Will Gillespie: Summer's Last Legs
Singer-Songwriter, Guitarist and Entertainer Will Gillespie is celebrating the release of his brand-new, full-length record "Summer's Last Legs," with 3 full-band album-release concerts: Friday, September 25th (Doors 7 pm) at the Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa, Saturday, September 26th (7 pm) at Clifford Brewing in Hamilton and Sunday, September 27th (5:30 pm) at Drom Taberna in Toronto, with his Old- World Romance Ensemble.
Will Gillespie is an award- winning Canadian finger-picking Folk Troubadour and Rock & Roll Raconteur, with an eclectic collection of original songs in different styles from whimsical ditties to heart-breaking ballads to bombastic rockers.
His Old World Romance Ensemble is part string quartet, part Jazz combo, part Rock Band, bringing Will's timeless, classic sound to vivid, 3-dimensional life.
Will's song: "Princess Maggie Buffalo" received the award for Song of the Year at the 2025 Durham Regional Excellence in Arts, Music and Sound (DREAMS!) Awards. His previous album: "MINE! True Stories and Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush" was also nominated for Album of the Year and Will Gillespie was nominated for Songwriter of the Year! This year he is nominated for 2026 Solo Artist of the Year!
This new album is both a fitting introduction to Will Gillespie as an Artist and an ideal addition to the collection of any long-time fans and followers. An updated musical self-portrait. An overview and re-working of several years of Will's creative output. A collection of new arrangements and current recordings, taking songs that have become classic, standard staples of a Will Gillespie live set and giving them the fully fleshed-out full-band studio album treatment, alongside some brand-new compositions. Capturing the sound of several different band configurations. Now you can hear the songs as Will does! This exceptional lineup of brilliant musicians making Will's already evocative Musical creations even more vivid.
Joining Will at the first album release show in Oshawa are Slovenian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Gal George Gjurin, Hungarian harpist Bettina Toth, Canadian musicians violinist and cellist David Shewchuk, drummer Sarah Varty and singers Myke Mazzei and Jackson D. Begley (both also playing percussion) and upright bassist Jonathan Sloan. Singer-Songwriters Myke Mazzei and Jackson Begley, will each also be playing an opening set, along with Folk-Rock duo Homestead Elite and multi-instrumental solo looping act Northern Reverie.
"SUMMER'S LAST LEGS"... when Summer transitions into Autumn. The sunset of the year. This is the point in my life I am now reaching: the golden hour of middle age. This is often an introspective time of reckoning and reflection, of homecoming. Thanksgiving. The harvest. Back to school..."
"The title track is meant to evoke where I grew up. In the fields of South Porcupine, Northern Ontario, with Porcupine Lake in the distance. Cicada bugs buzzing, represented by the opening cello line. A young boy out in the garden with his Dad. Later looking back on old dreams of youth, packed away in the family attic, tended to by his father's ghost. A memory still guiding and encouraging from the Beyond..."
The album cover is an original painting of the view of Rush Lake, from the cabin in the Kawarthas where Will recorded the album.
"The first single off the album is "MAKE ME WRONG" which belongs in a smokey nightclub. It's a jazzy, swingin' lounge crooner tune. A melodramatic torch song about the trials of Love. It has a film noir vibe and actual vibes. Lotus Wight plays the vibraphone. It also has bongos and a real harp and Gene Hardy on tenor saxophone
This is my "Will Gillespie & His Jazzy, Snazzy Cocktail Combo" fleshed out to the 9's! Those maracas could be a martini shaker..."
The album is being released Friday, September 25th, simultaneously on digital download, streaming, CD and 12" Vinyl LP
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