Melwood Cutlery

 

Melwood Cutlery

“. . . cagey and impressive work . . . eminently tuneful, curiously simple, delightfully wise” Greg Quill, Toronto Star (May 2005)

What do you call a singer-songwriter of extraordinary insight and musicianship, influenced by a blend of traditional and alt-country, folk, roots, blues and jazz, with a voice that ranges from a deep baritone to a soulful falsetto, and who has been known to yodel as the occasion demands?

Call him Melwood Cutlery because anything more specific would be far too long for a theatre marquee and too mundane to do him justice.

Cutlery was born and raised in Ottawa’s west end. His father, a PhD geologist, and his mother, a head nurse at Kingston General, met on a blind date set up by a friend. They went on to raise five children, Melwood being fourth in line. His musical interest was evident by the age of eight as he monkeyed on his Mom’s upright piano and toughened his fingers on an uncooperative Regent acoustic guitar. Musical influences included guitar-playing songwriters like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot and blues piano players such as Pinetop Perkins, Meade Lux Lewis, Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Cutlery hit the road as a young adult, living a bohemian lifestyle and working odd jobs across North America. He lived variously in Vancouver’s Gastown; Santa Barbara, California; Wolfville, Nova Scotia; Austin, Texas as well as Toronto and Ottawa. Through all this, Cutlery was developing as a writer, musician and performer.

Eventually based back in Ottawa, Cutlery emerged as a unique personality in the early-1980s folk music scene. For two years, he held a weekly gig downstairs at the old Roxy on Elgin Street, playing piano, singing, highlighting his original songs, and jamming with musicians who eventually made up “The Melwood Cutlery Mess.” Other eclectic projects included being musical director of John Gray’s 18 Wheels/A Trucker’s Musical (mounted by Theatre 2000), fronting a dance band (The Fashion Plates) and channelling Buddy Holly in a two-month run at Toronto’s El Mocambo.

But these were side-projects as Cutlery built his reputation as a troubadour. He has been on bills with (among others) Steve Goodman, David Lindley, Dutch Mason, Jeff Healey, Ron Sexsmith, Jenny Whiteley, Jack de Keyzer, Mary Margaret O’Hara and Jane Siberry. He has performed in venues as far afield as Atlin, British Columbia, Dawson City, Yukon and Austin, Texas. He continues to draw sell-out crowds, most recently at Ottawa’s Red Bird in September 2024.

Cutlery now makes his home on a rambling acre in Lanark County, near Perth, with frequent forays to Ottawa and Toronto.

Whether playing solo or backed by a band, his shows consistently reflect his commitment to his art. The performances are musically eclectic, emotionally rich and occasionally sardonic.

Writing almost all his material, Cutlery plays guitar, piano and harmonica but is most easily recognized by the voice that has been called “strong” and “colourful” (Ottawa Citizen) and is most often referred to as “beautiful” (Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Jane Siberry). His repertoire ranges from aching love songs and contemplative meditations to cheeky tracks such as “Moonlight Motel” ("everybody has something to sell"), to the imagery and cascading piano of his ode to 9/11, "Aeroplane”, to the biting social commentary in songs such as “Walkerton” and “Hagersville Tire Fire.”

Melwood Cutlery has six studio albums to his credit since his first in 1988. Each has garnered critical acclaim.

In 1995, Bill Stunt (CBC Radio, Heartland) said, “As soon as I heard, ‘Hills of Aberdeen’ [on Overstepping the Boundaries], I had to play it over and over again.” In a review of 2000’s If It Rains, the Globe and Mail credited Cutlery’s “powerful songwriting.” Five years later, “Ballad of the Moonlight Lady,” from 2005’s Campfire, won the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals’ Songs from the Heart Award. Greg Quill in the Toronto Star (2005) praised Cutlery’s “cagey and impressive work.” 2013’s Home in the Country prompted “the hippest songwriter around” from renowned Scottish-Canadian singer-songwriter, David Francey.

Studio contributors have included Alannah Myles, Dan Whiteley (mandolin), Fred Guignon (guitar) and Rebecca Campbell (vocals). He has worked variously with Vezi Tayyeb (Kensington Sound), Ken Myhr (Metalworks) and Bill Garrett (Borealis).

In 2024, Melwood Cutlery released “A Complete Display of Tackle,” an album of all original songs, many from Cutlery’s troubadour era. Some were previously recorded but unreleased and have been part of his live performances. Cutlery is at the top of his game embracing a myriad of influences but with unexpected twists.

From the toe-tapping “Fit as a Fiddle” to the powerful “Terry Fox,” there is everywhere a light and dynamic approach to the production.  All songs feature Cutlery on acoustic guitar and live vocal with one exception, “Where’d You Go Summer,” which features him on piano and live vocal. He is joined by top-level musicians Michael Ball (double bass, fiddle), Dave Draves (accordion, organ and cello), Stuart Rutherford (dobro), Joey Wright (mandolin), Olivier Fairfield (drums), Lynn Miles and Rebecca Campbell (backing vocals).

“A Complete Display of Tackle” was recorded at Little Bullhorn Studios in Ottawa and produced by Lynn Miles and Dave Draves, with Melwood Cutlery.

 

Now available for purchase at www.melwoodcutlery.ca

 

< >