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 Born
on the Canadian prairies in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan,
Gary Fjellgaard moved west to Prince George, B.C. as a teenager and got
his first break in show business when he barnstormed with Hall of Famer Evan
Kemp & his B.C. Trailriders. However, reality was a chainsaw
during the week and a guitar on the weekends to support his growing
family. These blue collar years and his prairie roots became a basis for
many of Gary’s songs. In 1970 music became a full time occupation. Since
then, he has taken his music to the people with a rare sincerity, baring
his soul in each and every live appearance and recording session; he's
never forgotten what it's like to be "Ten Years Old &
Barefoot". As a champion of vanishing values and frontier
spirit, Gary's songs about lone horsemen riding through verdant valleys
and along moonlit mountainside trails are not fabricated solely from his
imagination. He keeps in touch with his roots riding in the Annual
Kamloops Cattle Drive, and has entertained at Cowboy gatherings
from Calgary to Tucson.
His western roots music has survived categorization, and
a move to Gabriola Island on Canada's West Coast brought
a universal quality to his songwriting. As one writer put it: "His
music is so rich that his art is free of bitterness, whining, self pity
and manufactured pathos". His strong sense of self worth has always
meant that his songs ring as true as the man himself. When Gary began to
travel to Europe to entertain, he was received enthusiastically, and Voted
"Most Promising International Artist" at the Dutch
Country Music Awards in 1989. A year later, his video for the
award winning song "Somewhere On The lsland"
was in rotation at CMT Nashville for more than eight months.
Gary has played with some world class musicians over the years and still
calls them on occasion to augment his sound. His shows range from the
intimacy of the small theatre to the excitement of main stage appearances
at Canada's top festivals like the Big Valley Jamboree,
the Merritt Mountain Music Festival and the Canada
Day Celebrations on Parliament Hill.
Recent dates with fellow balladeer Valdy emphasized that
a man with a guitar case full of songs, some known and cherished by fans,
others new and surprising, is the basic element of the music biz. The two
entertainers joined forces at the end of each night performing half a
dozen songs together, ending the show with Roger Miller's
"King Of The Road", the quintessential road song.
His lifelong love for his wife, Lynne, his four daughters, and many
grandchildren is lovingly portrayed in many of his songs. As busy as this
man's touring schedule might get at times, he still finds time to help the
budding songwriter at seminars and workshops from the Yukon to Montana.
After 30 years as a professional musician, with seven of his songs
being picked as Song of the Year, Gary Fjellgaard looks back on a
rewarding career and gratefully acknowledges with fondness, the hundreds
of towns and cities, and thousands of listeners who have been touched by
his music. "He is a poet of the extravagantly good side of
the human spirit; breathtakingly sane and compassionate."
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