M E L W O O D     C U T L E R Y

It’s not a ‘what’ or a ‘where’ … it’s a ‘who’. With a name as eccentric as he is, Melwood Cutlery is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. A long-time fixture on the Canadian Roots music scene, he has delighted audiences from Dawson City, Yukon to Austin, Texas.  

Drawing on over three decades of wide ranging influences, Melwood offers a little bit of something for everyone. He’s a songwriter's songwriter- and a master guitarist, piano player and singer, to boot. His lyrics and the stories they tell cover a lot of territory- from his Highway 7 roots to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He creates classic folk music that is as subtle as it is disarming. With his instrumentation that includes acoustic guitars, piano, harmonica, a sprinkling of blues and a pinch of jazz, offering cheeky songs such as “Too Stoned” and “Something Nice”, to the sobering ballad “Aeroplane” or the political commentary of “Walkerton”. 

Melwood’s own meandering path began in MacDonald’s Corners, Ontario, the son of a Geologist and a Registered Nurse, and the fourth of five siblings. He developed an affinity for music at a tender age, with an ear for folk, country, jazz and blues, all of which have had a major influence on his songwriting. His early days found him performing the church basement/high school circuit until the bars would let him in. In his late teens, he went on the road across Canada and the US, all the while writing and performing. His first studio recordings, solo acoustic style, were produced in 1980, with Ian Tamblyn at the helm, and soon after, more songs were recorded with Dario Domingues producing. In 1988 Melwood Cutlery and the Fashion Plates released “Imagination”, a collection of original pop/rock songs that were played on campus radio waves as far away as Switzerland. These songs subsequently landed him his first songwriting deal in Toronto with Frank Davies at TMP Music.  

Melwood Cutlery has released three albums independently; the afore mentioned “Imagination”, “Overstepping the Boundaries” in 1995, and “If it Rains” in 2001. Last year he released the critically acclaimed “Campfire” on Borealis Records. With recurring themes of love, loss, redemption and scandal, “Campfire” is truly Melwood’s best work yet. Rounding out this masterpiece is an all-star line up of guest artists including: on vocals David Francey, Jenny Whiteley, Lynn Miles and Terry Tufts, and instrumentalists Fred Guignion, Miche Pouliot, Pat Guinta, Danny Artuso and Bill Garrett – who also co-produced.  

Melwood has received several awards and accolades since the release of “Campfire”, including the OCFF Songs from the Heart – Song of the Year award for “Ballad of the Moonlight Lady”.  He spent the early part of 2006 touring Western Canada, and then joined the Gordon Lightfoot tribute tour “The Way We Feel”. That summer found Melwood at the Blyth Festival as lead guitarist in “The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom”.  

When he is not playing music, Melwood works with the mentally disabled through Community Living Toronto