Media Inquiries

Richard Flohil & Associates
60 McGill St.
Toronto ON M5B 1H2
Tel: 416-351-1223
rflohil@sympatico.ca
http://www.richardflohil.com/

Recent Kudos

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“My First Big FIND of 2010! Halfway Home is his best work yet! Jay's melodic, story-based songs touch on every emotion; they will remain in your consciousness and your heart. Jay Aymar is finding his own way to rise to the top of the music world!”

- Jim Marino, Freewheeling Folk Show, 93.3 CFMU , Hamilton, ON

“In an age befuddled by media and meaninglessness, Jay Aymar manages to clarify the simple ingredients of a good song: ask the questions that don't know the answers, remember the feelings that forgot themselves in the moment and sing about the unsung, whether they're heroic or not. Halfway Home is major. The last two songs are just like Mohammed Ali's right followed by his left. Bim Bom! Only difference is you enjoy it.”

- Paul Corby, Corby’s Orbit Radio Show, 88.1 CKLN, Toronto, ON

“Halfway Home is a wonderful, low key album of fun uptempo songs and introspective numbers that really pack an emotional punch. Some personal highlights are the gently swinging “Rock On” and “Crow” which is devastating in its unassuming depth.”

- Robert Lawson, Sunrise Records Reviewer, Toronto, ON

“For a world that is so often disconnected and disaffected, the songs on Jay Aymar’s latest CD, Halfway Home, are the perfect remedy. Understated, unhurried, and powerful: his songs reveal subtle truths seemingly effortlessly, with a touch of grace. Aymar seems to know how to go to the heart of human experience in a surprising way. The attentive listener will have the impression of having arrived home—home, that mysterious sense of belonging and calm.”

- Julie Miller, Host of Resonance on CJMQ, Sherbrooke, QC

“Jay Aymar is a wordsmith and poet accompanied by beautiful melodies, his nonchalant and relaxed demeanor belies a serious story teller. We look forward to his return to Fables.”

- Chuck and Hanna Hunziker, Fables Club, Tatamagouche, NS

“When Jay stepped on the stage, we were immediately delighted when his sharp wit, spontaneous humour, immense vocals and songwriting talent captured the hearts of the audience, transforming them into immediate fans.”

- Carol Anne Forsgren, Vintage Bistro & Lounge Hampton, NB

Media Coverage

Folk Legend Records Saulites Song
The Sault Star
7 Dec. 2008

The LeBlanc Newsletter
Larry LeBlanc
14 Nov. 2008

Home Routes Concert Series
Frank L.

Home Routes - House Concert Review
Jim C.

Ian Tyson / Jay Aymar reference
MacLeans Magazine
24 Nov. 2008

High Resolution Photos and Posters

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Review of Halfway Home (independent, 2010) by Jerome Clark at Rambles.net

These days, Ian Tyson seldom covers anybody else's songs. So, when I saw "My Cherry Colored Rose" listed on Tyson's most recent album (Yellowhead to Yellowstone, which I reviewed here on 28 March 2009), I was surprised to see it credited to somebody named Jay Aymar. I figured that it must be an exceptional piece of work. It is. Tyson rightly calls it a "true Canadian folk song." A fact-based story, it assumes the voice of a real individual -- tough-talking Canadian hockey announcer Don Cherry -- and imagines how he found a way to go on living after his wife, to whom he had been devoted for many years, died of cancer in 1997.

It's pretty close to a perfect song, but I couldn't imagine how Aymar could have written it without Cherry's permission. Reading the fine print on the cover of Halfway Home, I note Aymar's bow to Cherry for "allowing me to record something so personal to you." "Rose" appears on this CD in a different arrangement from Tyson's, and a powerful one.

Ontario-based singer-songwriter Aymar sounds something like an amalgamation of Tom Rush, Jesse Winchester and Guy Clark. "This Town Ain't Big Enough" has the Caribbean lilt of Winchester's "I'm Gonna Miss You, Girl," for example, and "All I Know" is broadly reminiscent of his "Defying Gravity." The arrangements have the exquisite blend of stark simplicity and sly sophistication that one associates with the above-named masters.

Still, Aymar manages to be more than the sum of his influences. An appealing musical personality emerges in these 10 cuts. He seems, well, like a nice guy you'd like to know, a wry observer and a modest man whose songs have a charmingly conversational quality. That conversation, I might add, is more likely to be conducted over a cup of coffee than a bottle of beer -- which is to say this definitely isn't country music -- but beneath that calm, pleasant voice is the piercing, unsentimental intelligence of a keen social critic. "Easy Street" and "Carry Me Back Home" are a whole lot less easy-going than you'd think if you aren't listening closely. "Crow" -- which Tyson ought to consider recording if he's up to covering another Aymar composition -- is downright harrowing.

If other Aymar songs celebrate life's uncomplicated pleasures, they do it without sap. Halfway Home, an understatedly lovely album, is the sort of art that speaks in measured tones, too assured to require more than a whisper. As you lean forward to hear it, it just kind sneaks up and grabs you. That's a whole lot harder to do than you'd think.