Kenny Butterill

Americana Artist, Songwriter & Producer

News Clips

 

September 28, 2014
Kenny Butterill releases climate change anthem song “Gaia Blues”

After a ten year wait, Canada’s Kenny Butterill released his third self-produced album “Troubadour Tales“ last month. The first single is “Gaia Blues” which features special guest Donovan Leitch on harmonica.

Gaia Blues” is a new anthem song about the perils of ignoring the warnings of Mother Earth (Gaia). ”I really love this important ‘green’ song of Kenny’s dealing with such an urgent matter. It was a great to play with him“ said Donovan.  Butterill added “It was humbling and a great thrill to play with Donovan“,  ”Since this is a siren song about such a serious, crucial issue, I had most of my album guests sing on the last verse, like a “We Are the World” choir, adding their powerful voices to the importance of the song’s message.

With climate change in the forefront of the world’s consciousness, it is now known that Donovan wrote the first songs about saving the Earth’s ecosystem back in the early 1970s, with his song “Slow Down World (Major Problem Ahead)” being one of many. “This was another reason it was awesome to have Donovan play on this ‘Gaia Blues’ song” said Butterill. A portion of the income from the Gaia Blues song will be contributed to climate change organizations.

This past week Donovan also helped launch the largest Climate Change March in history in the USA for a Huffington Post World Wide Stream Live in New York City on September 19th. The march coincided with The Global Conference on Climate Control which took place this week at the United Nations.

Besides Donovan, Butterill’s “Troubadour Tales” album features over twenty world-class guests including Cindy Cashdollar, Redd Volkaert, Ray Bonneville, Zoe Muth, Audrey Auld, John Lee Sanders, Linda McRae, Jim Lewin, David Grier, Rob Ikes, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell and Washboard Hank.

Butterill will resume touring in Ontario Canada this Fall and then throughout 2015 in North America and Europe.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Listen or download Gaia Blues or Kenny Butterill’s Troubadour Tales album on Amazon.

 

September 14, 2014
Kenny Butterill and Toby Gray to Play Don Quixote

SantaCruz Sentinel Don Quixote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 7, 2014
Kenny Butterill to Appear at Free Concert in Lindsay

Songwriter Kenny Butterill will make an appearance next week as part of the City of Kawartha Lakes free Concerts in the Park in Lindsay. Butterill lives in California but is a longtime Balsam Lake cottager, and has just released his third, self-produced album, Troubadour Tales. He told This Week he only recently decided play shows. “Before 2013, I was just a songwriter (also the name of his last CD).”

He played in Lindsay last year, and again in May, and is looking forward to the Concert in the Park show with Washboard Hank on Aug. 13. Butterill describes his new album, which was 10 years in the making, as “a compelling collection of a dozen stories and songs about real life, love and romance – all transcendent.” The album features more than 20 world-class guests including Donovan, Cindy Cashdollar, Redd Volkaert, Ray Bonneville, Zoe Muth, Audrey Auld, John Lee Sanders, Linda McRae, Jim Lewin, David Grier, Rob Ikes and Washboard Hank. Importantly, this album marks the last recording of the late, great Sarah Elizabeth Campbell who adds rich harmony on the song ‘Greatest Love Story Never Told.’

His press release notes the album “has a sound and feel that is true to Butterill’s legacy of delivering rootsy, folksy…feel good music.” Mr. Butterill is touring through 2015 in North America and Europe to promote it. He says his connection to the area is strong through the family cottage. “It is a source for refuge, peace and inspiration for me,” said Mr. Butterill who rebuilt the cottage in 2010. “The original cottage had seen better days and it was time to tear down and rebuild.”

Mr. Butterill’s grandfather bought the cottage in 1956. His dad brought him there for the first time in his seaplane when he was only two months old. “So Balsam Lake is an integral, deep part of my soul. I come here when I need to regain balance in my life and to hear the creative voices that often get muted in the hustle and bustle of city life.”He says many of his best songs were written at the cottage; the natural beauty of the area has inspired him. ‘Troubadour Tales’ promises to deliver “musical magic that truly connects with Americana, Roots and Folk Blues fans around the world.”

Mr. Butterill’s show with Washboard Hank and his band takes place on Wed., Aug. 13 from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Victoria Park in Lindsay. For more information, visit his website at www.kennybutterill.com.

– With files from Catherine Whitnall

 

April 18, 2014  
Kenny Butterill & Washboard Hank to guest on “Canadian Spaces!” on May 3rd

Kenny Butterill and Washboard Hank will be Chris White’s guests on the Saturday, May 3rd “Canadian Spaces” show which is broadcast on 93.1 FM in Ottawa Canada and streamed at www.ckcufm.com on Saturdays from 10:00 am to noon Eastern. Hank and Kenny are doing shows together in Ontario Canada in early May leading up to Canadian Music Week in Toronto.

Chopper McKinnon founded CKCU FM’s popular Canadian Spaces radio show in 1980 and hosted it for 33 years. The show serves as a vital hub and sounding board for Canadian singer-songwriters. Each Saturday morning, the loyal listeners – the “Space Cadets” – are treated to live performances and relaxed interviews. Chopper believed passionately in the quality of Canadian folk music, and gave airplay and encouragement to countless artists from across the country.

Listeners have always showed strong support for Canadian Spaces during CKCU’s annual funding drive. The high level of donations to the show saved the entire station from bankruptcy at one point. CKCU founded the Ottawa Folk Festival in 1994 as a direct result of the passion and loyalty of Chopper’s audience. Chopper served as the Main Stage host at the festival for the next 15 years. In 1999, he received the Helen Verger Award for his significant, sustained contributions to the folk music community. Chopper passed away on March 13, 2013.  Listeners and musicians from across Canada and beyond expressed a deep, personal sense of loss on hearing of Chopper’s passing — songs were written in his honour and several concerts and tribute events were held.  Chris White carries on the tradition as host of ‘Canadian Spaces’ with a series of co-hosts with strong connections to the folk community

April 7, 2014
City of Kawartha Lakes Schedule & Band Bios
Kenny Butterill
Wednesday, August 13 7:00-9:00pm
Kenny Butterill *New for 2014*

Genre: Americana, Alt-Country, Roots, Blues & Folk
Kenny Butterill is a Canadian artist/producer living in Santa Cruz, California. His roots in the Kawartha Lakes are very strong dating back to his early childhood. In 2000, Butterill made quite a stir with this debut album, “No One You Know”, landing him on music charts in Canada, Europe and the United States with his rootsy, bluesy, Americana feel. Butterill’s popularity soared again with the release of his second album, “Just a Songwriter”, at Midem in Cannes, France. After charting globally, he is back to tell his story in his new album: Troubadour Tales” and has set tour dates to support the release.2013 saw Butterill performing at intimate venues, house concerts and theatres in North America including at sold out events such as the 16th Annual Wake at the Old Quarter in Galveston, TX for Townes van Zandt, the (Neil Young) Youngtown Museum Bnefit Concert in Ontario, Canada and ending the year with a standing room only show in Soquel, CA. The new CD, “Troubadour Tales” is filled with inviting melodies, masterful song writing and engaging, earthy vocals. It reveals that Butterill truly writes close to the heart – he was recently dubbed “the romantic poet of Americana music” by Dallas Dobro the dean of Americana DJs.Often compared to JJ Cale, Donovan, John Prine and Gordon Lightfoot, Butterill’s music has a smooth alt, country folk sound that takes us through his story telling a melodic soothing manner. Butterill’s band for this show will include musical friends and guests from the Kawartha Lakes Region.

December 4 2013
Santa Cruz Good Times!
Kenny Butterill and Band
Canadian songwriter and producer Kenny Butterill has been entrancing listeners with his minimalist songs for more than a decade now. Butterill often employs dusty, low-key vocals that are simultaneously arresting and unassuming, and lyrically, he explores everything from the need for companionship (“Gotta Find a Woman”) to what it feels like to be a songwriter (“Just a Songwriter”)…. Musically, Butterill primarily channels the blues, country and Americana. Because of his production work, Butterill has not released an album since 2002’s Just a Songwriter, but it is easy to see why songs like the Americana track “How Far Can We Go?” did well on European and Canadian country charts. | BP
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Ugly Mug, 4640 Soquel Drive, Soquel. $10-15. 477-1341.

December 4 2013
Santa Cruz Sentinel
BEST BETS: Kenny Butterill
Fiddling Cricket and the Canyon Acoustic Society are hosting a performance by singer-songwriter Kenny Butterill, who has been compared to musician J.J. Cale. His 2002 Americana song ‘How Far Can We Go?’ was very popular in his native Canada and then crossed over to become a hit in Europe.

May 2013
Balsam Lake an inspiration for musician –
Kenny Butterill credits serenity of Balsam Lake cottage as inspiration behind many of his best songs.

February 2013
With this month marking the fifth anniversary of the passing of our close friend Willie P Bennett, we unveiled “Willie We Miss Ya” – my tribute song to Willie P at KPIG Radio. The legendary Washboard Hank flew in from the Great White North to play it with me. For those of you unfamiliar with Willie, he was a highly acclaimed Canadian singer songwriter who was beloved by music lovers all over the world. Willie played on my last CD release. He would come to my house when he was touring here in Northern California and up in Canada, when he came to visit me at my Balsam Lake cottage north of Toronto he surprised me by giving me one of his Harmony guitars as house warming gift. He won a Juno award in Canada (equivalent to a Grammy in the States) and a super group called Blackie and the Rodeo Kings was formed to just do Willie P songs. Willie was one of my biggest supporters in music and we had plans to write together and play out – and then he died. Very sad. Willie We Miss Ya. To listen to the song click here.

Amazon puts Butterill in good company – Masters of the Laid Back Grove