Daniel Champagne’s first memory as a child was watching his father, in the backyard, playing rock music.
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Performing covers in local bands, it was his father who inspired Champagne to give the guitar a go.
By five he was playing guitar badly he admits in lighthearted recollection, but a series of skilled teachers was able to turn the young man with an interest into an international artist.
‘Fault Lines’ is his fourth studio album and the jumping board for his current Australian tour. This Friday, Champagne will play with Rubydear and Time Winterflood at the Briadwood Hotel. It has been eight years since he has played in Braidwood.
“You start little fires and you try not to let them burn out,” Champagne said when describing the multiple, smaller towns added to his tour.
Champagne started as a student of classical music. However, at an early age, he realised the academic depth in fact inhibited creative pathways he wished to adopt.
“Playing for five to six years I realised one, I could keep playing [classical music] and never be as good as the people I was studying from, and two, it would never be my sound. I have to go into the direction to find my sound,” he said.
Today, this sound is a folk, rock and blues ensemble tied together by the strings of acoustic authenticity and emotion.
For live performances, Champagne is the man with the guitar, raw and open to connect with his audience.
“In terms of raw emotion it’s still the easiest level to connect with people,” he said.
“As a kid I thought I could play really fast and flashy and would impress people but the further I go it’s more about connecting with people than impressing them in that way.
“Everybody can connect with passion. Everybody feels something or wants to feel something.”
‘Fault Lines’ was created over three years on the road, a contrast to his usual studio recordings.
“I was able to put something down and live with it for six months and determine whether it was good, or I was in love with the idea rather than the actuality,” he said.
With plans to continue a Canadian and American tour, he says he is looking forward to performing in Braidwood. He will perform this Friday at the Braidwood Hotel between 8 to 11pm.