Bill Bourne

William Sigurd Bourne (28 March 1954 – 16 April 2022) was a Canadian musician. He won three Canadian Juno Awards, and was an eight-time nominee. Bourne's music incorporates musical elements from around the world, including aboriginal, African, Cajun, Celtic, country, delta blues, flamenco, folk, funk, gospel, reggae, and world beat.

Early years

Bourne was born in Innisfail, Alberta on 28 March 1954 to parents Alfred William Bourne and Helga 'Iris' Bourne, nee Benediktson. He was the third of five children. Alfred and Iris played in a band with Dick Damron at local dances, where Bourne and his siblings would sleep behind the piano. Although interested in pursuing music as a career from an early age, Bourne trained as a mechanic to appease his father.

In 1970, at 16, Bourne ran away to join the burgeoning music scene in Toronto. He played a few times before returning to Alberta after six months.

Musical career

Bourne began performing as a solo act in 1975. By 1978 he was part of a band named ''Sweetgrass'', playing with second cousin Jim Morison and multi-instrumentalist Dave Richards.

He released a self-titled album in 1980, then joined The Tannahill Weavers, a traditional Scottish band he was introduced to by Jim MacLauchlan of Edmonton's Southside Folk Club. He stayed with the Weavers until 1984.
Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada
'. Department of English, University of Western Ontario; 1991. p. 3. After leaving the Weavers, Bourne paired up with Alan MacLeod, another former member. The two won a Juno Award in 1991 for their 1990 album, ''Dance and Celebrate''. Bourne and MacLeod released two more albums. Around this time Bourne was playing periodically with Celtic punk group The Real McKenzies.

Bourne's second Juno came in 1992 courtesy of his contribution to the 1991 musical anthology ''Saturday Night Blues''. He then partnered with Shannon Johnson, later of The McDades, to release two albums; one in 1994 and one in 1996.

In 1997 Bourne joined blues duo Schuld & Stamer on their debut album, ''No Special Rider''. The record garnered a Juno nomination in 1998.

In 2000, Bourne, Madagascar Slim, and Lester Quitzau formed the string trio Tri-Continental. He recorded five albums with them. Their debut album brought a third Juno award.

In 2002 Bourne released the solo album ''Voodoo King''. His collaboration with Faroese singer-songwriter Eivør Pálsdóttir resulted in the album ''eivør'', which won two Danish Music Awards in 2006. Bourne, Jasmine Ohlhauser, and Wyckham Porteous recorded together as the BOP Ensemble. Bourne also performed with flautist Aysha Wills.

In 2011, Bourne fronted the ''Free Radio Band'' with his son Pat to record the ''Bluesland'' album. Daughter Emily contributed the album's cover art. In 2012 he collaborated with Tippy Agogo and other musicians to release ''Amoeba Collective''.

In 2013, Bourne led the historic Edmonton Christmas album titled ''An Edmonton Christmas: Live Off the Floor'', along with other Edmontonian artists including Joe Nolan, Jenie Thai, Jeremy "Jey" Witten, and Justine Vandergrift. He was a member of The Christmas Carol Project, which staged annual performances of Dickens ''A Christmas Carol''. Bourne played the part of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Bourne was one of the members of ''Trancescapes'', a seven-member group formed by him in or around 2013. In 2015 they issued ''Gaia Sadhana''. All six tracks on the album were entirely improvised, and had Sanskrit titles. In addition to guitar, violin, and percussion, the music features drones, a Tibetan singing bowl, and non-lexical vocables.

Beginning in April 2020 and continuing for several months, Bourne partnered with Paul Steffes to stage a series of pop-up concerts in neighbourhoods around Alberta, and into British Columbia.

In the studio, Bourne often served as producer, arranger, mixer, and engineer when working on his own projects. In addition to performing on the album, he was producer for ''The Kitchen Boys'' 1994 release, ''Passion Town''. He was producer for The Black Pioneer Heritage Singers' live recording in 2008.

Personal life

Bourne's great-grandfather was Icelandic-Canadian poet Stephan G. Stephansson.

In 1979 Bourne married Dorothy Campbell. The couple divorced in 1995. They had two children; Patrick William and Emily Jean.

Bourne was a licensed diesel mechanic. He also held both a Class I license with airbrake endorsement, and a Class VI motorcycle license. His hobbies included fly fishing. He once drove a classic 1968 Lincoln Continental on a coast-to-coast musical tour.

Bourne earned a reputation as a musical mentor. For a while he gave free guitar lessons to young people through the Boyle Street Community League. Starting in 2018, he was a mentor with the Heart of the City Festival.

Bourne died of cancer on 16 April 2022.

The 2022 Sasquatch Gathering and Music Festival was dedicated to his memory.

Discography

Solo albums
* 1981 ''Bill Bourne''
* 1997 ''Farmer, Philanthropist & Musician''
* 1998 ''Sally's Dream''
* 2002 ''Voodoo King''
* 2007 ''Boon Tang''
* 2009 ''Between Trains''
* 2012 ''Songs from a Gypsy Caravan''
* 2017 ''Hummingbird''
* 2020 ''A Love Fandango''

With The Tannahill Weavers
* 1983 ''Passage''
* 1996 ''Celtic Folk Festival unich'

With Bourne & MacLeod
* 1990 ''Dance and Celebrate''
* 1992 ''Moonlight Dancers''
* 2002 ''Bootleg''

With Shannon Johnson
* 1994 ''Dear Madonna''
* 1996 ''Victory Train''

With Schuld & Stamer
* 1997 ''No Special Rider''

With Tri-Continental
* 2000 ''Tri-Continental''
* 2002 ''Live''
* 2003 ''Let's Play''
* 2004 ''Drifting''
* 2018 ''Dust Dance''

With The Free Radio Band
* 2011 ''Bluesland''

With Tippy Agogo et al.
* 2012 ''Amoeba Collective''

With Trancescapes
* 2015 ''Gaia Sadhana''

Other album Appearances
* 1991 ''Saturday Night Blues, Vol. 1''
* 1997 ''Edmonton Folk Music Festival Compilation 1''
* 2001 ''Hold your ground : a collection of songs with social significance''
* 2003 ''Songs from the Carol Project''
* 2013 ''An Edmonton Christmas: Live Off The Floor''

References

External links

*
*

Bill Bourne on Myspace
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Bill
1954 births
2022 deaths
Deaths from bladder cancer
Canadian folk guitarists
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian male songwriters
People from Red Deer, Alberta
Canadian people of Icelandic descent
The Tannahill Weavers members