Stephen Hardy Palmer

Raised on gospel, country and the blues, the old time influences on a young prairie picker with a love of Doc Watson made him a good fit for psychedelic folk-rock bands touring and playing support for most of the big name suspects during the ‘60s UK invasion. And then more steady dues paid as guitarist-for-hire in country bands working the rural Alberta bar scene. He started using his voice only in the ‘80s, when he’d picked some west-coast time to study music a bit more formally. But it wasn’t ‘til he returned home to care for his mother that he found personal respite and freedom in becoming a solo performer. Now based in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, he travels a troubadour circuit around Western Canada and the Northwestern US. Forty years as a traveling musician is a lot of road, and Steve Palmer is still playing and still touring. Grown enough to sing about life and simple pleasures with all the unhurried authority of a quiet and simple folk-singing road-survivor. Sometimes compared to Hoyt Axton, Leonard Cohen, or John Prine, the echoes of Doc Watson remain clear on his albums, 'Prairie Airs', 'Roots and Strings' and 'Morning Road'. Colin Lazzerini- ‘Root Cellar’.