Paul Woolner
Singer-Songwriter | Americana/Roots | Storyteller
Paul Woolner is an artist whose music draws from his lifetime of rich experience. Based in Ontario’s Beaver Valley, Paul’s unique blend of introspective storytelling matched with fingerstyle acoustic guitar, create timeless songs that explore life’s seasons and memories. Paul’s songwriting is rife with quiet revelations as he thoughtfully explores a range of themes within his genre. His music pays homage to the golden folk, roots and blues era; a time when music was more fluid, visceral and the line between artist and audience was beautifully thin.
Woolner came of age as a songwriter playing the coffeehouse circuit as a teenager, hitchhiking to Toronto’s Yorkville Village and performing in venues across Canada. His songwriting sensibilities were shaped early by a hardworking, blue-collar upbringing. This fundamental and formative period saw him expanding musically, fronting and writing the music of the Canadian folk-rock Kit Carson and sharing stages with folk and roots artists such as Melanie and Jerry Jeff Walker. It was also during this time that Paul began to pursue a parallel path in entrepreneurship and building organizations of integrity, fueled by furthering his academic achievements and resulting in a Masters and Doctorate degrees from the University of Toronto.
Throughout his life, Paul has been an artist, a business co-founder, a community builder and a lifelong learner. Of his music and his most recent recording Paul talks about his approach to writing characterized by “Crafting the space to allow each song to develop fully into its genre and style.” Wooler has been influenced by many genres from folk, folk rock, blues, hard rock, the British invasion, new wave, California based music of the 60s and 70s to classical music and modern singer songwriters. “I love to explore and integrate genres. My favorite radio stations are those where the listener is surprised and delighted by the variety of the curators’ song choices.”
More recently Paul continued his adventures in music and further honed his songwriting under the banner of Live the Dash; a project that was composed of talented touring musicians from Grey-Bruce County. Throughout this incarnation, Paul revealed his frontman capabilities, as the songwriter and through his powerful onstage presence.
Paul’s new Album entitled “Memory Like Water”, marks a return to his roots; a body of work with great perspective that explores themes of change, reflection on the past and hopes for the future. Spare, yet full-sounding arrangements built around Paul’s acoustic guitar playing and vocals complimented by bass, drums, keys from guest performers weave depth into texture. Think John Hiatt meets Daniel Lanois. Recorded largely in his home studio in Beaver Valley by veteran producer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Mckay (Night Crawlers, Joy Drop) at the helm, the songs are warm, rustic; immersed both in light and shadow.
The songs range from the climate-aware “The Winter That Never Was” to the family epic “Isaac’s Lament,” rooted in his ancestors’ emigration to Ontario in 1832 and the tragedy that befell them. Whereas tracks like “No Turning Back” is a song about courage, other songs like “Blue Morning” and “Moving On” offer deeply personal sentiments of love, letting go, and life’s inevitable movement forward.
Outside of music, Paul is an avid surfer, backcountry skier, and community advocate and an active member of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance. His guiding force is a love of learning, connection, and the ever-evolving nature of the human experience. Look for Paul’s new single to be released this autumn and tour announcements coming soon!