- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

- - My Tour Schedule - -

--------- Here is my Discography --------

Below is some Press Kit Stuff - Above: Carolling (Cold!!) at Patterson's Store

-- some quotations -- "Few performers are capable of achieving the kind of energy he generates on stage." - Globe and Mail  ".....name probably doesn't ring a bell with most Americans, but in Canada this singer and guitarist is a legend." - Anchorage Times  ".....unquestionably the most public performer in Canada today, and the most loved." - Macleans  "Valdy is regarded as one of Canada's most distinctive and successful minstrels." - Humber Log  "Valdy elicited a genuinely warm standing ovation, the real kind, where the applause continues long after the encore is assured." - Winnipeg Free Press    -- some more quotations --  "...judging by last night's performance, Valdy's musical magic is alive and well." Beacon Herald  "One of the best evenings of entertainment Confederation Centre has ever seen....a man of formidable talents." Charlottetown Evening Patriot  "Valdy remains one of the country's purest and most credible storytellers." Toronto Star  "He's a master of country, folk, rock and blues, and the catch is that whatever the sound, people know that Valdy is sincere." Saskatoon Star Phoenix  "Valdy's show is a disarming and practical blend of respect for the audience and show business expertise." Edmonton Journal

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

Career Bits * 14 albums, 22 singles, 4 Gold Records, nearly half a million units sold worldwide. * 2 Juno awards, 7 Juno nominations (Country Male Vocalist & Folksinger). * "Songwriter of the Year" and CARAS awards in Folk/Bluegrass categories. * Host of "BC Music Project" music video show, winner of the 1989 Gold Ribbon Talent Development Award. * TV talk show guest (Open Mic w/ Mike Bullard Feb.'01, Canada AM Feb.'01) and occasional guest/host *Twice was a panelist on the popular Front Page Challenge * CBC simulcast (TV w/ Radio 2 stereo), an hour-long TV special "Folksinger Deluxe with a Side of Fries". *Lead role on "The Beachcombers", minor roles in 2 movie features. *Valdy has toured, and still does tour, in America, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Valdy is an oft-invited performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. *Song writing workshops. Movie sound tracks, TV and film scores. CD producer.

for booking information, or to post a note, click >> Contact Link

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

Valdy - Biography Valdy, born Valdemar Horsdal in Ottawa, Canada has been part of the fabric of Canadian pop and folk music for over 34 years. A man with a thousand friends, from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island to Texas to New Zealand, he's a singer, guitarist and songwriter who catches the small but telling moments that make up life. Remembered for Play Me a Rock and Roll Song, his bitter-sweet memory of finding himself, a relaxed and amiable story-teller, facing a rambunctious audience at the Aldergrove Rock Festival circa 1968, Valdy has sold almost half a million copies of his 13 albums, has two Juno Awards (Folk Singer of the Year and Folk Entertainer of the Year), a total of seven Juno nominations and four Gold albums to his credit. Valdy's recent CDs include "Contenders", a collaboration with friend and fellow singer/songwriter, Gary Fjellgaard, with whom he has an absolute blast touring, and a solo release, "Viva Valdy: Live at Last", a two-CD package, one live, one studio, with a total of 25 tunes, and a lyric booklet. One of Canada's most influential songwriters, Valdy's composition A Good Song was recorded under the title Just a Man by the venerable Quincy Jones ( he sang lead on the recording!). Play Me a Rock and Roll Song has been recorded by a few artists, including John Kay of Steppenwolf. Along the way, Valdy has taken his music to a dozen different countries, from Denmark to Australia and been an often-invited performer at the prestigious Kerrville Festival in Texas. His recent television appearances include Canada AM and Open Mike with Mike Bullard. Valdy has also been a panelist on Front Page Challenge, and played a lead role in an episode of The Beachcombers original series. Today, he is based on Salt Spring Island, where he lives with his wife Kathleen, three dogs and a large cat. All three children are grown, flown and doing famously living in or near Vancouver, or Colorado. Visit Valdy on the web at "http://www.valdy.com".

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

Kathleen and I at home; am I a lucky man or what?

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

Valdy on Valdy

SHORT  "I've been lucky," Valdy suggests, when asked about his career's longevity. "I've worked with some amazing people, players, innovative producers, great songwriters." He pauses, pulls his whitening beard. "And I married the right woman." Another pause, then "Is that luck? Or is that moving at God's speed? I mean, it's more than strategy that puts these folks along my path. Sure I'm good at what I do, and I'm getting better, I'm paying attention, and I'm learning, but I've lived a charmed life, with a supportive partner, a glorious daughter, two vibrant sons, my health in tact; I am a really lucky man." ------------------------------------------------------- LONG "I've been lucky," Valdy suggests, (born Paul Valdemar Horsdal in September of 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, an inner city kid, mother Lillian, social worker / psychiatric nurse who ran condoms into Quebec as a family planning advocate, and Paul Horsdal, portrait photographer/outdoorsman who became a mentor to many of Canada's photographers, including Yosef Karsh, who having asked Paul how he took such great pictures, was told "I take a lot of pictures," and left with an used Graflex 5 by 7 that Paul received $500 for six months later. Parliament Hill was nearby, and Valdy's father had Prime Ministers' and Mayors' portraits on display), when asked about his career's longevity (38 years of recording and performing, with tours in Mexico, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, and annually Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean from Nunuvit to Texas). "I've worked with some amazing people, players, (like Norm MacPherson, session/touring guitarist with Skylark, Sample Stearns Band, Connie Kaldor; Jerry Scheff and Ronnie Tutt from Elvis' band; Larry Carlton; Ben Benay; Nicky Hopkins; Jay Dee Manus; Jim Keltner; Gerry Adolphe; Kat Hendrikse; Michael Creber; Doug Edwards; Connie Lebeau; George Koller, session/touring bassist with Holly Cole, Joe Sealy, Shuffle Demons, Loreena McKinnett), innovative producers, (like Claire Lawrence, resulting in 3 of his 4 gold records; Eliot Mazer, who's worked with Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young; Paul Rothchild, who's recorded Bonnie Raitt, the Doors; Rob Bryanton; Bill Henderson; Dan Donahue), great songwriters." (like Bob Ruzicka, Lynn Miles, Ron Hynes, Jon Ims, Graham Shaw, Tom Paxton, Mike Williams). He pauses, pulls his whitening beard. (Valdy will turn 65 on 01/09/10(Sept. 1, 2010)) "And I married the right woman." (Kathleen Mary Fraser Horsdal, Valdy's creative advisor and wife of 22 years, sharing a lake front home with him, 3 dogs and a cat, on Saltspring Island off Canada's west coast, although they both have their own studio/work spaces ). Another pause, then "Is that luck? Or is that moving at God's speed? ("Valdy elicited a genuinely warm standing ovation, the real kind, where the audience continues long after the encore is assured" - Winnipeg Free Press) "I mean, it's more than strategy that puts these folks along my path." ("Few performers are capable of achieving the kind of energy Valdy generates on stage" - Mcleans) "Sure I'm good at what I do, and I'm getting better, I'm paying attention, and I'm learning," (two Juno Awards, SOCAN's Song of the Year Award, four gold records, sixteen CDs/albums/8-tracks), "but I have lived a charmed life, (200 gigs a year, fundraising and advocacy for Literacy, president of Acoustic Connection, producer, wood butcher), with a supportive partner (Kathleen Horsdal, artist, hospice counsellor, soul-mate), a glorious daughter, (Chelah Phoebe Horsdal, actor, www.chelah.com), two vibrant sons, (Theo Koumontaros Horsdal, IT buyer for a major Western Canadian retail chain, and Yani Horsdal Christie, music-variety promoter with Upstream Entertainment as well as paint contractor),; I am a really lucky man."

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -

Valdy and Gary Fjellgaard Valdy meet Gary Fjellgaard; Gary Fjellgaard, this is Valdy. Of course, introductions are unnecessary - these two guys have known each other far too long for any kind of formality. Now, with their first album together, Contenders, on the leading Canadian roots music record label, Stony Plain, and with a national tour underway, they make the most logical duo in Canadian music. Consider, if you will, what they share. They're both family men. They both live on small islands off the coast of British Columbia. They are both singer-songwriters with an eye for memorable tunes and finely-honed images. They're both road warriors who tour, and tour, and tour. They are also both committed Canadians, more particularly, committed Western Canadians. And their music draws on all the aspects of life in the west. "Western roots" they call it. It's music that, in every note, echoes the mountains and the sea, the cowboys and the fishermen, the oil well roustabouts and the loggers, the sunsets and the rain, the streak of rugged independence and contrariness that so many display, and the generosity and warmth that make Westerners so welcoming to all. ** - Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home - Valdy, born Valdemar Horsdal in Ottawa, has been part of the fabric of Canadian pop and folk music for years. A man with a thousand friends, from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island to Texas to New Zealand, he's a songwriter who catches the small but telling moments that make up life. Remembered for Play Me a Rock and Roll Song, his bitter-sweet memory of finding himself, a relaxed and amiable story-teller, facing a rambunctious audience at the Aldergrove Rock Festival circa 1968, Valdy has sold almost half a million copies of his 16 CDs, albums and 8-tracks, and has received two Juno Awards (from a total of seven Juno nominations), and four Gold albums to his credit. Along the way, he's taken his music to a dozen different countries, from Denmark to Australia, been an invited performer for five years in a row at the prestigious Kerrville Festival in Texas, and even played a lead role in an episode of The Beachcombers. Today, he's based on Salt Spring Island, where he lives with his wife Kathleen, two dogs and two large cats (the three grown-up "kids" are all now living in the southern mainland of British Columbia). ** Gary Fjellgaard has been described as a "national treasure" and one writer summed up his music this way: "It is so rich that his art is free of bitterness, whining, self-pity, and manufactured pathos. He is the poet of the extravagantly good side of the human spirit; breathtakingly humane and compassionate." Like Valdy, Fjellgaard came to the Gulf Islands (he lives with his wife on Gabriola Island) well into his 25-year career. The island's peaceful calm (not to mention the view from his living room window) can make it difficult for him to leave. It is not only a haven from the road, and a different geography than the one he knew growing up in Saskatchewan, but a place to write the sort of songs that lovingly recall the past, take an affectionate view of the present and look optimistically into the future. He has a stubborn streak, which is why he's never changed his Norwegian name so people who don't know him could spell and pronounce it properly; now nearly everyone knows it's pronounced Fell-Gard. As a songwriter, he's a storyteller - and the stories he tells come from his two decades in the logging industry, his annual stints as a trail-riding cowboy, and his travels back and forth across Canada. His reputation has been earned in the country music field, and if his songs bear little resemblance to the "hot new country" that fills the airwaves today, he has had more than his share of successes - and has a shelf-full of awards to prove it. ** - Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home - Together, Valdy and Gary Fjellgaard are a near-perfect team. The songs they've written for Contenders touch their common ground with the familiarity and warmth only old friends can share. They are both experienced entertainers who know how to earn the respect of their audiences, and deliver shows, night after night, that send people home with smiles and the feeling that they've experienced something special and heartwarming. The pair are in the midst of a national tour to support Contenders, and to bring the songs to audiences across the country. No spotlights. No stacks of heavy-duty speakers and power amplifiers. No all-star backup band. Just two guys, two guitars, and two dozen songs or more that tell where they've been, where they are and where they're going. A new decade really needs the old verities more than ever before, and these contenders prove the point.

Valdy W/ Doug 'n' Doug 30 Years ago, I played in a trio called Sweet Honey Mead, with Douglas K. Rhodes and Douglas E. Rhodes. We did a weekend at Moby's, our first trio gig in nearly 30 years. Doug the Elder is one of the respected drummers on Saltspring Island, and one of the island's best carpenters as well (accolade). Doug the Younger is playing these days with Victoria's big band, the Belvedere Broadcasters, as well as several jazz configurations on sax, bass, and keyboards; he sings very well, and is restoring and repairing some of the Victoria area's aging and abused pianos. We boogied, and will probably do it again. Moby's was, in this local's opinion, the music bar on Saltspring Island. Back to the Tour Schedule

- Tour Schedule - Press Kit - Discography - Contact - Buy - Product Info - Home -