Pat Wictor Bio
Photo by John Mazlish
"...Pat Wictor walks onstage and sits down. He places a Guild DV-52 flat across his lap and begins playing slide guitar. The sounds are snaky and sizzling...."
--Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live
Pat Wictor first burst on the folk and acoustic scene as an innovative slide guitarist known for doing fresh and memorable versions of traditional and contemporary songs. He's become a well-regarded singer and songwriter, writing material grounded in the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation. In the past year he's been touring nationally as one third of Brother Sun, the powerful harmonizing trio with Joe Jencks and Greg Greenway, garnering festival bookings and a #2 CD on the Folk DJ charts.
An American by birth, Pat was raised outside of the United States until his teenage years, living in Venezuela, Holland, Norway, and England. This time abroad gave him an unusually deep awareness of being a resident of a country while also a world citizen. Through these early experiences, he gained an appreciation for taking different paths to arrive at the same destination.
Indeed, Pat took a convoluted path to folk music, winding his way through rock, heavy metal, and jazz. He started with guitar, shifted to bass, moved to saxophone, and then quit music entirely before a return in 1993, a time when he also began composing songs. By 2001, he left a teaching career to pursue music full time and does so in the broadest way possible. An adept improviser and accompanist, he is sought after as a collaborator, sideman and session musician, with numerous recording credits to date. His monthly e-mail column, "A Few Choice Words," is read by thousands of subscribers. He is a music educator of note, teaching workshops on writing, interpreting, and rearranging songs, on slide guitar and other guitar techniques, and various topics of music history.
Recognition and acclaim have followed Pat for years: he won the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase, was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year by the Folk Alliance, was nominated for Gospel Song of the Year by the Independent Music Awards, and was a finalist in the Kerrville New Folk songwriting contest. His CD "Sunset Waltz" reached #2 on the Folk-DJ charts, and "Heaven is so High" and "Waiting for the Water" both reached #4.
Released in 2011, the debut band CD "Brother Sun" brings to the fore qualities Pat's fellow musicians have known about for years: his skills as ensemble player and co-bandleader. The CD displays new levels of freedom in Pat's slide playing, and showcases his harmonizing abilities, as well as several lead vocals and song contributions. Brother Sun brings together three formidable musicians, and the combination is even greater than the sum of their individual talents. Audiences leave Brother Sun shows feeling uplifted by the amazing power of harmony. The majority of Pat's touring time in 2011 and 2012 will be spent with Brother Sun.
Pat's engaging solo performance was captured on his 2010 CD, "Living Ever-Lovin' LIVE" - equal parts fireside chat, wide-ranging meditation, and foot-stomping blues. He features his originals and a few well-placed celebrations of his musical friends and heroes. With flowing red hair and zen-like calm, Pat embraces his audience with the sincerity of his music and the clarity of his voice, inviting them in.
He is an in-demand session musician, providing his distinctive slide guitar and vocals on dozens of recordings, most recently on releases by Sloan Wainwright, Jon Vezner, Joe Crookston, and Lipbone Redding.
HONORS AND CREDITS:
Finalist, New Folk competition, Kerrville Folk Festival;
Most Wanted, Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase
Nominee, Emerging Artist of the Year, International Folk Alliance
Nominee, Best Gospel Song, "Love Is the Water," Independent Music Awards
Quotes and Testimonials:
"He manages to infuse an almost playful, yet tasteful, improvisation while maintaining a beautiful sense of melody........While he can fingerpick like the best of them, he is an absolute madman on the lapsteel. Unquestionably, anyone who has ever heard a Wictor show will permanently place him in the company of the best in the genre- Harry Manx, Kelly Joe Phelps and Ed Gerhard."
-Frank Matheis, TheCountryBlues.com
"...the clarity of his voice is an interesting juxtaposition to the glorious grit of his musicianship.....He manages to creatively absorb the work of others, leaving their musical intentions beautifully intact, while adding his own sonic signature to the mix."
-Ellen Geisel, Dirty Linen
"Pat’s Zen-like quality instantly puts the audience at ease, and I’m afraid it underestimates his skills. Like Joe Dimaggio could make a spectacular catch look rudimentary, Pat Wictor delights in sharing original and traditional songs in his unique style. His original songs are gaining a lot of attention and a number of artists are beginning to record him."
-Ron Olesko, WFDU Teaneck, NJ
“His performances are delicate, nearly evanescent—a daring and unusual approach for a blues singer who give listeners fresh perspectives on such familiar material as Son House’s “Death Letter” and Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor.” Wictor’s compositions…are especially memorable.”
-Blues Revue
"If you can make it to only one concert this year, let it be a show by Brooklyn's own Pat Wictor, who plays heart-felt blues-based roots music like the only begotten son of Bonnie Raitt (same red hair!) and Chris Smither. And unlike blues interpreters who have seen too many stormy Mondays with hellhounds on their trail, Pat is also an excellent songwriter whose new/old compositions will send you on a journey through the old Dock Boggs and Son House 78s. But these aren't old songs, they're originals that, to paraphrase Mr. Smither, are "still flopping around on the deck."
-Jim Motavalli, WPKN, Bridgeport, CT
"Soft-spoken and articulate, in the 1930's he could have been a dust bowl preacher. The sermons, accompanied by the choir of his slide guitar, would have brought comfort to many a soul."
-Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live
"He not only is a great guy and a great talent, but I believe he has, follicle for follicle, the best hair in folk music."
-Rob Carlson, Modern Man
--Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live
Pat Wictor first burst on the folk and acoustic scene as an innovative slide guitarist known for doing fresh and memorable versions of traditional and contemporary songs. He's become a well-regarded singer and songwriter, writing material grounded in the rural country, gospel, and blues traditions of our nation. In the past year he's been touring nationally as one third of Brother Sun, the powerful harmonizing trio with Joe Jencks and Greg Greenway, garnering festival bookings and a #2 CD on the Folk DJ charts.
An American by birth, Pat was raised outside of the United States until his teenage years, living in Venezuela, Holland, Norway, and England. This time abroad gave him an unusually deep awareness of being a resident of a country while also a world citizen. Through these early experiences, he gained an appreciation for taking different paths to arrive at the same destination.
Indeed, Pat took a convoluted path to folk music, winding his way through rock, heavy metal, and jazz. He started with guitar, shifted to bass, moved to saxophone, and then quit music entirely before a return in 1993, a time when he also began composing songs. By 2001, he left a teaching career to pursue music full time and does so in the broadest way possible. An adept improviser and accompanist, he is sought after as a collaborator, sideman and session musician, with numerous recording credits to date. His monthly e-mail column, "A Few Choice Words," is read by thousands of subscribers. He is a music educator of note, teaching workshops on writing, interpreting, and rearranging songs, on slide guitar and other guitar techniques, and various topics of music history.
Recognition and acclaim have followed Pat for years: he won the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase, was nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year by the Folk Alliance, was nominated for Gospel Song of the Year by the Independent Music Awards, and was a finalist in the Kerrville New Folk songwriting contest. His CD "Sunset Waltz" reached #2 on the Folk-DJ charts, and "Heaven is so High" and "Waiting for the Water" both reached #4.
Released in 2011, the debut band CD "Brother Sun" brings to the fore qualities Pat's fellow musicians have known about for years: his skills as ensemble player and co-bandleader. The CD displays new levels of freedom in Pat's slide playing, and showcases his harmonizing abilities, as well as several lead vocals and song contributions. Brother Sun brings together three formidable musicians, and the combination is even greater than the sum of their individual talents. Audiences leave Brother Sun shows feeling uplifted by the amazing power of harmony. The majority of Pat's touring time in 2011 and 2012 will be spent with Brother Sun.
Pat's engaging solo performance was captured on his 2010 CD, "Living Ever-Lovin' LIVE" - equal parts fireside chat, wide-ranging meditation, and foot-stomping blues. He features his originals and a few well-placed celebrations of his musical friends and heroes. With flowing red hair and zen-like calm, Pat embraces his audience with the sincerity of his music and the clarity of his voice, inviting them in.
He is an in-demand session musician, providing his distinctive slide guitar and vocals on dozens of recordings, most recently on releases by Sloan Wainwright, Jon Vezner, Joe Crookston, and Lipbone Redding.
HONORS AND CREDITS:
Finalist, New Folk competition, Kerrville Folk Festival;
Most Wanted, Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase
Nominee, Emerging Artist of the Year, International Folk Alliance
Nominee, Best Gospel Song, "Love Is the Water," Independent Music Awards
Quotes and Testimonials:
"He manages to infuse an almost playful, yet tasteful, improvisation while maintaining a beautiful sense of melody........While he can fingerpick like the best of them, he is an absolute madman on the lapsteel. Unquestionably, anyone who has ever heard a Wictor show will permanently place him in the company of the best in the genre- Harry Manx, Kelly Joe Phelps and Ed Gerhard."
-Frank Matheis, TheCountryBlues.com
"...the clarity of his voice is an interesting juxtaposition to the glorious grit of his musicianship.....He manages to creatively absorb the work of others, leaving their musical intentions beautifully intact, while adding his own sonic signature to the mix."
-Ellen Geisel, Dirty Linen
"Pat’s Zen-like quality instantly puts the audience at ease, and I’m afraid it underestimates his skills. Like Joe Dimaggio could make a spectacular catch look rudimentary, Pat Wictor delights in sharing original and traditional songs in his unique style. His original songs are gaining a lot of attention and a number of artists are beginning to record him."
-Ron Olesko, WFDU Teaneck, NJ
“His performances are delicate, nearly evanescent—a daring and unusual approach for a blues singer who give listeners fresh perspectives on such familiar material as Son House’s “Death Letter” and Skip James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor.” Wictor’s compositions…are especially memorable.”
-Blues Revue
"If you can make it to only one concert this year, let it be a show by Brooklyn's own Pat Wictor, who plays heart-felt blues-based roots music like the only begotten son of Bonnie Raitt (same red hair!) and Chris Smither. And unlike blues interpreters who have seen too many stormy Mondays with hellhounds on their trail, Pat is also an excellent songwriter whose new/old compositions will send you on a journey through the old Dock Boggs and Son House 78s. But these aren't old songs, they're originals that, to paraphrase Mr. Smither, are "still flopping around on the deck."
-Jim Motavalli, WPKN, Bridgeport, CT
"Soft-spoken and articulate, in the 1930's he could have been a dust bowl preacher. The sermons, accompanied by the choir of his slide guitar, would have brought comfort to many a soul."
-Richard Cuccaro, Acoustic Live
"He not only is a great guy and a great talent, but I believe he has, follicle for follicle, the best hair in folk music."
-Rob Carlson, Modern Man
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