{"id":6654,"date":"2013-04-03T17:21:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T17:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=6654"},"modified":"2013-04-03T17:21:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T17:21:20","slug":"corin-raymonds-million-dollar-folk-record-paper-nickels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2013\/04\/03\/corin-raymonds-million-dollar-folk-record-paper-nickels\/","title":{"rendered":"Corin Raymond\u2019s \u201cMillion dollar\u201d folk record Paper Nickels"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"cantire2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Sheldon Birnie<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been finding these songs for the last 20 years, hearing songs by peers that I wanted to sing,\u201d Corin Raymond explains over the phone from Edmonton. Having just completed a string of shows in Alberta, Raymond is about to jump on a plane to Kamloops for a short tour of southern British Columbia in support of his \u201cmillion dollar Canadian folk record,\u201d Paper Nickels<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wait, what? Million dollar Canadian folk record?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry, friend. You\u2019re not experiencing an acid flashback here.<\/p>\n

For the past year and a half, Winnipeg born, Toronto based singer-songwriter Corin Raymond has been collecting Canadian Tire Money (CTM) in a bizarre and purely Canadian crowd-sourcing experiment in order to finance a double-album of (mostly) cover songs, Paper Nickel<\/em>s. Each of the 20 tracks featured is written by a pal of Corin\u2019s, including a good quarter of the album by Winnipeg based songwriters. At the time of pressing, Corin had accumulated some $7,000+ in CTM. To amass that amount of Sandy McTires, about one million dollars would need to be spent on car batteries, hockey sticks, snow shovels, and the other fine products Canadian Tire stocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like it was necessary,\u201d Raymond explains, telling Stylus the project has been in the works for a few years now. \u201cThere are a lot of people recording songs that don\u2019t need to be recorded. Songs by Leonard Cohen and Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. But there are these other folks that nobody really knows about who are writing songs as good as anything out there. That\u2019s what Paper Nickels<\/em> is all about. It\u2019s a gallery of what we\u2019ve got going on in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

With tunes from songwriters across Canada, and even a couple from \u201chonourary\u201d Canadians Jonathan Byrd and David Ross MacDonald, Paper Nickels<\/em> provides a great snapshot of our country\u2019s thriving folk scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a tiny glimpse,\u201d Corin admits humbly. \u201cThere could be 25 other Paper Nickels<\/em> that would also represent the talent in this country right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

To anyone familiar with our local roots scene here in the Heart of the Continent, it should come as no surprise that a good portion of Paper Nickels\u2019 raw material is sourced straight out of Winnipeg, featuring songs written by Rob Vaarmeyer, Scott Nolan, Andrew Neville & The Poor Choices, Ridley Bent, and a tune by Raymond called \u201cPostcard from Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWinnipeg is the Austin, Texas of Canada,\u201d says Raymond. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really great music going on in other cities, but as far as songwriters, bands, guitar players, the whole musical community is concerned, Winnipeg has it all going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the inspiration itself behind the \u201cGreat Canadian Tire Caper of 2012,\u201d as Corin has affectionately dubbed the strangely organic process that led to the release of Paper Nickels<\/em>, originated in a snippet of a tune that Winnipeg\u2019s Rob Vaarmeyer brought to Corin\u2019s house one afternoon in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob just has this amazing ability to land on those things,\u201d recalls Raymond. \u201cHe showed up and he had the chorus to the song, and he sang those lines to me, \u2018Don\u2019t spend it honey, not the Canadian Tire Money.\u2019 And I just thought it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two completed the song together that afternoon. Once Raymond started playing \u201cDon\u2019t Spend It Honey\u201d live, people began tossing paper nickels (and dimes and quarters and dollars) on stage. When Raymond shared this new phenomenon he was encountering with his community online, the Canadian Tire Money literally began to pour in. (For a detailed account of the caper, pick up a copy of Paper Nickels<\/em>, which includes a 144-page hardcover booklet complete with monologues, vignettes, and copies of dozens of letters and artwork Raymond received over the course of putting the album together).<\/p>\n

\u201cCorin is a superhero,\u201d Rob Vaarmeyer, whose song \u201cOl’ Fort Mac\u201d opens the album, told Stylus<\/em>. \u201cHis power includes infectious love of songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paper Nickels includes not only \u201cOld Fort Mac\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Spend It Honey,\u201d but another Raymond\/Vaarmeyer tune called \u201cA Big Truck Brought It.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to write a truck song that only truckers would understand,\u201d explains Vaarmeyer. \u201cI showed it to Corin and he said \u2018That\u2019s awesome, but you gotta change one word.\u2019 \u00a0He told me his idea, and he was right. \u00a0But I won’t tell you which word it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaarmeyer and Raymond first met at a Brandon Folk Festival while Rob was playing bass with Andrew Neville & The Poor Choices, who also have a tune featured on Paper Nickels.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe heard [\u201cBrand New Song\u201d] on our MySpace page,\u201d Neville recalls between sets one Wednesday night at the Rose N Bee Pub. \u201cHe just loved it, [and] asked if he could just play it. I said, \u2018Sure, man.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played it everywhere,\u201d continues Neville. \u201cEvery gig he had, he played that goddamn song. He\u2019s taken it more places than I\u2019ve been even. I love the fact that he does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCorin\u2019s one of the most selfless artists I know,\u201d says Scott Nolan, who first met Raymond back in 2001 on a tour with the D-Rangers. Nolan\u2019s song \u201cDutch\u201d is featured on Side A of the album. \u201cHe is a true champion of the song, a rare and endearing quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such selflessness and pure love of song comes across loud and clear when listening to Paper Nickels<\/em>, flipping through the 144 pages of the booklet, or when watching Corin perform live. At its most base level, Paper Nickels<\/em> is an interesting collection of Canadian folk music. At a higher level though, it is an incredible and touching display of what can be done in the Small Time when someone is passionate and committed to an idea and fearless of where that idea may take you.<\/p>\n

Catch Corin Raymond\u2019s Winnipeg CD release for Paper Nickels at the Times Change(d) Friday April 5 and Saturday April 6. The shows will be \u201ccompletely different,\u201d according to Corin, so don\u2019t miss out. Oh, and bring a couple paper nickels of your own if you get them to give to the cause. To date, Corin has raised $7,333 in Canadian Tire Money towards production of the album.<\/em><\/p>\n

-photo from CBC<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheldon Birnie \u201cI\u2019ve been finding these songs for the last 20 years, hearing songs by peers that I wanted to sing,\u201d Corin Raymond explains over the phone from Edmonton. Having just completed a string of shows in Alberta, Raymond is about to jump on a plane to Kamloops for a short tour of southern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[212,432,563,709],"class_list":["post-6654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-corin-raymond","tag-hillbilly-highway","tag-local","tag-paper-nickels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}