Ken Tizzard – Lost in Awe
On his tour through Canada and the U.S. last summer, singer / songwriter Ken Tizzard was in awe of the many places he visited and he now invites us to take part in his experience by sharing some of these moments on his current 14-song-album ‘Lost in Awe.’
Ken Tizzard is a renowned Canadian musician who was The Watchemen’s bass player for 12 years and Thornley’s for three years. After being a major label musician and touring the world for 15 years, Ken Tizzard decided to become a solo artist.
The first solo record Ken Tizzard released was ‘Quiet Storey House’ in 2006, “which was primarily six string bass and voice,” Ken says on the phone from his home East of Toronto. “I’ve been a bass player for a long time, I felt, I needed to get a bass record out of my system. And it seemed to be the right time to do it, transition time, in life and in music.”
This transition affected every aspect of his life. “I’ve been touring for more than a decade with bands. I’ve seen a lot of airports, hotels and restaurants. But when I started touring on my own and with my family, I started seeing stuff that I’ve never seen before.” Ken says. “It was not all about being in a band; it was about living a life and playing music.”
With his new record, Ken Tizzard underwent another transition. “This record here, there is no bass at all. It’s just guitar, harmonica, voice, and organ on a few tracks. So that’s totally different.”
In producing his new record, Ken Tizzard worked with John Whynot, who also produced his first record. The album was recorded in Toronto, in Blue Rodeo’s studio The Woodshed. Its interior was redone “with wood from an old barn that was torn down in Northern Ontario,” Ken says. The songs on ‘Lost in Awe’ have a folk sound and transmit a very intimate and honest feeling. For Ken Tizzard, the recording “captures exactly what I was looking for. It sounds like a guy sitting in a corner playing guitar.”
It seems there is no other sound more appropriate than this, considering how Ken Tizzard wrote this record: “I was looking at the photos, I started remembering bits and pieces of songs that I was writing in certain places,” Ken says. “And then it occurred to me how I’ve really written this entire record on the trip.” The album’s title entails an even broader meaning: “These things that take over your world and put you on a new direction and you just get lost in the awe,” Ken says. “And it can be something as simple as visiting a mountain range, struck by the beauty of nature. Or falling in love with someone, finding a new job, having children, totally alters the course of your life.”
Ken Tizzard has a photo contest on his web site with the same title ‘Lost in Awe.’ He invites people to send photos of situations where they were lost in awe. “The only criteria that I had were photos that kind of took you down that path where you got lost in awe. I’ve gotten pictures with people’s parents and children and beautiful scenery, all kinds of interesting things that people felt had an impact on their life or just a beautiful moment.”
During his tour, Ken Tizzard took some photos to show the listener his point of view in an original fashion. “The actual album cover is a picture of my feet. It is a neat way to show my perspective without putting my face in it.” The album includes a twelve-page booklet which contains a lot of photographs taken on his trip.
The album ‘Lost in Awe’ was released in May. For more information and to purchase CDs, check out http://www.kentizzard.com.
Photo by Roland Wilhem
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