The Paperboys
Encyclopedia
The Paperboys are a Canadian
folk music
band from Vancouver
that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass
, Mexican
, Eastern Europe
an, Africa
n, zydeco
, soul
and country
influences. The band has had a variety of members & line-ups since its original formation, with Landa remaining as the sole founding member, although veteran banjoist/bassist Cam Salay often returns as a guest performer. Known for consistently creating pop song
s with melodic hooks
, their music has been called versatile, with a wide range of influences, melding diverse musical influences more successfully than some other Irish rock
bands have previously.
Their first studio album, Late As Usual, was released in 1995, with their most recent release being their sixth album, 2009's The Callithump. Their first three studio albums have received Juno Award
nominations, with 1997's Molinos winning for the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year category, and also winning a West Coast Music Award the same year. Their album Postcards won a West Coast Music Award in 2000. The Paperboys have their own record label and production companies, Stompy Discs and Stomp Productions, which they created to produce and market their work themselves, beginning with their first album. After the death of original drummer Paul Lawton, The Paperboys helped to finance a scholarship in his name. The band has also appeared in and scored
award-winning international films. They are noted for their version of Bob Dylan
's "All Along the Watchtower
", which was part of a tribute album to Dylan's 60th birthday.
A staple at folk, roots, and bluegrass festivals in North America and Europe, The Paperboys have extensively toured both continents, performing in England
, Germany
, Switzerland
, Norway
, Scotland
, Ireland
, France
, and Austria
. Regularly featured on Canadian national television, The Paperboys have said in the past, "We get paid for the travel time but play for free."
Tom Landa was born in Mexico to a Canadian mother of Irish
ancestry and a Mexican father, and later moved from Mexico City
to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
. Initially, Landa discovered Celtic music via the Canadian band Spirit of the West
, whose flautist & co-vocalist was Geoffrey Kelly
. Kelly would later produce half of The Paperboys' first studio album "Late as Usual" with Colin Nairne (producer & guitarist for Barney Bentall
) and eventually end up joining the band full time.
The original Late As Usual band members included Moritz Behm on fiddle, Neil Burnett on vocals, penny whistle & celtic harp, Glenn Kruger (the Stoaters, Real MacKenzies) on drums & vocals, and Cam Salay on banjo and bass. In 1995, the band was later joined by Shona Le Mottée
on fiddle
, and Shannon Saunders on a variety of instruments (bass, fiddle, banjo), to contribute to the band's live shows. Le Mottée left The Paperboys in 1997, after recording the award-winning Molinos, and was replaced by flautist
Hanz Araki. In the late 1990s, they were joined for a time by keyboardist Doug Schmidt.
In 2010, the band currently consists of Landa, Kalissa Hernandez on fiddle
, Brad Gillard on banjo and bass, Geoffrey Kelly on flutes, and Sam Esecson on drums, with a three-piece horn section consisting of Kareem Kandi on saxophone, Nick LaRiviere on trombone, and either Miguelito Valdes or Greg Lyons on trumpet.
The Paperboys released a cassette album called January in 1993 as their first album. Although critically unknown, the album has never been released on CD (except for the track "Judy's Wedding", which is featured on Tenure).
The Paperboys released their first CD studio album, Late as Usual, in 1994, on their self-established label Stompy Discs, with an associated production and management company, Stomp Productions. Late as Usual went on to garner a Juno Award nomination for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. They followed that album with 1997's Molinos, which also was nominated for the Roots and Traditional category at the Juno Awards, this time winning. Additionally, Molinos took away the Best Roots Recording category in the West Coast Music Award of the same year. One review referred to Molinos as "bluegrass-tinged pop-rock" with an "undercurrent of Celtic wildness". In 2000, The Paperboys released Postcards, their third studio album, which also was nominated in the same category, for their third straight nomination, but Postcards did not win. In 2000, they won another West Coast Music Award for the Best Roots Recording category for Postcards.
They followed next with Tenure in 2002, the double album Dilapidated Beauty in 2003, and The Road to Ellenside in 2006. In a review for Molinos, it was noted that The Paperboys consistently write pop songs with melodic hooks, which other prior Irish-rock inspired bands such as The Pogues
and Oysterband
, and others were not always successful at. Postcards, which has songs that range musically from bluegrass, zydeco, flamenco, Irish traditional, country, to Celtic-new-age-Native, and with songs that mix some of the themes, was described as a satisfying example of how far the versatile scope of The Paperboys' music extends.
The Paperboys' 2006 album, The Road to Ellenside, is named for the English
mansion, Ellenside, in the Lake District
near Ireby
that they recorded it in. After a performance in the area, a fan invited the band to spend the night in her mansion for dinner. Landa told her that the home would be an amazing place to record a record, to which the fan replied, "Why not?" One year later, they returned to the Ellenside mansion, living there in Cumbria
n countryside full time while recording their studio album. Additional recording work for The Road To Ellenside was done at the Tragically Hip's studio in Bath, England and in Vancouver
. On The Road To Ellenside, The Paperboys covered Sting's song Fragile
from his 1987 album …Nothing Like the Sun. The band had intended to film their music video for the track in Cuba
, but because of high insurance costs from American
companies due to the United States embargo against Cuba
, opted to film in Morelia
, Mexico.
In 2009, the band released Callithump. This release features the band name "Los Paperboys" on the front cover, although this is not the official new band name.
The Paperboys have performed and appeared in the Genie Award nominated film Marine Life, for which Landa also wrote the musical score, and in the Genie Award
winning Lunch With Charles, which was the first-ever film co-production between Hong Kong and Canada. The band have also made numerous appearances on Canadian national television. The band has performed and been interviewed on Vicki Gabereau
, The Mike Bullard Show
, The Jim Byrnes Show, Urban Rush
, Worldbeats, and CBC Television
's Terminal City
. In 2001, the Red House Records
label asked The Paperboys to contribute a track to A Nod to Bob
, a 60th birthday homage to Bob Dylan. Their rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" was consistently noted in reviews as one of the highlights of the album. In honor of their former drummer, Paul Lawton, who died unfortunately in 2005, the band worked on recording ten songs written by him, for a tribute album that would include recorded material by Lawton. Following Lawton's death, a scholarship was created in his name. The Paul Lolly Lawton Scholarship Fund, was established by St. Clair College
in Windsor, Ontario
, and The Paperboys worked with the Ontario Provincial Government
to raise funds for it.
The Paperboys routinely sell out shows in some of the most popular and prestigious clubs and festivals throughout Canada, the United States
, Mexico and Europe
. One of their most notable appearances was being asked to perform at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
in Washington D.C. In Canada, The Paperboys appeared at almost every folk festival across the country, including Edmonton
, Vancouver
, Winnipeg
and Toronto
. They have also played festivals across the United States, including New York
’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
, The Folk Alliance Festival
, the New England Folk Festival
and Seattle
’s Bumbershoot
. The Paperboys have also performed at other music festivals, including Toronto's Harbourfront
, the Milwaukee Irish Fest
, and Wintergrass. The band has been asked to return almost every year to several festivals across Europe, headlining at the United Kingdom's Warwick and Trowbridge
festivals, as well as at festivals in Germany
and Denmark
. The band has also toured in Switzerland
, Norway
, Scotland
, Ireland
, France
, and Austria
. According to Landa, their European travels are some of their most successful and popular performances, explaining why they travel to Europe so frequently for long musical tours.
The Paperboys' live performances have been described as high energy and accessible, and they have a reputation for gaining new fans after a single performance. The loyalty of fans to The Paperboys has been previously described as "a growing cult-like following in recent years."
The Washington Post and Billboard
have referred to The Paperboys' music as 'reminiscent of early Elton John
and Van Morrison
', and they have also been compared at times to a "laid back country version" of the The Eagles. While their music is hard is sometimes hard to describe, The Paperboys themselves have described it as "Guinness
with a tequila
chaser while listening to an Americana
Jukebox." Other descriptions of The Paperboys have described a fusion of Celtic folk with Bluegrass
, Mexican
, Eastern Europe
an, Africa
n, zydeco
, soul
and country
influences. Their songs range from traditional Celtic jigs to modern love songs. Landa has said that one of his own stronger influences in music is the Mexican style of music called Son Jarocho
, whose most well-known song is Ritchie Valens
's La Bamba
. Tom Landa's songwriting has been cited as world-class by Chris Nickerson of the Seattle Weekly
.
The band has also been noted for recording a number of pop and rock covers — including The Beatles
' "I've Just Seen a Face
" on Molinos and Sting's "Fragile
" on The Road to Ellenside — which incorporate traditional Celtic jigs and reels into the arrangements.
According to Landa, his bandmate Geoffrey Kelley's other band, Spirit of the West, is a major influence on himself and The Paperboys. Landa said, "Even when playing with (Geoffrey), and him being in the same room, I will still say they were a very big influence on me. I'd almost dare to say that had it not been my hearing their records, I would never have been into Celtic music to begin with -- so the band may not even exist."
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
band from Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n, zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influences. The band has had a variety of members & line-ups since its original formation, with Landa remaining as the sole founding member, although veteran banjoist/bassist Cam Salay often returns as a guest performer. Known for consistently creating pop song
Pop Song
Pop Song is the first single by the Drugs. It was released in 2000 and earned the Drugs some positive press. It has been described as "addictive". A live version was released on The Only Way Is Up...
s with melodic hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
, their music has been called versatile, with a wide range of influences, melding diverse musical influences more successfully than some other Irish rock
Irish rock
Rock and roll has been a part of the music of Ireland since the 1960s, when the British Invasion brought British blues, psychedelic rock and other styles to the island...
bands have previously.
Their first studio album, Late As Usual, was released in 1995, with their most recent release being their sixth album, 2009's The Callithump. Their first three studio albums have received Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
nominations, with 1997's Molinos winning for the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year category, and also winning a West Coast Music Award the same year. Their album Postcards won a West Coast Music Award in 2000. The Paperboys have their own record label and production companies, Stompy Discs and Stomp Productions, which they created to produce and market their work themselves, beginning with their first album. After the death of original drummer Paul Lawton, The Paperboys helped to finance a scholarship in his name. The band has also appeared in and scored
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
award-winning international films. They are noted for their version of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "All Along the Watchtower
All Along the Watchtower
"All Along the Watchtower" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. The song, which has been included on most of Dylan's greatest hits compilations, initially appeared on his 1967 album John Wesley Harding. Over the past 35 years, he has performed it in concert more...
", which was part of a tribute album to Dylan's 60th birthday.
A staple at folk, roots, and bluegrass festivals in North America and Europe, The Paperboys have extensively toured both continents, performing in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Regularly featured on Canadian national television, The Paperboys have said in the past, "We get paid for the travel time but play for free."
Formation and roster
The Paperboys were originally formed in 1991 by bassist Christopher Jonat and Tom Landa on acoustic guitar & vocals, with Jeremy Hughes on accordion & vocals, Kevin Ball on Fiddle, and Dave Plenkovich on drums. This early version of the band was very popular with the Vancouver college crowds, but after creative discrepancies Tom kept the Paperboys name & all the other remaining bandmembers reformed as the Clumsy Lovers.Tom Landa was born in Mexico to a Canadian mother of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
ancestry and a Mexican father, and later moved from Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Initially, Landa discovered Celtic music via the Canadian band Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West are a Canadian folk rock band, who were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.-Early years:The band began...
, whose flautist & co-vocalist was Geoffrey Kelly
Geoffrey Kelly
Geoffrey Kelly is a Canadian rock musician.He plays guitars, flutes and bodhran for the folk rock band Spirit of the West, for whom he is also the lead vocalist on some songs. He and John Mann are the band's primary songwriters.Kelly is also a full time member of The Paperboys, and released a solo...
. Kelly would later produce half of The Paperboys' first studio album "Late as Usual" with Colin Nairne (producer & guitarist for Barney Bentall
Barney Bentall
Barnard Franklin "Barney" Bentall is a Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter who is most well known for his 1990s-era band, Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts. Their most successful Canadian singles included "Something to Live For", "Life Could Be Worse", "Crime Against Love" and "Come Back to...
) and eventually end up joining the band full time.
The original Late As Usual band members included Moritz Behm on fiddle, Neil Burnett on vocals, penny whistle & celtic harp, Glenn Kruger (the Stoaters, Real MacKenzies) on drums & vocals, and Cam Salay on banjo and bass. In 1995, the band was later joined by Shona Le Mottée
Shona Le Mottee
Shona Le Mottee is a Canadian celtic/pop fiddler and vocalist who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.Shona has an extensive musical career which took off in 1995 when she was chosen to join the internationally known Canadian Celtic-pop group, "The Paperboys". In 1997, Le Mottee recorded the album...
on fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, and Shannon Saunders on a variety of instruments (bass, fiddle, banjo), to contribute to the band's live shows. Le Mottée left The Paperboys in 1997, after recording the award-winning Molinos, and was replaced by flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
Hanz Araki. In the late 1990s, they were joined for a time by keyboardist Doug Schmidt.
In 2010, the band currently consists of Landa, Kalissa Hernandez on fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, Brad Gillard on banjo and bass, Geoffrey Kelly on flutes, and Sam Esecson on drums, with a three-piece horn section consisting of Kareem Kandi on saxophone, Nick LaRiviere on trombone, and either Miguelito Valdes or Greg Lyons on trumpet.
Recording history
The Paperboys released their first CD studio album, Late as Usual, in 1994, on their self-established label Stompy Discs, with an associated production and management company, Stomp Productions. Late as Usual went on to garner a Juno Award nomination for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. They followed that album with 1997's Molinos, which also was nominated for the Roots and Traditional category at the Juno Awards, this time winning. Additionally, Molinos took away the Best Roots Recording category in the West Coast Music Award of the same year. One review referred to Molinos as "bluegrass-tinged pop-rock" with an "undercurrent of Celtic wildness". In 2000, The Paperboys released Postcards, their third studio album, which also was nominated in the same category, for their third straight nomination, but Postcards did not win. In 2000, they won another West Coast Music Award for the Best Roots Recording category for Postcards.
They followed next with Tenure in 2002, the double album Dilapidated Beauty in 2003, and The Road to Ellenside in 2006. In a review for Molinos, it was noted that The Paperboys consistently write pop songs with melodic hooks, which other prior Irish-rock inspired bands such as The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
and Oysterband
Oysterband
Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...
, and others were not always successful at. Postcards, which has songs that range musically from bluegrass, zydeco, flamenco, Irish traditional, country, to Celtic-new-age-Native, and with songs that mix some of the themes, was described as a satisfying example of how far the versatile scope of The Paperboys' music extends.
The Paperboys' 2006 album, The Road to Ellenside, is named for the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
mansion, Ellenside, in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
near Ireby
Ireby, Cumbria
Ireby is a village in Cumbria, England, with a population of over 300.Ireby forms part of the civil parish of Ireby and Uldale; for local government purposes it is in the ward of Boltons, under the authority of Allerdale borough council. Historically it was in the county of Cumberland – since...
that they recorded it in. After a performance in the area, a fan invited the band to spend the night in her mansion for dinner. Landa told her that the home would be an amazing place to record a record, to which the fan replied, "Why not?" One year later, they returned to the Ellenside mansion, living there in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
n countryside full time while recording their studio album. Additional recording work for The Road To Ellenside was done at the Tragically Hip's studio in Bath, England and in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. On The Road To Ellenside, The Paperboys covered Sting's song Fragile
Fragile (song)
"Fragile" is a song composed by English musician Sting from his 1987 album ...Nothing Like the Sun. Released as a single the following year, it placed to number 70 on the UK Singles Chart. Sung additionally in both Spanish and Portuguese under the title Fragilidad, it appeared twice more on his...
from his 1987 album …Nothing Like the Sun. The band had intended to film their music video for the track in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, but because of high insurance costs from American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
companies due to the United States embargo against Cuba
United States embargo against Cuba
The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
, opted to film in Morelia
Morelia
Morelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
, Mexico.
In 2009, the band released Callithump. This release features the band name "Los Paperboys" on the front cover, although this is not the official new band name.
Live performances and other work
Genie Award
Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...
winning Lunch With Charles, which was the first-ever film co-production between Hong Kong and Canada. The band have also made numerous appearances on Canadian national television. The band has performed and been interviewed on Vicki Gabereau
Vicki Gabereau
Vicki Frances Gabereau is a Canadian radio and television personality. Most recently she hosted an eponymously titled afternoon talk show on CTV Television Network, which wrapped up production on April 8, 2005 after 8 seasons...
, The Mike Bullard Show
The Mike Bullard Show
The Mike Bullard Show was a Canadian late-night talk show which aired weeknights at 12:05 AM on Global from November 24, 2003 to March 11, 2004. The show was hosted by comedian Mike Bullard and taped at the Global Theatre in Toronto, Ontario...
, The Jim Byrnes Show, Urban Rush
Urban Rush
Urban Rush is a Canadian entertainment talk show based out of Vancouver, British Columbia and is hosted by Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford...
, Worldbeats, and CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's Terminal City
Terminal City
Terminal City is the name for two comic book limited series published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint in 1996 and 1997, with, respectively nine and five issues. Dean Motter was the writer and Michael Lark was the artist for the series....
. In 2001, the Red House Records
Red House Records
Red House Records is an American independent record label specializing in folk music and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.The label was originally created in 1981 by Greg Brown as a method to distribute his own music, and is named for a farmhouse in Iowa where he was living...
label asked The Paperboys to contribute a track to A Nod to Bob
A Nod to Bob
A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday is a 2001 tribute to Bob Dylan by artists on the Red House Records label. Red House is a folk-oriented label from Dylan's home state of Minnesota. The songs selected are almost entirely from the early phase of Dylan's...
, a 60th birthday homage to Bob Dylan. Their rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" was consistently noted in reviews as one of the highlights of the album. In honor of their former drummer, Paul Lawton, who died unfortunately in 2005, the band worked on recording ten songs written by him, for a tribute album that would include recorded material by Lawton. Following Lawton's death, a scholarship was created in his name. The Paul Lolly Lawton Scholarship Fund, was established by St. Clair College
St. Clair College
St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology is a college in the Southwestern Ontario counties of Essex and Chatham-Kent.-Campus:Its main administration and largest campus sites are in Windsor, Canada. In addition, other campuses are located in Chatham and Wallaceburg. In 2007, St...
in Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, and The Paperboys worked with the Ontario Provincial Government
Government of Ontario
The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
to raise funds for it.
The Paperboys routinely sell out shows in some of the most popular and prestigious clubs and festivals throughout Canada, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Mexico and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. One of their most notable appearances was being asked to perform at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington D.C. In Canada, The Paperboys appeared at almost every folk festival across the country, including Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. They have also played festivals across the United States, including New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival and dance festival formerly held at the Long Hill Farm in Hillsdale, New York, USA. In 2006, the event moved to nearby Dodds Farm, just off Rt. 22, five miles north of the Rt. 22/Rt. 23 intersection in Hillsdale, on...
, The Folk Alliance Festival
North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance
The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance is a non-profit organization that sponsors an annual conference that is an industry focal point for folk music and dance...
, the New England Folk Festival
New England Folk Festival
The New England Folk Festival is an annual weekend festival of traditional dance and music. It takes place in the Boston, Massachusetts region each spring. It is conducted by the New England Folk Festival Association. Both the festival and the association are colloquially known by the abbreviation...
and Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
’s Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle Center includes indoor theaters,...
. The Paperboys have also performed at other music festivals, including Toronto's Harbourfront
Harbourfront
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Canada. Part of the Toronto Waterfront, Harbourfront extends west from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street along Queen's Quay. East of Yonge to Parliament St...
, the Milwaukee Irish Fest
Milwaukee Irish Fest
Milwaukee Irish Fest is a yearly ethnic festival held at the Henry Maier Festival Park, on the Lake Michigan, USA, every third weekend in August. More than 130,000 people attend the Fest each year to take in nearly 250 acts on 17 stages. The four-day festival in downtown Milwaukee started in 1981...
, and Wintergrass. The band has been asked to return almost every year to several festivals across Europe, headlining at the United Kingdom's Warwick and Trowbridge
Trowbridge Village Pump Festival
Village Pump FestivalStarted over 30 years ago in a barn at the lamb Inn Trowbridge, it then moved to Stowford Manor Farm, Farleigh Hungerford, England...
festivals, as well as at festivals in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. The band has also toured in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. According to Landa, their European travels are some of their most successful and popular performances, explaining why they travel to Europe so frequently for long musical tours.
The Paperboys' live performances have been described as high energy and accessible, and they have a reputation for gaining new fans after a single performance. The loyalty of fans to The Paperboys has been previously described as "a growing cult-like following in recent years."
Musical style and influences
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
have referred to The Paperboys' music as 'reminiscent of early Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
', and they have also been compared at times to a "laid back country version" of the The Eagles. While their music is hard is sometimes hard to describe, The Paperboys themselves have described it as "Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
with a tequila
Tequila
Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....
chaser while listening to an Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
Jukebox." Other descriptions of The Paperboys have described a fusion of Celtic folk with Bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n, zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influences. Their songs range from traditional Celtic jigs to modern love songs. Landa has said that one of his own stronger influences in music is the Mexican style of music called Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho
Son Jarocho is a traditional musical style of Veracruz, a Mexican state along the Gulf of Mexico. It evolved over the last two and a half centuries along the coastal portions of southern Tamaulipas state and Veracruz state, hence the term jarocho, a colloquial term for people or things from the...
, whose most well-known song is Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens
Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....
's La Bamba
La Bamba (song)
"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...
. Tom Landa's songwriting has been cited as world-class by Chris Nickerson of the Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
.
The band has also been noted for recording a number of pop and rock covers — including The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "I've Just Seen a Face
I've Just Seen a Face
"I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by The Beatles. It appears on their 1965 United Kingdom album Help!, although in the United States it and "It's Only Love" first appeared on the Capitol version of the Rubber Soul album.-Composition:...
" on Molinos and Sting's "Fragile
Fragile (song)
"Fragile" is a song composed by English musician Sting from his 1987 album ...Nothing Like the Sun. Released as a single the following year, it placed to number 70 on the UK Singles Chart. Sung additionally in both Spanish and Portuguese under the title Fragilidad, it appeared twice more on his...
" on The Road to Ellenside — which incorporate traditional Celtic jigs and reels into the arrangements.
According to Landa, his bandmate Geoffrey Kelley's other band, Spirit of the West, is a major influence on himself and The Paperboys. Landa said, "Even when playing with (Geoffrey), and him being in the same room, I will still say they were a very big influence on me. I'd almost dare to say that had it not been my hearing their records, I would never have been into Celtic music to begin with -- so the band may not even exist."
Discography
- January (1993)
- Late as Usual (1995)
- Molinos (1997), Allmusic [ link]
- Postcards (2000), Allmusic [ link]
- Tenure (2002)
- Dilapidated Beauty (2003)
- The Road to Ellenside (2006)
- Callithump (2009)
Awards and nominations
- 2001 Juno Awards, Best Roots & Traditional Album - Group, Postcards (nominated)
- 2000 West Coast Music Award, Best Roots Recording, Postcards (winner)
- 1998 Juno Awards, Best Roots & Traditional Album - Group, Molinos (winner)
- 1998 West Coast Music Award, Best Roots Recording, Molinos (winner)
- 1996 Juno Awards, Best Roots & Traditional Album - Group, Late As Usual (nominated)
External links
- The Paperboys official website
- The Paperboys official German website
- The Paperboys official YouTube channel
- The Paperboys profile on the Country Music TelevisionCountry Music TelevisionCountry Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
website