Murray's Great Big Bio

They just added a bio for Murray on the Great Big Sea site:

http://www.greatbigsea.com/theband/murray.cfm

They call him a baritone, though, which I find amusing ;)

um, he *is* a baritone.�

yup. all the frulads are. just with slightly different ranges.

Duuuuudde. Jian and Mike are baritones?� They sound insanely tenor.�

Murray sounds too low, to me, to be a baritone. I mean, Darrell, GBS's old bassist, was a baritone and there was no way he could sing "General Taylor" as low as Murray does. Alan Doyle's a baritone, too, and he's definitely higher than Mur.

And there is no way in hell Jian's a baritone ;)

<vocal_geek>

What someone's vocal range classification refers to is not what they are capable of doing, but rather where their tessatura (strong, comfortable area) lies.� For example, I have the ability to sing notes in both the contralto and coloratura ranges, but I'm truly a mezzo soprano, as that's where I'm most comfortable and my vocal quality is best.� This doesn't mean that the quality of the tone outside of one's tessatura is bad per se, but it just is not as strong as those within it.

</vocal_geek>

Addendum:

Also, these classifications are rather broad and open to some interperetation.� To use a metaphor (as I'm quite fond of doing), whether it's sapphire or cerulean, it's still blue.

Then again, that metaphor may be flawed, as it is 3:30 am.� But it's the best you're going to get out of me at this hour.

*loves leah*

I always thought the way that guys' "classifications" were picked was:

Are you a decent tenor? (No)
Are you a decent bass? (No)
Okay, you're a baritone.

(For the record, I've been told I'm a "baritone, and please stop singing.")

some italian guy�once sat down and figured out an approximate�guideline standard.� those wacky italians.

I heard that I'm a baritone and that I should never ever sing.

Thanks, Leah. That's the perfect description of the voice parts, etc.� I was trying to explain this to my boyfriend, who was confused as to how i could sing soprano and tenor if I'm an alto.� (and hats off to you for such a wide range!�)

I guess the reason it struck me as odd that Jian and MIke were baritones, is that it seems like their strengths lie in the tenor area, especially Mike.�

So, with that actually. What IS� a baritone? between tenor and bass?

men's voice parts are tricksy, as the mechanics, if you will, of a man's voice are different than a woman's.� a woman has these "voices": head, chest, and the oft-disputed middle.� I'm not going to talk about belting because it's the eqivalent of a runner smashing her kneecaps daily with a hammer.� or something.

a man has a head, chest, middle, and falsetto.� I forget where I'm going with this.� maybe I just wanted to say that a comparison between the male voice and the female voice is difficult, if not impossible.

sorry if I'm being pedantic, it's just that this is one of the areas I'm most knowledgable in, as I've had quite a bit of classical training.� not that I'm bragging, after a year of no lessons, I've atrophied, despite my best efforts.� may have to go back to square one.� or close to it.� blah.

No, you are a basso ridiculoso, and I am writing you an opera.

OOOO, I get to be in an opera! Can the libretto be a by Terry Nation?

Murray's a lesbian??

... say Murray's a lesbian.

*throws sponge*

god, I live in my own little world sometimes.

"When GBS is not touring, he is also a member of alt-country heroes the Jayne Waynes"

A) Am I the only person who has never heard about that?

B) Sorry, can't resist:
Our love for him now
ain't hard to explain.
The hero of Canton
the man they call Jayne.

Yeah, I was going to ask!

Has ANYONE heard of the Jayne Waynes until now? More info please!

Ok, I found this, but no mention of Mur:

Toronto band plays around
with country music expectations

Don't file this band next to the Dixie Chix

By Rod Weatherbie

Not all cowboys ride horses and not all cowboys are boys.

Three of the five-member country-western band the Jayne Waynes are women. But they dress like cowpokes and have such names as Travis, Tucker and Hank.

Nevertheless, they don�t want to be known exclusively as a lesbian novelty act.

�We want to be known as good musicians,� said Hank, spokesperson and horn player for the band.

�We want people to come see us for the song-writing, not the, �Oh, look, they�re dykes, isn�t that cute.� �
The Jayne Waynes' horn section, Hank. (Rod Weatherbie photo)

She said it�s difficult to separate the gender politics from the band because they are lesbians. They neither try to hide it nor advertise it.

�It shouldn�t be a compliment when the straight crowd digs us, but it is,� Hank said.

Straight crowds don�t care about their sexuality, they care about the music, she said. It�s hard to get out of the mould of gentle �lesbians playing folk songs and drinking herbal tea around the fire,� but the politics can�t be avoided.

Most of the songs the band plays wouldn�t be considered radical or political if they were played by men, but women singing love songs about women are still not the norm.

Glad I ran into you
Hank joined the Jayne Waynes after a chance meeting during Toronto�s Gay Pride celebrations two years ago.

�I was in the parade and Tucker and Travis were playing in the parade and I told them later that if they ever wanted a trumpet player, I would like to play with them,� she said.

�They must have thought I was crazy. �Who cares if you�re a trumpet player? This is a cowboy band.� But I ended up playing a few gigs around town with them,� she said.

Travis and Tucker, the main composers, started to write songs that included parts for the horn.

Hank grew up in Burlington, Ont., and belonged to marching bands and her high school band.

�I actually play the coronet, but most people don�t know the difference.�

The addition of the horn gives the band a different sound from most country-western acts.

The good, the bad, the horn section
�The spaghetti western is an influence,� Hank said.

The Jayne Waynes perform at Kathedral on Queen Street West. They wanted everybody to have a hoedown. (Rod Weatherbie photo)

There are few bands like the Jayne Waynes that combine gender politics and country music in such an accessible way. They hope to start touring Ontario next year and are recording their first CD this winter.

Hank is looking forward to possible tours but is a little nervous about recording. If you make a mistake on stage that moment passes, but when you record it it�s always there. �It�s permanent,� she said.

She�s been playing with band for two years and continues to enjoy the experience and camaraderie with the other members.

�I like to say that they are the outlaws and I escaped from the cavalry.�

The Jayne Waynes play next at Mitzi�s Sister, 1554 Queen St. W. on Dec. 13.

I believe they mean cornet, not coronet :)

When Great Big Sea was in Toronto a few weeks ago, Alan came out for the encore with a pair of underwear with The Jayne Waynes printed on it, explaining that Murray had something to do with them and that GBS had agreed wear the underwear for publicity or something. He put on them on his head for a bit.

I just found out about this recently.� Check out www.thejanewaynes.com.� Murray is known as "Buck"��� Go to the Photos section for pictures of the band.� The website has been updated recently as it mentions Alan Doyle wearing their promotional underwear at the recent GBS show in Toronto.

The reviews on the site are very positive (although I guess you wouldn't post negative reviews on your own site).� Something to check out when Murray is not touring with GBS.

Wow! Check out those pictures! Mur in an "Image" band. Who'da thunk it? Well obviously he's at least committed enough to allow several pictures to be taken of him. ;)

As for the name thing... Hmmm.... The official name seems to be "The Jane Waynes" (a la the URL), however even on the site, there are references to "The Jayne Waynes". I wonder what is up with that. Seems like a name change in the manner of Jean/Jian. I wonder if the other URL was taken...(looks)... Nope. It is available. I wonder why they changed it? I like it better with a y.

I agree with you on prefering "Jayne" but I think it's the Firefly fan in me speaking ;-)

Is it just me or does Murray look more like a park ranger then a cowboy i those pics though...especially the one in the Bio/Press section=p. "Ranger Buck"

Wow... Murray looks more like he's on safari than a cowboy

That and I swear he looks like puppet angel. But I think I'm insane.

o. m. g.

cowboy!murray is the best thing i've seen in ages.

i knew about murray, but i didn't realize that all the other guys in gbs also had english degrees. english majors represent. :)

Wooo!
And english-related degrees :-D

(says the BFA in creative writing ;-)

Dave Carter and Art Garfunkel had math degrees.
math majors represent

art may have had a math degree, but paul simon had an english degree. and i think i'll just let that speak for itself.

Paul is mean to Art. That's how it always is when English majors are friedns with math majors.

it almost seems like you're speaking from personal experience here.

English major!!!! wooo!

what did the fru guys major in? i know jian did poli-sci and history

jian and murray are the only ones i know. i wanna say mike studied history, too, but i could be wrong.

I thought he studied french. Then again, I could be wrong as well.

He's got a minor in French

Dave, I believe, is music... Mike, I wanna say french and, like, musical theater... but not sure.

I thought he was a french lit major.
Hmm... we know it was french at least ;-)

AFAIK, he majored in theatre, minored in French

*woot*woot*

/pushes the ceiling

*woot*woot*

Murray's a "serious student of Jazz"??

He's also "adept" at the double bass. I'd go more for "functional" or "adequate" personally. ;) It's not like he's had acres of practise on the thing.

How do you know? Maybe practicing it is all he does in his spare time.

Yeah, dude. What, do you hang around his house and make note of how long he practices each day? Dude, that bass used to sleep in his bed (though possibly not with him)!

Ummm...just because when he was doing The Lesters he mentioned he hadn't had a lot of time to practise with the double bass. Y'all don't have to jump on me about it, it was a bit of a joke hence the winky face at the end...

Been a LONG time since the Lesters. And Yep! Gotta jump. It's our job! ;)

yah, nobody has to...

but it's fhdc, land o' drama ;D