Art Pruce is fast becoming one of Canada's most exciting new Country talents. Pruce has a passion for music, a strong unmistakable singing voice and a keen ear for melody. His voice is smooth and he is a solid force on the guitar. A veteran performer and an exceptional musician, Art Pruce is fast developing a hot solo career that will see him enjoying the company of the top talents of the Canadian Country music scene. Originally from Goulais River, Ontario and now making his home in Kamloops, BC, he makes an impressive debut with this solid collection of tunes on Wish I Could Go (December 2006).
The release of Wish I Could Go has garnered much attention and acclaim from fans, critics, radio and television all across Canada. The production of this album created a buzz in the BC country music community last spring and contributed to Art's nomination for the 2006 BC Country Music Association Ray MacCauley Horizon Award even before the album was released. The artistic production of this album is truly outstanding for a debut CD and is the result of the effort of Canada's finest. In 2007 the album was nominated for the BCCMA Album of the Year. Wish I Could Go is produced by award-winning producer, Tom McKillip, and is supported by some of the best studio musicians in the Canadian Country scene. The album boasts stylistic diversity from country shuffles, to funky two-steps, to moody ballads. The first three singles released to radio generated national attention and there is stronger material yet to come.
Since the release of his debut album, Pruce has embarked on extensive promotional tours from Atlantic Canada to British Columbia. Pruce has also been busy and has played just over 100 live dates in 11 months, including the Merritt Mountain Music Festival, and he has moved just under 2000 CDs in that time - an impressive start for a new independent artist. When Art Pruce takes the stage, he owns it and the crowds respond with enthusiasm. He draws the audience in to his music and holds them there - whether it's an intimate audience of 50 or a festival audience of 50,000.
Pruce wrote and co-wrote five of the songs on the album and his strong songwriting ability earned him an invitation to the much-lauded Songwriters' Caf� at this years' Canadian Country Music Week in Regina, Saskatchewan. One of his compositions, Takes Me Back to Yesterday, was also nominated by the BCCMA for SOCAN Song of the Year. As author of his own compositions, Pruce creates melodies that stir the emotions and couples them with lyrics that describe the bitter-sweet memories of small town life and disappointed love. A down-to-earth person, Art feels most at ease when riding his motorcycle on an open highway, and many of the songs that appear on his debut album have been inspired during those long road trips. His songs have an honesty about them that touches people from every walk of life. His music is about real life and tells stories that people can relate too.
Pruce delivers his music with a vocal touch that sits somewhere between the mellowness of Don Williams, and the solitude of Gordon Lightfoot - making the traditional fans as happy as the ones who prefer a more modern country sound. The album includes a bouncy two-step and a true honky-tonk shuffle - too often excluded from country recordings these days. The instrumentation includes fiddles and steel guitar and the entire album evokes a certain charm that has generated a lot of interest from those fans who love honest traditional country music.
Art Pruce performing at the Louis Creek Wildfire Monument unveiling, July 26, 2008. Louis Creek BC.