREY
Edmonton Based Songwriter
Eclectic music lover and creator Kevin Frey has been playing both electric and acoustic guitar on and off since high school.
As singer/songwriter for his band “Thistle” from 2015 to 2020, he has penned one album and two singles, with lyrics crafted from his own experiences and perspective as well as rock melodies seemingly out of thin air.
In addition to playing the guitar, Kevin found his groove and started playing bass in a jam band at NAIT in 1996/97.
He enjoys performing hard rock, alternative rock and acoustic rock and is venturing into new territory, something he has coined “Canadiana Swamp Rock”.
Kevin is currently rehearsing cover songs while enjoying writing original songs with co-writer Dahlia Wakefield – his first co-writer. In only a short time, since June 2023, together they have penned 16 songs ... 6 of them complete, with the hopes of their songs landing on an album or EP as a body of work.
On Oct. 27th, 2023, Kevin signed a sponsorship deal through the Mac Carthy Foundation for the song “Still Waters” with co-writer Dahlia Wakefield, who will be recording their song in November 2023 and releasing it in early 2024. This was the first song they wrote together with many more soon hopefully to be released.
They look forward to a long, continued partnership of writing, recording, releasing and performing new original songs together as well as performing the odd cover song while putting their own spin on it. They have a few gigs booked in 2024 and have named their duo “The Whatchamacallits”. They are definitely artists to watch in the future!
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