Craig Cardiff

Craig Cardiff performs at Maxwell's Music House in Waterloo, Ontario

Craig Cardiff was born July, 1976 to Judy and Charles Cardiff. He grew up with his younger sisters Catherine, Susan and Elizabeth in Waterloo, Ontario, where both his parents were school teachers.[1] Music was important during his upbringing and he was motivated by his parents to play an instrument.[2] His parents bought him his first guitar, a Gibson J-30, when he was 15, while one of his high school teachers, taught him the guitar during his lunch hour.[3] Cardiff began to perform at coffeehouses and with some bands in high school. While studying at the University of Waterloo, he performed at local pubs, open mic events, and coffeehouses. He also worked as a booking agent, organizing shows at Fed Hall, including the Guess Who.[3] Cardiff moved to the Ottawa area from Waterloo when he was in his twenties. He lived in Wakefield for a few years before buying an old farmhouse in Arnprior, which now also serves as a home recording studio.[4]

In September 1997, Cardiff debuted with the album Judy Garland (You're Never Home) which included Deanna Knight, Tom Murray, Danny Michel, Joel Stouffer, Paul Mathew and Catherine Cardiff.[5] It was re-released in August 2006.[6] Cardiff released his album Goodnight (Go Home) in 2007. In 2007, View Magazine stated that while Cardiff "...maintains a dedicated fan base", he "...is more a secret than a household name, despite his songs revealing the craft of one of the best in the business". View Magazine stated in 2007 that he was "playing bigger rooms, touring more and receiving more critical acclaim" after his 11th release, Good Night (Go Home)."[7] The magazine called Goodnight (Go Home) "arguably Cardiff's most accomplished release to date."

He released Floods & Fires in November 2011. The album earned a Juno Award nomination as Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Solo, as well as a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination as Contemporary Singer of the Year. The album was in the SoundScan Top 10 for a week, and Exclaim! magazine called it "a major breakthrough."[8] When Cardiff released his latest album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2, in November 2013, Exclaim! magazine stated: "With a catalogue now well into double digits and a national fan base that is surely the envy of his singer-songwriter peers, Ottawa's Craig Cardiff has been the model of how to be a successful independent Canadian musician. However, with his new double album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Parts 1 & 2, he seems better poised than ever to break into the mainstream, having recorded with a full band for the first time."[9] When Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2 was released, it reached as high as No. 8 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts and for a time was the only independent Canadian album in the Top 20.[10]

On 24 May 2018, Craig Cardiff released his first tribute cover album. The project included five Bob Dylan cover songs, selected for their influence on Cardiff's own music style.

Reflecting on Bob Dylan's influence, Cardiff says "I had the same relationship with Bob Dylan's songs that I think everyone does with a favourite artist – I tried to crack the code about what he was writing about, while sitting in the middle of their tangle and ache and joy. All his words were perfect, and he had all of them. AND it bothered my parents – "He Can't Sing!" they said, dismissively, the same way they did when they saw me spending money on Cokes, the Dickie Dee ice cream trucks, Mad Magazines, or heaven forbid, Cracked. Wasted money!"

Cardiff's goal for the project was to inject his own musical style into some of the songs that influenced him the most, keeping the production and arrangement of each song simple with limited instrumentation. The cover album's single, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", reached over a half million streams on Spotify within the first month of the album's release.

The album was recorded in his home recording studio in Arnprior, ON in collaboration with Jeff Watkins, Jesse Harding, and Thom Rados.

On 19 November 2013, Cardiff released his first double album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2. It includes boisterous group "sing-alongs", and gentle lullabies, and full live band recordings, as well as more subdued, acoustic settings. Cardiff stated that in his first work with producers Ben Leggett and Andre Wahl, they encouraged him to not repeat his previous work and to make use of his producers to push him creatively. While Cardiff was nervous, he worked with the pair to explore full live band settings, "loud or... hard" arrangements, and exploring the "acoustic" of his songs, with cello, clarinet and violin arrangements used for different songs.[12] While making the album, Leggett and Wahl challenged Cardiff to step outside his "comfort zone" and record with a full band for the first time.[9]

Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) has 21 tracks, with some songs getting both loud and gentle treatments to give the song "two faces," explains Cardiff.[8] Cardiff, Leggett and Wahl approached the two sides of the album in two very different ways. For Part 1, they recorded at Chalet Studios, which has previously hosted acts such as Rush and Barenaked Ladies, and Leggett and Wahl coached Cardiff through the process of recording with a backing band, very different from his solo singer-songwriter experience.[13] Cardiff called the live band recordings "very uncomfortable" yet very exciting", particularly noting his work with members of Lindi Ortega's band and piano player and singer-songwriter Mike Evin for Part 1.[13]

In Part 2, Cardiff, Leggett and Wahl revisited many of the same songs as Part 1 with strings and wind instrument arrangements.[13] For "There's a song" and "Boy Inside the Boat", Wahl suggested an R&B approach; while Cardiff initially did not like this treatment, in the end Cardiff called these two songs the "...most beautiful standout songs".[13] Cardiff took on new roles for Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2, such as arranging cello parts and, for the first time, helping with the album's production.[14]

Craig Cardiff - House Concert 1 - Photography by Jeff Epp

While critics called Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2 different than anything Cardiff has released before, the team behind it is familiar. Ben Leggett (Faraway Neighbours, Ben Hermann) and Andre Wahl (Hawksley Workman, Luke Doucet) also produced Floods & Fires, the album that earned Cardiff a nomination for a 2012 Juno Award for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Solo and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination as 2012 Contemporary Singer of the Year. He called the recordings a "phenomenal experience", and says he gave himself "...permission to explore songs" with "anything from beat boxing to full horn sections."[15]

For Floods & Fires, Cardiff and Leggett spent 18 months working in Cardiff's home studio in Arnprior. This was the longest period of time Cardiff spent on any of his releases, which are often recorded live or "off the floor" in the studio.[16] For this album, Leggett re-jigged Cardiff's home studio, co-wrote some of the material and even moved into Cardiff's house to get the job done.[4] "I warned him there would be a lot of scope creep with this album because I had an idea how big I wanted it to be, and I wanted to spend a lot of time," says Cardiff. "I didn't want to set parameters ... I wanted to feel confident that the songs are fully realized."[4] Floods & Fires represents a new approach to recording for Cardiff.[4]

"A lot of my albums have been done off the cuff," Cardiff explains. For this album, he took the time and made accepting challenges part of the process and made sure he would not have any regrets after the process.[4] Floods & Fires is considered an ambitious album, as it features a horn section, bowed strings, electronic instrument programming and guest performers, including a high school choir.[4] Cardiff has explained that the title (Floods & Fires) alludes to Biblical plagues which bring both destruction and opportunity. The album's 14 tracks examine "love and love's leaving, celebrate parenthood and... explore the balance between heartbreak and joy." Cardiff says the songs were "...crafted during a difficult period of my life," says Cardiff. "When hard things happened, I kept reminding myself to choose joy instead of choosing to be afraid and closing up. That's what I kept coming back to – fear rents the cheapest room in the house. I didn't want to live like that anymore."[16]

When Cardiff released his album Goodnight (Go Home) in 2007, media took notice of the fact that he wasn't selling plastic-wrapped, jewel-cased editions of the album during his tour. Instead, he asked fans to bring along USB keys to buy a digital download of the album, although he did sell "old-fashioned CDs" and jewel cases for an additional fee.[17] "The green focus for us is just in reducing the amount of plastic we were using in CDs," says Cardiff, who offered album inserts and art to fans who purchased digital music for their USB so they would still have a physical connection to the album.[17] The Ottawa Citizen stated that the song "When People Go" had, "unwittingly, become Craig Cardiff's Closing Time."[18]

Cardiff wrote the "jaunty song about death" with a chorus that states "goodnight, go home, there is nothing more to see here," for his daughter, who was 17 months old at the time, to explain to her what happens to people when they die. After hearing the song, DJs at campus bars in British Columbia and Ontario asked to use it as their last song of the night.[18] "I explained that I actually wrote it for my daughter for when she starts asking questions about death and funerals" says Cardiff.[18] The Brant Advocate pointed out the connection between Brantford, Ontario, and the song "Dance Me Outside". The song was inspired by Cardiff's mother telling him about growing up in Brantford and about First Nations woman outside of town.[19] "She was trying to hitchhike, to catch a ride back in, and couldn't," explains Cardiff. "She ended up passing from exposure. The worst part is that it's all over … Each community has a story like that; it's difficult. So there was that story that existed, and then there was the Bruce McDonald film Dance Me Outside. I hadn't seen the film, but it just had this idea that even in hard things, still having dignity, still standing up tall, even to a very bitter, sad end. That was the idea."[19]

"Smallest Wingless", which the Western Gazette has called one of Cardiff's most popular songs, was inspired by a photographer friend who worked closely with Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, a non-profit organization that provides families of babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying as newborns with free professional portraits with their babies.[20] Cardiff's song tells the story of two parents welcoming a newborn into the world, only to be told that the child will only survive for a few hours.[21] "A lot of people share their experiences with me in regards to that," Cardiff has said of the song.[20]

Craig Cardiff performs at The Albion Hotel in Guelph, Ontario. Photo by Adam M. Dee of Subtle Solace Photo & Fine Arts (@SubtleSolaceArt).

From a recording standpoint, Goodnight (Go Home) is different than the 10 albums that came before it. Produced by Les Cooper (Jill Barber, Andy Stochansky), the album came together over a longer period than any of Cardiff's previous releases.[17] "I think what I learned on this album is that it's good to capture everything and eavesdrop a lot and be like a bird building a nest, taking in little parts of everything – and then to walk away from that," he says.[17] Musically, Goodnight (Go Home) features Paul Mathew (Hidden Cameras), Michael Olsen (K-os, Arcade Fire), Kieran Adams (Sarah Harmer), Rose Cousins, Joel Stouffer (Dragonette, Jason Collette) and Lisa MacIsaac (Madison Violet).[18]

Among Cardiff's releases, his studio albums include Novemberish (Songs From The Rain), Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2, Floods & Fires, Mothers & Daughters, Goodnight (Go Home), Auberge Blacksheep, Fistful of Flowers, Soda, Happy, Live At The Boehmer Box Company, Great American White Trash Novel and Judy Garland (You're Never Home). The album Kissing Songs (Mistletoe), which was released in 2008, was recorded entirely on an iPod Touch using the Octopod application.[11]

Cardiff has released a number of live albums. Songs For Lucy was recorded at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec, and released in 2010. Easter Eggs, released in 2007, is a collection of live recordings from various performances. Featuring songs by Cardiff and by Toronto's Les Cooper, Bombshelter Livingroom was recorded live at the University of Waterloo Bombshelter Pub and was released in 2005. Gingers on Barrington Street, which was released in 2003, is a shared album featuring songs by Cardiff and by Rose Cousins. It was recorded at Ginger's Tavern above the Granite Brewery in downtown Halifax.

Cardiff has worked closely with producer/engineer Ben Leggett of North Bay, Ontario, for a number of years, and Leggett has become more involved in the albums. Leggett produced Cardiff's albums Song for Lucy and Mothers and Daughters and provided mixing on the albums Happy, Live at the Boehmer Box Company, Easter Eggs, Bombshelter Livingroom, Fistful of Flowers and Gingers on Barrington Street. Leggett played a much bigger part in the Juno-nominated album Floods & Fires than any previous release, which he and Cardiff recorded over a span of a year and a half.[4] "We really went the extra mile to get the most possible out of the songs. There is everything on this album: Piano, horns, electric guitar, drums, bass, clarinet, saxophone...," says Leggett. "I love the album ... I am very proud of it."[24] With Floods & Fires, Cardiff and Leggett also worked with mixer/producer/engineer Andre Wahl, who provided additional production and mixing.

The trio joined forces once again for Cardiff's project 'Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2. Together, Wahl and Leggett pushed Cardiff to make an album that didn't sound like anything he had recorded before.[23] Leggett and Cardiff also worked together to compose the soundtrack for the independent Canadian film In Return by Chris Dymond, which was released in 2012.

When you read the liner notes for many of Cardiff's albums, you will see the name Les Cooper. Besides producing, mixing and arranging on many albums, Cooper has also provided background vocals and played a variety of instruments on Cardiff's releases, including piano, guitar, banjo, organ, and percussion. Whether playing, mixing or producing, Cooper has been involved in the albums Goodnight (Go Home), Auberge Blacksheep, Fistful of Flowers, Gingers on Barrington Street, Soda and Bombshelter Living Room – a shared album featuring original songs written by both Cardiff and Cooper that was recorded live at the University of Waterloo's Bombshelter Pub.

Cardiff has collaborated with Halifax-based singer-songwriter Rose Cousins. She has sung on a number of his albums, and they have released a live album together. Cousins met Cardiff while she was a student at Dalhousie University in Halifax. "I fell in love with his music," she recalls. "He became a huge influence, he taught me a lot. In addition to being a terrific songwriter and performer, he's a great entrepreneur."[25] In 2003, Cardiff and Cousins released Gingers on Barrington Street, a joint live album they recorded in Halifax.[25]

Cardiff includes many house concerts on his tours, frequently preceding a larger public show with an intimate performance in a fan's living room. "There are people connecting, people introducing themselves to each other", "all these different groups of friends."[32] Cardiff has been bringing his music into his fans' homes since the early 2000s. Cardiff told Carleton University's Capital Arts Online that he was inspired when, as a teenager in Waterloo, he began volunteering with a woman who organized performances in churches. Trying to expand on that theme, he began playing music and telling stories in an intimate environment by performing in his fans' living rooms.[33] Fans regularly reach invite him to perform in their homes. Lisanna Sullivan, an artist living outside of Whitehorse, Yukon, hosted a house concert in June 2013 and called it "one of the best nights of her life." "It is an element" he is comfortable in, she says of having Cardiff perform in her home. She calls it "one of the best ways to listen to a musician because it is so intimate."[34]

Cardiff has performed at The Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, POP Montreal, the Shelter Valley Folk Festival, Hay Days, Hillside Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest and Waterloo Sounds Of Summer.[35]

Whether he's performing to a smaller house concert crowd or at a large public gathering, Cardiff isn't afraid to mix music with a bit of community activism.[36] Cardiff played a last-minute concert in the living room of PhD students in Victoria to help them raise funds for their AIDS outreach exchange to Africa. He has also performed at the University of Western Ontario's mob vote, alongside Rick Mercer.[36] In March 2012, Cardiff performed at Phog Lounge in Windsor, Ontario, to support MedOutreach, a program by University of Windsor and University of Western Ontario medical, dental and nursing students that took them to Tanzania to help treat patients at clinics and orphanages.[36] Cardiff told the Windsor Star that it's not so much the causes, but the people behind the causes that interest him. "Those are the people who are wonderfully dangerous," he says. "They've been bitten."[36] In March 2013, Cardiff performed a benefit concert in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to raise money for Collateral Damage Project, which is based in Thunder Bay and was founded by Scott Chisholm. The goal of Collateral Damage Project is preventing suicide by stopping stigma, creating proactive dialogue and pushing for gatekeeper training.

Craig Cardiff sings at Foster's Inn in Stratford, Ontario. Photo by Adam M. Dee of Subtle Solace Photo & Fine Arts (@SubtleSolaceArt).

It was a good fit because Cardiff has been a supporter of social causes and an advocate for mental health. He encourages people to be open and share things about themselves, both good and bad. "We all have issues and when we start talking about it … that's the key of making everybody relax a little bit and just be open to everyone," he says.[37] Throughout his career, Cardiff has volunteered his time to support organizations such as Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region, Canuck Place, the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation's Maplesoft Centre for Cancer Survivorship Care, Elephant Thoughts Educational Outreach, the Oxford People Against the Landfill Alliance and many others. In 2010, he performed at the first-ever Canada Without Poverty Dig'n'it(y) Busking Event in Brantford, Ontario.