NaPoWriMo #2 - Sparks Sparks In the predawn dark After wrestling with my bladder An early awakening I turn on no lights To keep the house asleep And maybe myself with it I hush the door shut Take off my robe Move it towards the hook and see The sparks Hear the crack Of
NaPoWriMo #1 - When the Needle Surrenders When the needle surrenders to the groove There is a new song Or is it an old song Played for the first time on this Emerson console? Christmas With Harry Belafonte Folsom Prison Made new by Warp tuning Crackle and hiss Harmonizing with electric hum Even the house joins the
The Goods for a Pandemic Even in a Pandemic, There’s Good All Around Us It’s not hard to find reasons for despair as we are all at home by law or by choice to stop the spread of COVID-19. But I’ve also found it surprisingly easy to find reasons to hope. Whether
The Goods for a Pandemic Even in a Pandemic, There’s Good All Around Us It’s not hard to find reasons for despair as we are all at home by law or by choice to stop the spread of COVID-19. But I’ve also found it surprisingly easy to find reasons to hope. Whether
A Musician's Guide to Live Streams That Look and Sound Awesome Live Streams are Exploding Right Now Maybe you’ve been wanting to try live streaming for a long time. Maybe you thought you’d never pick up a phone and hit that LIVE button. Whatever you thought of live streaming at the start of 2020, it has quickly become the
March Concert Dates Hello from the bow tie bunker! Spring is creeping up fast and with the warmer weather I’m getting ready to hit the road for a series of shows that will take me around the province. Here’s where you can catch Von Bieker performances this month, along with event
The Goods for February 21, 2020 I’m a collector of good things. Something wonderful happens when we take a moment to celebrate the fantastic things going on all around us – especially when it’s easy to focus on the less-than-fantastic and downright maddening. A simple shift of focus might do you some good this week.
"Take Her Easy" is A Grief in Process Today I am releasing my latest song, Take Her Easy. Unlike my other tracks, Take Her Easy is free. You can get it right here, right now. Get Take Her Easy Free The song is also available now to stream on all major platforms – Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play,
Songs From Home: Off The Cuff Each Wednesday I play a half hour set from the comfort of my home to yours. Or your office. Or your bus ride. I’m open to requests, so be sure to comment if you have something you’d like to hear me attempt. This week I played “off the
Songs From Home: Places We Can't Live Part One Each Wednesday at noon I go live on Facebook, with a new half-hour set of originals and covers. This week, I introduced my upcoming album Places We Can’t Live by playing a selection of new tunes on the album, and old tunes that the album is transforming. Enjoy the
Show Announcements for January 2020 2020 has somehow arrived and with a new decade come new opportunities. Here are the places I’m performing this month. January 23 – The Red Hart, Red Deer The Red Hart is a fantastic brewery and taproom owned by some fine folks. I’m happy to return to this cozy,
Knowing He Would Fail, He Set Goals For the past several years I’ve been making and breaking goals each year around this time. I don’t mean ‘breaking’ like you would break a world record or even break a sweat. I mean failing. Why bother setting goals at all? I view resolutions as a “shoot for
The Waiting Season Christmas Time is Here. Almost. ‘Tis the season of waiting. I play a 1963 Silvertone guitar. I remember seeing the online listing. I debated back and forth. I worked the budget. I wondered how wise it was to order a fragile old guitar from Vancouver Island in the mail. The
What If Nobody Shows? I’m afraid of crowds. But not like you think. I’m afraid the crowds won’t show. I’ve had to confront this ugly truth about myself this week and I thought this might be something you deal with too. It all came to a head Saturday evening. My
"Good This Year" Is Your Heart-Haunting Christmas Playlist Christmas music can be annoying, cloying and soul-destroying. If you’ve dialled in your easy-listening radio station only to find Elton John replaced by endless renditions of the same twenty ‘classics’ on a sadistic loop, I have a gift for you this season. Christmas is a season of depth. Light
Facebook Live for Dads Good news for fans of Bow Tie Rock – I’ll be going live on Facebook every Wednesday at noon for a series of concerts called Songs From Home. Except for this Wednesday. Today. Because I’m a dad. Because real life. This week, you can catch me on Thursday, November
I'm Open for Business ANNOUNCEMENT ALERT – I’m officially open for business as a freelance graphic and web designer! If you need any design work done, I’d love to chat. This is all very exciting, but risky too. Last week I left my steady part-time job in marketing to move towards a life
A Cloud of Sacred Pain It’s been more than a week since my friend Cheryl Muth died and I’ve been wrestling with that loss. I am grieving, but I’ve found unexpected comfort. On Monday afternoon I found myself in awe as a thousand people gathered to celebrate Cheryl Muth’s life. I
Cheryl in the Golden Light My friend and mentor Cheryl Muth passed away this week. She was hit by a vehicle while crossing the street and suffered irreversible brain damage. For a week or so there was some hope of recovery, but it was not to be. Her death is sudden, senseless and surreal. But
How to Fight for Hope To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all. Here is what I’m sure of; hope is worth fighting for. The older I get, the less I seem to know. I have plenty of information and access to infinitely more. What I’m lacking is Truth. Certainty. Faith
Cozy Up to The Sounds of Fall “I found God so late last night / on a city bench waiting for the sun to rise” These opening lines from Lucas Chaisson’s Most True Thing also open this year’s edition of my #YEG Falls playlist on Spotify. This list of original music is made and released exclusively
Are You Making Connections? Have you ever found yourself in a good situation by seemingly random chance? Then, when you look back at it, you realize a connection led you there? The people I’ve met have determined the course of my entire life, and my music career is turning out to be no
I'm Passing You A Note This weekend a stranger passed me a note. I was between songs, on stage in front of an audience. I’ll tell you what it said in a moment. First, let’s talk about that stage. It’s small – not really a stage at all. It’s a patch of
