On Friday, September 27th, the Tipsy Muse Café in downtown Fredericton hosted a small live concert from Quinn Bonnell, a singer-songwriter from Burnt Church, New Brunswick.
The lights were dimmed for Bonnell’s performance, which made the cafe feel like a sensory safe place.
Customers in the café took in the performance while enjoying Tipsy’s fantastic menu. Other customers just asked to take away, but there was a continuous cordiality between the owners, workers and customers that filled the space with positive vibes.
During the show, Bonnell was only using his guitar—as he wasn’t with his band—but that was all he needed to provide a pleasurable performance. He performed both original songs and a few covers of other artists. Some of his originals are very special to him, as he wrote them in a time he was undergoing important changes in his life.
His music is a mix of blues and folk, and his songs had a gentle and melodic sound that gave off an aura of healing. He started and ended his performance with a significant song of his called “Moving Pictures,” inspired by a story called “Pictures”.
Before playing a new song, Bonnell gave a little background on how he wrote the songs, and hearing the stories behind them made you appreciate them more. If you want to listen to some of his songs, you can visit https://soundcloud.com/quinnbonnell, where you can also download the songs for only one dollar.
The Brunswickan interviewed Bonnell before the show and when asked what brought him into music, Bonnell’s response was filled with passion. His father is a musician and plays guitar, and his mother was a music enthusiast when he was growing up. Music has been present in his life since day one.
“I’ve always felt music was like a safe bed” said Bonnell.
Bonnell’s passion and musical talent have allowed him to travel across Canada and participate in several music festivals.
Last month he participated in the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, where he has performed for the last three years.
Bonnell and his band have also performed at the Living Roots Festival, which takes place in multiple venues across Fredericton. The festival helps promote local businesses, but they also support local artists and any touring artist that would like to be part of it. The festival focuses on acoustics, roots and folk music. They have also played at another event called the Forest Fest.
Aside from the provincial performances, Bonnell and his band have also toured all the way to Toronto. He gave a shout out to Eddie Young, his booking agent/manager at Roots and Soul Music Productions. Young was the person that put everything together for the tour, and Bonnell and his band had a fantastic experience on it.
Bonnell also revealed the exciting news that he and his band will release a new album on November 23rd at the Capital Complex that will include eight songs. It will be on streaming platforms, and they plan to upload all their music to Spotify so that more people can access it.