Somewhere between roving folkie and unaccredited ethnomusicologist, you'll find Cory Seznec and his imaginary world where sounds and stories merge in a messy syncretic gumbo of jubilant madness.
A founding member of Groanbox with accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman and percussionist Paul Clifford, and Seznec Bros, with his brother Yann Seznec, Cory has toured extensively with these and other projects. In addition, he co-founded the Sawmill Sessions, an Old-Time and Bluegrass collective in Paris that proposes jams, workshops, concerts, and an annual festival. A resident of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 3.5 years, he was active in two bands MistO-MistO and Damakase, which mix Ethiopian music with other African styles.
Winner of the OFQJ prize at the Blues-sur-Seine Festival in France, he was sent with his band to perform at the Festiblues de Montréal in 2014. That same year he released his first solo album Beauty In The Dirt, which received acclaim in the UK and French press.
In July 2016, Cory embarked on a trip with filmmaker Gonzalo Guajardo to Luhya country in western Kenya to make a documentary on some of the few remaining omutibo style guitar players.
In October 2016, he recorded a video lesson of some of his arrangements of New Orleans-infused fingerstyle guitar for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop (released early 2017). His second album Backroad Carnival, was released on his label, Captain Pouch Records, in June 2017 (November 2017 in France). In April 2017, he was awarded for composition in the “world music” category by the Maryland State Arts Council (US).
Contact Cory at cory(at)coryseznec.com