It’s hard to imagine that Art Turner -- with a rare Formal Showcase at the North American Folk Alliance, a spot on Canada’s all-star guitar compilation Six Strings North of the Border 2, and a string of major festival slots under his belt -- didn’t pick up an instrument till the tender age of 31. A former motorcycle racer and professional photographer of some national renown, Art took a hard left turn when he traded his Hasselblad for a handmade acoustic guitar, and never looked back. Ten years and three critically-acclaimed albums later, he has blossomed into one of Canada’s finest guitarists, a fixture on CBC Radio and the folk festival circuit, and an internationally recognized composer, with a transcription of one of his tunes recently published in the popular American magazine Fingerstyle Guitar. Described as “music your soul might sing on a late-night train trip,” Art’s unique brand of percussive, hauntingly emotive “aboriginoceltic fingerstyle worldfolk” is evocative, articulate, and delivered with unmistakable passion. As Six Strings 2 producer Bill Garrett puts it, "There's no question that Art paints an aural landscape that lets the listener go far beyond their living room loudspeakers and on to other places. He is a formidable artist with a wide palette." Or CBC's Disc Drive host Jurgen Gothe, whose Hit List of best albums of the year Turner has made 3-for-3: "Big, bold, atmospheric; percussive, lyrical, full-frontal, tranquil; meditative, incendiary… In the heart and hands of Art Turner, we hear the hegemony of Hedges, the fleet fingerwork of Fahey, the blaze of Basho, and lyricism of Lang... And underneath it all, never very far from the surface, the sure-handed skills of one hell of a steel-string picker." An often hilariously entertaining raconteur as well as a captivating performer, Art’s name has appeared on the roster of some of Canada’s finest music festivals, including the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Victoria’s Rootsfest, the Ottawa Folk Festival, the Canterbury Folk Festival, and the Dawson City Music Festival. From Nova Scotia to Colorado; Vancouver Island to the heart of the Great Plains, Art has wowed audiences, both as a solo performer and as opening act for Cheryl Wheeler, Kelly Joe Phelps, Colin Linden, Stephen Fearing and others. In the spring of 2006 Art was invited to join Grammy-winning guitarists Will Ackerman and David Cullen on a Canada/US “Three-Guitar-Night” tour in the works for early 2007. Sonora, Art’s fourth album (April 2006) is his finest work to date, featuring a mix of spacious, powerful solo guitar pieces, and collaborations with a who’s-who of some of North America’s most sought-after instrumentalists, including violinist Hugh Marsh (Bruce Cockburn, Loreena McKennitt), fretless bass wizard Michael Manring (John Gorka, Michael Hedges), and cellist Anne Bourne (Jane Siberry, Loreena McKennitt). "Sonora is the perfect kind of instrumental record," says Turner. "You can sit down in a big chair with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and listen really intently all the way through, or just have it on in the background. It stands up either way. There are some sparse, introspective pieces mixed in, but even those have a certain visceral power -- this is definitely no foofy new age record. Nor is it something only guitar players will get into. Anyone who's a fan of Bruce Cockburn, Loreena McKennitt, Michael Hedges, Marshal & Anger, or Zubot and Dawson will really like this CD." CONTACT: C/O Redtail Records (204) 774-9052. e: redtail@mts.net. web: www.artturner.com