Albums

The Collection

SOLO ACOUSTIC

Year Published:   2011
Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard*

Finally, here’s a collection of some of my favourite cowboy songs I’ve written over the years, as well as the classic "Streets of Laredo" taken from childhood memories. I’m performing the songs the way they were written with just guitar and voice, recorded live in the hushed atmosphere and very special acoustics of the St. Andrew’s United Church in Nanaimo, B.C. The indomitable spirit of the cowboy and the western life style has been the inspiration for this collection.

*All songs written by Gary Fjellgaard except for "Streets of Laredo", a traditional country song.

Secret Santa

Year Published:   2007
Writers:   Gary Fjellgaard*

Some of my Christmas music has been scattered on various compilations through out the years and was in danger of being lost. I finally was able to gather them all together on one CD. Studio credits have long been forgotten but the one constant has been Linda Kidder singing on most of these tracks. 

*I did record some of these songs recently at Raincoast Music with good friend Jerry Paquette on the sound board and of course Linda Kidder on bass and vocals. 

I’m grateful to the many musicians who have brought these Christmas songs to life. We tried our best to match the sound as the recordings were done in different studios over the years. I sincerely hope you enjoy these offerings and may the spirit of Christmas be with you always.

Caragana Wind

Year Published: 2005
Writers: Gary Fjellgaard
Publisher: Slim Creek Records

Listen to Caragana Wind and it will sweep you away across the Great Divide and Rocky Mountains, to the edge of the continent. From the Prairies to the Gulf Islands, down the Baja, the journey covers territory and time, stirring up memories and stories, enlivened with a breath of fresh air and fully realized in visionary songs.

Gary Fjellgaard's 12th album is his best work, signposts from 35 years on the road, playing for people and listening too, carefully observing lives and the landscape.

"I knew Caragana Wind" was a good song and it was confirmed by audiences. I searched for others in a drawer-full of unfinished material and wrote new songs that were more than just radio fodder," he recalls.  "I wanted an acoustic sound with the vocals up front, to resist the over sweetening that musicians add as protection from the scary reality of their own voices," says Fjellgaard, who would require quintuple heart surgery during the project. "I came back to the rough mix with a second wind and fresh ears," he reports, "and took my own advice about keeping a sense of humour, including in my songs and on-stage."

Caragana was grown as a windbreak and the song was written after a "good old visit" with the family homestead, in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. It’s derelict now, empty for 50 years, "barn-board grey," like the couple in the title track and obscured by plants, abandoned by humans.  This is Fjellgaard’s most diverse and ambitious work, deceptively simple, with background vocalists Linda Kidder and Peter Padden, who have sung with him for decades and hand-picked musicians, all recorded in the Gerry Paquette’s basement studio in Nanaimo.

There is a completeness in the new CD that comes with time well spent. Starting with a tribute to a horse "Sweet Nellie," it continues on an autobiographical emigration aboard a "Steel Horse Lullaby." There are side excursions: the hilarious misadventures of a gringo on a "Malecon," a couple lost in song under a "Mexican Moon," and the madcap politics of "By the Sea."  Also included are poignant longings for "Barefoot Days," a tribute to the "Raw Courage" of those who fought and lost in raging BC forest fires, and the crowd-pleasing memory of "Pop Campbell's Barn."

The familiar Fjellgaard theme of vanishing values includes Vaqueros in "If the Cowboy Goes Away," becoming comical in "Lonely Desperado," a cowboy waltz "Whisper of Love" and a final message, "The Long Haul."

"I'm fortunate to be able to use my imagination to create songs people pay to hear, enough to make a living at least," he says. "For me, it's always been about the music and the love of it."

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Contenders

Year Published: 2000
Writers: Gary Fjellgaard & Valdy*
Publisher: Stony Plain Records

*Many of the songs on this album were written by Gary, or co-written with Valdy. However, there were other co-writers on this album who deserve recognition: Bob Ruzicka, Lisa Aschman, Timothy Dean, Laurie Thane, and, of course, the great Roger Miller for King of the Road.

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Under Western Skies

Year Published: 1996
Writers: Gary Fjellgaard*
Publisher: Stony Plain Records

*All songs written by Gary Fjellgaard, except for track 9, "Train A Comin'", which was co-written with Nathan Tinkham.

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Heroes and Other Hits

Year Published: 1993
Writer: Gary Fjellgaard
Publisher: Royalty Records

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Heart Of A Dream

Year Published: 1989
Writer: Gary Fjellgaard
Publisher: Savannah Records

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Time And Innocence

Year Published: 1983
Writer: Gary Fjellgaard
Publisher: Savannah Records

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.

Me & Martin

Year Published: 1976
Writer: Gary Fjellgaard
Publisher: Royalty Records

NOTE: CD is no longer available. Please listen on streaming service.