All is set and ready to go for the recording of Rupert Wates' new CD, 'Colorado Mornings', Feb 15-18 2016, at Phase One Studios in Toronto. The album comprises 12 acoustic love songs, and its backdrop is the beautiful landscape of Colorado. Watch this space for previews. Best to all in 2016, Leo and Rupert and all at BiteMusic Ltd

I'm excited to play six shows as part of the Concerts In Your Home Listening Room Festival in Florida, April 21-26.  With me will be Asheville-based virtuoso bassist Mike Holstein.  The other artists on the roster this year are all great performers and it's an honor to take part.  Details on the calendar page of this site.  Very best to all for spring, Rupert 

After a long break since completing 'The Rank Outsiders Ball' in late 2013, over the summer I began writing songs again towards a new album.  It will be an album of acoustic love songs.  I aim to compile the material over the next six to eight months, with a view to recording the album in early 2016.  Attached to this post is a sample demo of a song from the new material, entitled 'Fear Of Flying', written in August and recorded on 09 30 14 at Alex Sterling's studio on the Upper West Side of New York City (www.alexsterling.net/studio/).  I hope listeners will enjoy it.  Very best for fall, Rupert   

I'm excited to announce 6 upcoming dates in Poland, with virtuoso pianist (and my good friend) Bartosz Hadala.  We're performing in some of Poland's most beautiful venues.  We're calling ourselves The Nightwatchers.  See details of these and other gigs on the calendar page of this website, and at www.thenightwatchers.com.  Very best for fall, Rupert 

I'm very excited and proud to have been selected as one of 6 headliners at the Listening Room Festival in Florida, April 20-26.  For this I'm very grateful to the house concert network Concerts In Your Home (www.concertsinyourhome.com), which has been good to me in so many ways.  Best for fall, Rupert 

In addition to my songwriting, over the years I've written a lot of prose fiction. Some of my stories have been published in British periodicals. I've recently put together a brief anthology of my short stories set in Paris, in a collection entitled City Of Lights. Dave Turner has done an excellent job of graphic design to create a very presentable little volume. The book can ordered from Amazon.Com. To find out more, please go to the STORIES page of this website, or...



– Rupert

I'm pleased to announce that my new album, The Rank Outsiders Ball, is at number 45 in the top 50 new Folk Releases for March 2014 on Roots Music Report. 

You can purchase the album here.

Best to all,
– Rupert
 

The recording of my new CD, The Rank Outsiders Ball, at Phase One Studios in Toronto went even better than I'd hoped. Tracking and mixing of all 14 songs were completed in four days. Jeff Pelletier did an outstanding job of engineering. The band, comprising Bartosz Hadala (keyboards), Trifon Dimitrov (double bass) and Chris Howard (percussion), played brilliantly.

Mastering will be at AIRSHOW in Boulder, Colorado, and manufacture by DMA in Vancouver. Release is scheduled for early March with a launch at The Underground in New York City.

Meantime, click here to hear some some of the songs from the album: Drowned, The Lost Ones, The Man Afraid Of Shadows, Until We Meet Again, The Rank Outsiders Ball and The Entertainer. 

– Rupert

(Photo: Nicole Mago)

Concerts In Your Home, an organization of house concert hosts booking artists across the United States, named Rupert a 2013 Artist of the Year, an honor given to three CIYH artists. The award is shared with Ian Mcferon (www.ianmcferon.com) and Jesse Terry (www.jesseterrymusic.com). "Our decision reflects a number of factors related to bookings, performances, participation and enthusiasm."
– CIYH

As of December 2013, Rupert Wates is at number two in the Top 10 most booked performers on the Concerts In Your Home house concert network (www.concertsinyourhome.com), with almost 50 house shows booked through the network since 2009.

 

December 2013. It took eighteen months, but I've achieved my first SOLD OUT run: of all 1,000 copies of my 2012 CD At The Losers' Motel.  Most units were sold hand to hand at gigs, in company with copies of my other four solo CDs.  Individual tracks are still available for download at CD Baby, Amazon, Spotify and other online stores. Taking the album's place will be my new CD, The Rank Outsiders Ball.  It's to be recorded in February at Phase One Studios in Toronto and will be available from early March.  

Best regards to all for the Holidays,
– Rupert

Phase One Studios in Toronto, Canada are lined up for the recording of my new CD, Feb 5-9 2014.  The album is to be called The Rank Outsiders Ball and comprises 14 new songs written over the last year.  Personnel on the disc will be myself on voice and guitar, Bartosz Hadala on keyboards, Trifon Dmitrov on double bass and Chris Howard on hand drums. I'm looking forward to making a great sound.

Best to all,
– Rupert

 

I've begun an exciting new project with my good friend, virtuoso pianist Bartosz Hadala. We're forming a piano/guitar duo with the aim of touring Europe in 2014. We're calling ourselves The Nightwatchers. This week we recorded six demos towards the project at Rogue Studios in Toronto. Dave Turner will be putting together a new website for us in the next couple of weeks. It will include song samples, bios and a live video made in Hamilton, Ontario. In the meantime here's a sample track from the new demos (click here to listen). It's a song I wrote with my brother Matt some years back, entitled (When I Get Over) To California.

Best to all,
– Rupert

It's been a busy year of touring so far, with more than 150 gigs on my calendar. Meanwhile, plans are taking shape for my 6th CD, to be recorded in February 2014. I've been looking at studios in Toronto, New Orleans and other parts of the States. Guest musicians will be Trifon Dmitrov (bass), Chris Howard (percussion), and Bartosz Hadala (keyboards). The engineer will be Chris Medrano, who did such a great job on "Joe's Cafe" and "At The Losers' Motel." It will be a thrill and a pleasure for me to work with such wonderful musicians and such good friends. Like my other CDs, the album will feature only original songs.

I've already written more than a dozen towards the album, and I've recorded demos at two great Brooklyn studios: Wash And Dry and Godelstring. In sound, the album will be a departure from the folk/fingerpicking style of my earlier CDs. It will be closer to Vaudeville, Cabaret and Jazz.

Click here to listen to a sample of a brand new song, "Suspend Our Disbelief (A Little Longer)".

Best to all for summer and fall,
– Rupert