Back to Basics with Bobby Bazini
Juno Award Nominee to Play Magnus Theatre
Story by Deanne Gagnon, Photo by André Chevrier
Known for his blend of blues, folk and soul, Bobby Bazini is taking a different approach on his latest tour. After spending years working within the traditional music industry, Juno Award nominee Bazini has stepped into a more independent path—a path that has given him space to slow down and reconnect with how he actually likes to write and perform.
“I wanted to take my time to make a creative change and it’s been a really great experience. If I feel inspired, I can follow that, and there's something to be said for having that control over what you're doing,” he says.
That change led to Pearl, his fifth album, created in collaboration with producer Connor Seidel and a group of highly regarded Quebec-based musicians he describes as a “dream team.” “We started writing together, and it all happened very naturally,” he said. “We recorded it pretty quickly. It was a really inspiring experience.”
Since then, Bazini has released both Pearl and his first French-language album, Seul au cinéma, and is now taking that newer material on the road. “I just thought, if I go back to the basics—this is how I wrote the songs, just my acoustic guitar— it’d be nice to play them in that form and tell some of the stories behind them,” he said. That idea is shaping his current tour, a stripped-down, acoustic set that relies on storytelling as much as it does the music itself. Audiences can expect a mix of older songs and newer material, performed in a more relaxed, up-close setting.
The tour itself is also something of a journey. Beginning in British Columbia, Bazini and his team are making their way across the country by road. The cross-country drive will bring them through Thunder Bay on their way back to Quebec. The performance is presented as part of a collaboration with Festival BONJOUR, the Centre Francophone de Thunder Bay, and local concert promoter Frank Loffredo.
Bazini performs May 29 at Magnus Theatre. For more information, visit bobbybazini.com.
