Candyrat Guitar Night

An evening of jaw-dropping guitarists from the boundary-expanding label Candyrat Records

Ewan Dobson has established himself as one of Canada’s most brilliant and exhilarating young guitarists, having won first prize in nearly every single Classical Guitar competition across the country. His impressive list of credentials include winning the Grand Prizes from both the Burlington Rotary Fall Music Festival and the Pickering Rotary Music Festival where he emerged victorious, after having competed against the top prize winners of all of the other disciplines. In addition to dominating the provincial competition circuit, Dobson has made his mark nationally having represented Ontario twice at the National Finals of the prestigious Canadian Music Competitions (CMC) and having been awarded the top prize in guitar. In the summer of 2009, Dobson was crowned the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Champion at the prestigious 5th annual Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition held in Kingston, Ontario. Shortly after this victory, he captured another first prize in the acoustic category at the 4th Montreal Guitar Grand Prix.

Barely out of his teens, Welsh guitar phenomenon Gareth Pearson is already considered a virtuoso in the field of finger style guitar. Having only played the instrument from recent times, he has already developed a distinctive style to his playing that has earned him the greatest accolades from world renowned players; he has been called a genius by Jan Akkerman, and Tommy Emmanuel was inspired to write a song about him which he named The Welsh Tornado.

Craig D'Andrea is one of the younger faces you will find on the acoustic guitar scene, but he isn't playing like he's 24 years old. Craig has been receiving support from fans and critics alike since releasing his debut album “Crazy is Catching” on CandyRat Records in March of 2007 and his 2nd full-length CD "Get Used to Isolation". The release of his albums, along with his title of 2007 Canadian Fingerstyle Champion, has given him the chance to tour in the United States and Canada with respected artists Andy McKee, Don Ross, & Antoine Dufour .

Ryan Spendlove was born and raised in a small ex-mining village in West Yorkshire
(UK) called Gawthorpe. He started playing guitar at 18 and helped to start a 4
piece band called The Blueskins who managed to tour Europe and America before
they regrouped in 2005 and then later split in 2008. They played a few major
festivals (Leeds, Reading, South By South West.) Their most popular song
"Change My Mind" was used in a Lynx deodorant TV commercial and also in the remake of the cult classic series, “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Ryan is now playing solo and is gaining popularity in the Blues/Acoustic scene. He continues to play gigs for his fans across the United Kingdom, frequently. In January 2011 Ryan flew to Chicago, Illinois in the USA to sign a record deal with Candyrat Records, where he recorded his first solo acoustic album in 3 days. 

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