I Rarely post New Here, but here is where you can follow me... 

Just doing some long overdue updates here and realized there has been no new news here for a long while.  For real time updates on what is going on, follow me here on Facebook or Twitter.  For snail mail paced updates tune in here.

This summer is shaping up to be a good one.  Been back awhile from my recent West Coast tour, promoting my new album "Live at The Acoustic Grill" which you can find at the Store.  The West Coast was as lovely as I remembered, haven't been back in 15 years but lived there for 10.  Was great to see and play with old friends, sharing the bill several times with local duo Hearse.  

As for what is coming up, I'll be at my usual Wednesday post, on the stage of The Chateau Lafayette and heading both South and East in the latter months, tune into the o'l FB for all the notifications on dates and places!

Two Great Shows Comin' Your Way!! 

Two big shows coming up- I will be playing Marvest as part of City Folk with my new power trio on Saturday Sept 19th at the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park at 11:30 pm . The following week, I will be at Live On Elgin on Friday the 25th of Sept with the Epic Proportions with Birdie Whyte opening the show. Come and see the full rock explosion, we can fall in love all over again.

RBC Bluesfest, July 17 2015, 7pm, Bell Stage 

Delighted to say that I will be performing on the main stage opening for the Dropkick Murphys and The Tragically Hip.
I will of course have the inimitable Epic Proportions , Fred Guignon, Olivier Fairfield and Phil Charbonneau as my backup band. This will be a great evening, looking forward to seeing you there!!

Saturday May 24 Spirit of Rasputin's 

This Saturday, May 24th at 8 pm I will be giving a performance at The Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Avenue N in Ottawa, as part of the Spirit of Rasputin's concert series.
The series is dedicated to preserving the essence of Rasputin's folk club in Ottawa , which closed in 2008 after decades of being the only real listening room in Ottawa for small folk shows. It was a wonderful thing to be able to hear great music in an intimate and cozy venue, and I had the pleasure of putting on some shows there when it was still open. 
      The Westboro Masonic hall is a wonderful room with great acoustics and the perfect place to carry on this tradition of  listening shows. As an audience every subtlety of a performance is accessible and becoming immersed in the music is effortless. This is a rare opportunity to catch me doing a set in this type of environment, and I am looking forward to giving my best that evening. 
       For the occasion I have enlisted some truly talented and skilled players. On upright bass I will be featuring Phil Charbonneau , who has been a regular member of my band for the last six years. Phil has played on dozens of local albums and with dozens of local bands, currently including The Hilotrons, Jim Bryson, Her Harbour, and his own project Scattered Clouds. He is an extremely inspired, adept and conscientious player, an all around great musician. 
        Gilles Leclerc (of the Dusty Drifters, Lynne Hanson) will be aiding and abetting the evenings proceedings on Mandolin, He is a rare combination of high technical fluidity married with impeccable taste, and as we've been rehearsing the material I have gotten the kind of goosebumps you get when magic happens on more than one occasion when he starts playing. 
          Birdie Whyte , my significant other and musical partner when I play as my alter ego Frank Western, will be joining in on Banjo and vocals for a few tunes, her stage presence alone is enough to bring a smile to your face, but as it happens she is also a delightful singer and player. She has been doing shows lately with The Noisy Locomotive, as well as her own weekly show on Sundays at the Chateau Lafayette.
           Last but not least , i will be bringing up Catriona Sturton to play Harmonica on a few numbers as well. A student of Harmonica virtuosos Carlos Del Junco and Jason Ricchi , and a teacher herself, this won't be her first rodeo, Catriona toured Canada and the States playing bass with her band Plumtree in the 90s , full time, and in the 2000's she has kept busy diligently honing her Harp chops. You hear the richness in her tone and you say to yourself" that's how it's done"
             We will be performing material from all three of my albums  and some newer material as well. Tickets are available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, 1111 Bank St .(just south of the Glebe) Online at rasputins.ca , or at the door. 
              Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to seeing you there!
Regards, 
John

Live Recording at The Acoustic Grill in Picton! 

The Acoustic Grill has it's own record label "Acoustic Jam Records", founded by owner Steve Purtelle and Jenny Leigh. They release only live albums that have been recorded straight from the stage at the Grill. So far they have release seven of these live albums, and John Carroll is about to record its eighth!  On Saturday, March 1st, John Carroll invites you to be the live studio audience on  his new record, "Live at The Acoustic Grill"!  7pm | FREE | 172 Main Street Picton

Nov. 22nd BACK AT THE BLACKSHEEP WITH THE WICKED MERCY 

Back at The Black Sheep, JOHN CARROLL & THE EPIC PROPORTIONS have had a summer of shows where they have sharpened their elements, honed their thoughts and dug deep into their fertile fields. They've mastermind a map of musical mayhem to send you into a musical oblivion!

If that isn't enough, they are going to be joined by blues band THE WICKED MERCY, who are so on fire, you better bring buckets of water to keep you cool.

With these two acts hot as coals, you better believe The Black Sheep is going to be the sauna that brings you to your spiritual musical experience!

Tix are $10, can be purchased on The Black Sheep site, or from both Compact Music Locations in Ottawa or purchase from John and Tiah at the Laff on Tues. Wed. Or Sun after 8pm.

A bus will be leaving the night of the show from The Chateau Lafayette (The Laff) on 42 York, in the Byward Market at 7pm. The return trip will be leaving Wakefield at 12am. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved at bookings@johncarrollmusic.com or purchased from John and Tiah at the Laff on Tues. Wed. Or Sun after 8pm.

JULY 14TH 1:45PM RIVERSTAGE @ THE OTTAWA BLUESFEST - JOHN CARROLL & THE EPIC PROPORTIONS 

 John and the band have been preparing heavily for this upcoming show at Ottawa's RBC Bluesfest!  Not only have they been doing the usual green smoothie diet, the one fingered pushups and the terribly hot yoga, but they have been channelling the spirtits of Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mississipe Fred McDowell, Lead Belly, and yes a little Prince.  At exactly 1:45pm on July 14th, John Carroll and The Epic Proportions with hit the River Stage, dressed in their Sunday best, to give you the most rockin', most rollin' most awesomest show you'll ever hear!   

ottawabluesfest.ca

EAST COAST TOUR WITH CATRIONA STURTON -ROAD JOURNAL 

  Day 2 on the road. Catriona insists we only eat what we kill with our own hands. While i am content with subsisting on tree bark and the odd elderly squirrel, she keeps turning to me and saying "those hitchhikers were delicious". Nova Scotia is beautiful.

Day 3 on the road- off to halifax to play the company house tonight. Mill village last night for house concert was great. I told catriona absolutely no pyrotechnics, but i did catch her stuffing matcheads into ping pong balls. She told me she was "holding them for a friend".

Day 4 on the road- after a mind blowingly great night at the company house in halifax, we make our to sydney, on the way catriona insists we must liberate the lobsters. At first i am confused, thinking it is a euphemism for some kind of new age ritual, but when she rushes into the water and starrts dismantling traps, i realize i need to think fast. I manage to subdue her eco frenzy and reassure her with a rousing renditon of" circle of life " from the lion king.

Day five on the road- last night was spent playing yet another wonderful room-the cape breton fudge company in sydney. Catriona insists on videoing every thing i do for her " tour journal". For the most part this is fine, but i did wake in the middle of the night to her hovering over me with a camera, i am pretty sure she was speaking in tongues. The really weird part is that the camera wasn't on .

day whatever the hell day it is on the road-today on the road to gander from port au basques something miraculous happened. without any warning catriona pulled the van over and hopped out by the side of the highway. she began to play her harmonica. at first i was puzzled, but then slowly, one by one curious mooses began to emerge from the forest. soon she had a lively crowd of mooses, all dancing and throwing moose money ( quarters,silly) into her hat. tomorrow night the Ship, in St. John's.

Day 7?8?579??????on the road- finally we made it to st john's yesterday, and played the ship. While nobody has asked me to "kiss the cod", i did run into a codfish who tried put it's fin down my trousers. On a personal note, I know we just met st john's, but this definitely love at first sight for me.

first day of wifi since the last day we had wifi which was days ago of being on the road- sometimes in newfoundland someone wants to know what whifee is. if i was confronted with that question i would say its delicious with a side of whipped cream . but really i would be secretly feeling elated that there are still people who don't know what whifee is.

OTTAWA BLUESFEST POP-UP CONCERT & OTTAWA JAZZFEST WITH THE EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!! 

 On June 27th you will find John doing his solo thing for the RBC BLUESFEST POP-UP CONCERT SERIES  at 90 Sparks at 11am.  Grab your jabba and catch a bit of John to brighten your morn!

Then its and afternoon at the OTTAWA JAZZFEST with John and the full band THE EPIC PROPORTIONS consiting, as always, of top-shelf musicianstop-shelf Ottawa musicians Olivier Fairfield (percussion), Phil Charbonneau (bass, upright bass) & Fred Guignon (lap slide, electric guitar).  Catch them doing their thing on Sun, June 30, 2013, 2pm on the OLG Stage, Festival Plaza, Ottawa!!  

LIKE A LINE COOK BEFORE THE MORNING RUSH: JUNE IS FULL OF GREAT SHOWS! 

 June will be having John Carroll jumping.  He'll be going to Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland to play some great places with harmonica heorine, Catriona Sturton.  The joining forces of Carroll & Sturton can be read about here: http://blog.ottawashowbox.com/2013/03/11/john-carroll-and-catriona-sturton-at-pressed-cafe/

All details of the shows can be found on John's facebook event's page, dates include:

Mill Village House Concert, Mill Village, NB, June 14th
Halifax Public Library Workshop, Halifax, NB, June 15th

The Company House w/ Chris Martin, Halifax, NB, June 15th
Cape Breton Fudge Co., Sydney, NB, June 16th
The Ship, St. John's, NL, June 19th
Nautical Nellies, St. John's, NL, June 20th
Phil's Shed, Fogo Island, NL, June 21st
The Two Whales, Port Rexton, NL, June 22nd
Grumpy's, Montreal, QC, June 28th



OTTAWA RBC BLUESFEST POP-UP CONCERT, THURSDAY JUNE 27TH

The morning of June 27th @ 11am, John Carroll will be serenading Sparks St. as part of RBC Bluesfest Pop-Up Concert Series.  Grab your cup of Joe and take in some outdoor, live art.  Free!

OTTAWA JAZZ FEST, SUNDAY JUNE 30TH, 2PM: JOHN CARROLL & THE EPIC PROPORITONS: OGL STAGE, FESTIVAL PLAZA

What more can be said?  This is going to be a fantastic show!  John and The Epic Proportinos have been drinking green smoothies, doing one-fingered push-ups, and terribly hot yoga once again, in preperation for this show!  www.ottawajazzfestival.com