David Parry (18 June 1942 - 13 June 1995 [1] ) was a Canadian folk musician, storyteller, actor, stage director, and teacher. He was an important presence in the Canadian folk music scene from the mid-1970s up until his death in 1995. He worked both as a solo artist and as a member of the Friends of Fiddler's Green, a ceilidh band based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was married to writer and musician Caroline Balderston Parry. [2] Their son Richard Reed Parry (born 1977) is a member of the rock band Arcade Fire and their daughter Evalyn Parry is a prominent spoken-word performer and musician.
Born in London, England, Parry received his formal training in theater, ultimately earning a Ph.D. in historical drama. He began his career as a stage actor in England during the early 1960s. He soon moved into directing plays as well and also began working as a semi-professional musician. During the 1960s and early 1970s he acted in and directed plays in England, Europe, India, and North America. [2]
In the mid-'70s, Parry moved with his wife to Toronto, where he began playing solo dates as a singer and storyteller. He soon became a fixture on Toronto's folk scene. He became a member of the Toronto Morris Men and then later joined the Friends of Fiddler's Green in the early 1980s. He also occasionally performed in concerts with Ian Robb. Parry released two solo albums: Wind That Tramps the World (1985) and The Man From Eldorado: Songs and Stories of Robert W. Service (1993). He was also heavily featured on the Friends of Fiddler's Green albums This Side of the Ocean (1981) and Road to Mandalay (1994). A posthumous album E Liked It All! (1995) was released when Parry died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 52. [2]
In addition to his work as a musician, Parry was on the staff of the Canadian Museum of Civilization where he was the director of the live interpretation program. He was also an adjunct faculty member of the drama department at the University of Toronto where he led Poculi Ludique Societas, a medieval drama group. [3]
Bruce Douglas Cockburn is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirituality, human rights, environmental issues, and relationships, and describe his experiences in Central America and Africa.
Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian fiddler, pianist, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno Awards of 1996, and for Best Instrumental Artist at the Juno Awards of 1997. His 1995 album Hi™ How Are You Today? was a double-platinum selling Canadian record. MacIsaac published an autobiography, Fiddling with Disaster in 2003.
Theodore Meir Bikel was an Austrian actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Kidnappers (1953), The Enemy Below (1957), I Want to Live! (1958), My Fair Lady (1964), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), and 200 Motels (1971). For his portrayal of Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones (1958), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
David Cyril Eric Swarbrick was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second British folk revival, contributing to some of the most important groups and projects of the 1960s, and he became a much sought-after session musician, which led him throughout his career to work with many of the major figures in folk and folk rock music.
Thomas Lazare Wilson is a Canadian rock musician from Hamilton, Ontario. A veteran of the Canadian music scene, Wilson has been a writer and performer for many years. Wilson's eclectic musical style has ranged from the psychobilly / R&B sounds of the Florida Razors, to the western/roots style of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and the funk/blues-inspired rock of Junkhouse.
Ian Dawson Tyson was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including "Four Strong Winds" and "Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia.
Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age.
Colin Kendall Linden is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Linden plays acoustic and electric guitar, specializing in slide guitar, country blues, and ragtime fingerpicking, who frequently collaborates with country and folk performers.
Thomas Makem was an Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhrán and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" and "The Godfather of Irish Music".
Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion.
Paddy Keenan is an Irish player of the uilleann pipes who first gained fame as a founding member of The Bothy Band. Since that group's dissolution in the late 1970s, Keenan has released a number of solo and collaborative recordings, and continues to tour both as a soloist, and with singer/guitarist Tommy O'Sullivan.
Malinky is a Scottish folk band specialising in Scots song, formed in autumn 1998.
Oliver Schroer was a Canadian fiddler, composer, and music producer.
Friends of Fiddler's Green is a Canadian folk music group based in Toronto founded in 1971 and still active as of 2018. The members of the group at the time of its first recording, 1981's This Side of the Ocean, were Alistair Brown, Tam Kearney, Grit Laskin, David Parry, Ian Robb, Laurence Stevenson, and Jim Strickland. Another half-dozen former members from the band's first 10 years are listed on the back of the album.
Kris Drever is a Scottish contemporary folk musician and songwriter who came to prominence in 2006 with the release of his debut solo album, Black Water. Drever is the vocalist and guitarist of the folk trio Lau with Martin Green and Aidan O'Rourke. He has worked with other British folk contemporaries, including Kate Rusby, John McCusker, Ian Carr, Eddi Reader and Julie Fowlis.
Caroline Balderston Parry was a Canadian writer, musician, performer, celebrator, and consultant. She was the author of Zoomerang a Boomerang, Let's Celebrate Canada's Special Days, which won a 1987-88 Toronto IODE Book Award, and Eleanora's Diary, based on the 1830s diary of a Canadian immigrant girl, Eleanora Hallen. Caroline wrote, The Heron Spirals, A Commonplace Book, reflecting on 15 years after the death of her husband David Parry. Caroline was a member of the Writers' Union of Canada.
James Keane is an Irish traditional musician and accordion player. The Italian Castagnari company issued and continues a line of signature instruments called keanebox in his honor.
Alex Bevan is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, poet, radio personality, and music producer.
Len Graham is a Northern Irish traditional singer and song collector from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He is a leading authority on Folk music in Ireland.
Eileen McGann is an Irish-Canadian folk singer, songwriter and traditional Celtic musician. Her album, Beyond The Storm, was Juno Award-nominated in 2002. She has released seven solo CDs and has established an almost 30-year career touring across North America and Great Britain.