Kris Demeanor
Kris Demeanor is an award-winning poet, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. His writing projects include the bestselling instructional booklet How to be an Asshole of Calgary and The Calgary Project. A recipient of the Alberta Lieutenant Governor General’s Established Artist Award, he was Calgary’s first Poet Laureate, 2012-2014. Demeanor received a Best Supporting Actor Canadian Screen Award nomination for his performance in the film The Valley Below. His latest recording is Songs for my Father to Fall Asleep To. Demeanor lives in Calgary with author Deborah Willis and their daughter.
Website: krisdemeanor.com
Instagram: @kris.demeanor
FESTIVAL SHOWS
The Kris Demeanor & Deborah Willis Variety Show
Oct. 16 @ 7:30 PM $25
DJD Dance Centre
ALBUM NAME
Songs for My Father to Fall Asleep To
Five years ago my Dad asked me: “Have you ever thought about doing a collection of gentle songs?” He was suffering from chronic nerve pain and his bedside cassette playlist did not include my patented rapid fire spoken word.
So was born Songs for My Father to Fall Asleep To, his collection of gentle songs.
They were performed live, then minimally embellished with instruments and the voices of Wendy McNeill, Keri Latimer, Jolene Higgins, Rae Spoon, Carolyn Mark, Malcolm Mooney, Jamie Konchak, Allison Lynch, Miranda Martini, Ella Jean Haggis, Sarah Ord, Fallan Curtis, Quinn Curtis, and Monika Wenzel-Curtis.
They were recorded in my basement in between furnace blasts, at the Glenmore Reservoir, in a pedestrian tunnel, at the Lantern Church in Inglewood, and at Lorrie Matheson’s Arch Audio studio in Calgary.
I played it for my Dad one morning, explaining the touches of family nostalgia infusing each song, the musical nods to lost friends and to his singer-songwriter favourites from the 1960s. He loved that context—for Dad, the most creative visual artist I will ever know, the process was more important than the end result.
He tried listening to the full album a couple of times before bed, but fell asleep after Side One.
Mission accomplished.
BE CURIOUSER
