Bio
For the past forty years Peter North has been involved on the local, regional and national roots music scene as journalist in print, radio and television and as a promoter of live music on a number of fronts.
As a print journalist North was a columnist for 22 years with major Edmonton dailies and for over a decade he covered folk, blues, bluegrass, and country music for the Edmonton Journal. His pieces have also appeared in many national and regional magazines and he has written the liner notes for over three dozen albums including Herb Ellis & Duke Robillard’s More Conversations in Swing Guitar, Prairie Oyster’s Greatest Hits, the world/blues disc Slide To Freedom from Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt and other albums by Sonny Rhodes, Big Dave McLean and Roy Forbes.
His work in television has been extensive and included a six-year run co-producing the weekly and nationally broadcast roots music show Country Beat on CBC. North was also the talent buyer for the Ian Tyson hosted Sun Country series on CTV for five years and was part of the team for the Shaw Cable produced Project Discovery programs.
His efforts have been recognized nationally: he was named Music Journalist of the Year in 1996 at the annual Canadian Music Industry Awards, and Media Person of the Year six years in a row, awarded by the Western Canadian Music Association.
After years of booking artists in concert and club venues around Edmonton he continues to stay active on that front, most recently as the Artistic Director for the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival. He annually organizes the acoustic blues series Front Porch Roots Revue, and Peter and Holger Petersen were executive producers on an album project titled The Gift: A Tribute to Ian Tyson that, thanks to outstanding performances of Tyson material from the likes of Chris Hillman, Corb Lund, Jennifer Warnes and The McDades, received critical acclaim across the continent.
For five years, he co-produced the Winter Roots Festival with FolkwaysAlive! at the University of Alberta.
Peter also hosted the popular program Dead Ends & Detours for 15 years, was music director at the network for almost a decade and also produced and hosted two other shows, one being the interview series Points North and the other being the weekly bluegrass program In The Pines. Awards.
As a concert producer North has presented shows going all the way back to the late seventies and the long list of acts he has worked with includes Richard Thompson, John Hiatt, The Derek Trucks Band, Jorma Kaukonen, Country Joe McDonald, Ian Tyson, Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur and Amos Garrett, Peter Case, Rory Block, Monkeyjunk, Townes Van Zandt, Russell deCarle, James Harman Band, Honeyboy Edwards, The Paladins, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen, and the list goes on.
Awards
2016 Edmonton Blues Hall of Fame Inductee
BUILDER Award: To recognize individuals who have contributed to the Edmonton Blues Community through their work.
2015 Rhoda Taylor Award / Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta
2014 Maple Blues Award /Blues Booster of the Year
2013 Lifetime Achievement Award / Calgary Blues Music Association
2001 - 2006 Media Person of the Year / Western Canadian Music Awards
1996 Music Critic Journalist of the Year / Canadian Music Industry Awards
