BIOGRAPHY
 Ten years ago Mo Canada released Stoney Lonesome, a flatpicking instrumental CD that received rave reviews in various trade magazines. In his review in the July/August 1997 issue of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine (Vol1, No5), Bryan Kimsey said, “Mo’s technique is already well-developed and he plays with great tone, excellent timing, and snappy articulation.” A review in Bluegrass Unlimited (June 1996) stated, “He shows off an impressive use of timing and space in his breaks. You’d expect someone of his age to just plow through the songs, putting in as many notes as he can, but his breaks in ‘Huckleberry Hornpipe’ are full of interesting twists, turns and stops. Canada has “touch.” There’s a relaxed, comfortable feeling in even the fastest tunes. He doesn’t overplay, doesn’t even seem to wander out on a limb too far. He’s under control at all times.”
These descriptions of Mo’s abilities reflect praise worthy of a seasoned player with years of performing and recording experience. Amazingly, Mo recorded Stoney Lonesome in one weekend when he was just fourteen years old. Even more amazing is that at the time he recorded the CD he had only been playing the guitar for about a year. Adding to the shock of this young kid with little experience performing so well was the fact that the musicians performing with him on the recording included veteran bluegrass masters Tony Rice, Rickie Simpkins, and Ronnie Simpkins. All of the magazine reviews of Mo’s CD concluded the same way, “We’re going to be hearing a lot more from him over the years.”
It has been a decade since those reviews appeared in print and, as for recorded solo projects, we haven’t seen anything from Mo Canada. However, that long silence was recently broken by the October 2006 release of Mo’s second solo CD Grassoline. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely! Mo still has great timing, tone, power, speed, and articulation, but over the past ten years his playing has matured and he has developed his own style and sound. He has also become an impressive composer of original music. The music and guitar playing on Grassoline lives up to every prediction made about Mo ten years ago, and then some.
By June of 2006 Mo felt as though he had written enough original material to record his new CD. He contacted his old friend Rickie Simpkins and Rickie recommended that Mo record at Wyatt Rice’s studio. To help him out, Mo was interested in having all of his friends in music become involved in the project. He recruited Rickie Simpkins, Tony Rice, and his father Ed Canada, who were all included on this first CD. He also asked his friends from ETSU—Chad Light, Kevin Light, Raymond McLain, Taro Inoue, Darrell Webb, JP Mathes—to be involved. Additionally, Mo asked old friends Scott Vestal (banjo) and Phil Leadbetter (Dobro) to add their talents.
The only musician who was part of the new CD that Mo did not know previously was Dobro player Randy Kohrs. Mo said, “I saw Randy perform at the Down Home in Johnson City and I loved his playing. When we started recording I had only asked Randy to play on two songs, but I loved what he did so much that he ended up being on almost every song.”
Of the twelve cuts on Grassoline, nine of them are Mo Canada originals. The three tunes that are covers include Alan Munde and Byron Berline’s “Deputy Dalton,” Tony Rice’s “Old Grey Coat,” and the old traditional number “Ruben.” Regarding these choices, Mo said, “My dad, myself, and George Adkins had played ‘Deputy Dalton’ a lot back home. It is a great song and nobody has done it in a while. I wanted to record ‘Old Grey Coat’ with Tony for the same reason. Tony wrote that song back in the seventies and people haven’t played it in a long time. I thought it would be good to bring it back out.” Regarding the selection of “Lonesome Ruben” Mo said, “I was trying to write another song and I just couldn’t finish it. It turned out to be fit nicely as a bridge in ‘Lonesome Ruben’. I played it in a way that I’ve not heard anyone else do it.”
The original tunes on Grassoline are exciting and fresh and the cast of musicians who participate on this CD pull them off masterfully. Mo said, “One of the last songs that I wrote, just to fill up the space, was ‘Chicken House’. I thought it would be the weakest cut on the recording, but the way everyone played on it made it way better than I thought it would be. A lot of people have told me that it is their favorite tune on the CD.” Mo said that one of the things that helped make the songs sound fresh on the guitar is that he wrote many of them on the mandolin. He said, “Writing on the mandolin makes me think about the song differently.” Regarding Mo’s skill as a composer Raymond McLain, the head of ETSU’s bluegrass department, said, “This mature work of art reflects the many years he has worked honing his skill. As a composer, he comes up with fresh music perfectly suited to his instrument and style.”
DISCOGRAPHY
CDs
Grassoline
PURCHASE: Flatpicking Mercantile | iTunes
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Joining Mo Canada on this disc are: Tony Rice, Randy Kohrs, Phil Leadbetter, Rickie Simpkins, Kevin Light, Darrell Webb, Ed Canada, Chad Light, Scott Vestal, Taro Inoue, Raymond McLain, and JP Mathes. The CD was engineered and mixed by Wyatt Rice.
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Track List:
1. Weaver's Bend
2.Leap Frog
3. White Rock
4. Deputy Dalton
5. Spring Has Sprung
6. Brownee (Last Southern Belle)
7. Fairview
8. Goodbye Allison
9. Chicken House
10. Old Grey Coat
11. Lonesome Ruben
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Appearances on other FGM Releases:
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LINKS
Check out Mo Canada's website at: http://mocanada.com/
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