“an excellent musician, lyricist and communicator” (Melanie Fernandez, Director, Community and Educational Programmes, Harbourfront Centre) “Pat is simply chamber music storytelling for the serious listener.” (Tim Perez, Artistic Director, Vancouver International Storytelling Festival) These are some of the accolades from presenters describing Pat Braden’s solo performance piece titled, “ A Place to call Home ”, a 90 minute montage of stories and songs, reflecting on coming of age in the northern mining town of Yellowknife, NWT. Braden guides you to the family cabin where he grew up, to “the shacks and shanties of the Woodyard” in the Old Town of Yellowknife, describing them within the context of the northern lights, the bitter cold, the endless days of summer and the migrations marking the passing of the seasons. Pat sings of the people in his community, the eccentric characters, musicians and old timers who lived in those old town shacks and of friends, family and loves, celebrating their influence on his life. He weaves story into song, song into story, sometimes the spoken word resonating over a textural bed of music, a rolling chord pattern or a shimmering soundscape, generated on the Chapman Stick™. Braden is much more than a musician. He is a storyteller and songwriter who weaves his soft-spoken voice with textual musical elements to paint exquisitely beautiful images of the land and the people he loves. “ A Place to call Home” has been presented at the Performance Creation Canada Conference showcase, Whitehorse Sept. 2006, annual Storytelling Festivals, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Hay River, Enterprise, NT, 2005-2008, Great Northern Arts Festival, Inuvik, NT. The show was also staged at Harbourfront Centre for the Arts, Toronto, ON July 2007, Imperial Theatre, St. John, NB, Feb. 2008, Harrison Festival of the Arts, Harrison Hot Springs, BC, July 2008, The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, Yellowknife, NT, January/October, 2008, the Vancouver Storytelling Festival, Feb. 2009 and the Talking Stick Festival, Feb 2009, Vancouver BC. Pat released a CD of the live NACC recording in October, 2008, the CD is available from him at his address in this listing. “Watching Pat Braden perform is like taking a slice of the northern lights and finding yourself mesmerized by the music he paints and very much alive because of the stories he tells” (Ben Nind, Artistic Director, Northern Arts and Cultural Centre)