Craig Cardiff

Craig Cardiff (born 9 July 1976) is a Canadian folk singer from Waterloo, Ontario who lives in Arnprior, Ontario.

Craig Cardiff was born July, 1976 to Judy and Charles Cardiff.

He grew up with his younger sisters Catherine, Susan and Elizabeth in Waterloo, Ontario, where both his parents were school teachers.

Music was important during his upbringing and he was motivated by his parents to play an instrument.

His parents bought him his first guitar, a Gibson J-30, when he was 15, while one of his high school teachers, taught him the guitar during his lunch hour.

Cardiff began to perform at coffeehouses and with some bands in high school.

While studying at the University of Waterloo, he performed at local pubs, open mic events, and coffeehouses.

He also worked as a booking agent, organizing shows at Fed Hall, including the Guess Who.

Cardiff moved to the Ottawa area from Waterloo when he was in his twenties.

He lived in Wakefield for a few years before buying an old farmhouse in Arnprior, which now also serves as a home recording studio.

He has released sixteen albums, both live and studio-based since 1997.

He has toured North America and Europe.

In September 1997, Cardiff debuted with the album Judy Garland (You're Never Home) which included Deanna Knight, Tom Murray, Danny Michel, Joel Stouffer, Paul Mathew and Catherine Cardiff.

It was re-released in August 2006.

Cardiff released his album Goodnight (Go Home) in 2007.

In 2007, View Magazine stated that while Cardiff "...maintains a dedicated fan base", he "...is more a secret than a household name, despite his songs revealing the craft of one of the best in the business".

View Magazine stated in 2007 that he was "playing bigger rooms, touring more and receiving more critical acclaim" after his 11th release, Good Night (Go Home)." The magazine called Goodnight (Go Home) "arguably Cardiff's most accomplished release to date."

He released Floods & Fires in November 2011.

The album earned a Juno Award nomination as Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Solo, as well as a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination as Contemporary Singer of the Year.

The album was in the SoundScan Top 10 for a week, and Exclaim! magazine called it "a major breakthrough."

In 2012, Cardiff was nominated for a Juno Award for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Solo and for a Canadian Folk Music Award as Contemporary Singer of the Year.

When Cardiff released his latest album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2, in November 2013, Exclaim! magazine stated: "With a catalogue now well into double digits and a national fan base that is surely the envy of his singer-songwriter peers, Ottawa's Craig Cardiff has been the model of how to be a successful independent Canadian musician. However, with his new double album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Parts 1 & 2, he seems better poised than ever to break into the mainstream, having recorded with a full band for the first time."

When Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2 was released, it reached as high as No. 8 on the iTunes singer-songwriter charts and for a time was the only independent Canadian album in the Top 20.

Cardiff has offered at least one new release almost every year, and his catalogue includes live albums, studio albums, collaborations with other artists and tributes to songwriters he admires.

Over the years, he has experimented with various recording styles and distribution platforms for his albums – one release, Mistletoe (Kissing Songs), was recorded entirely on an iPod Touch.

On 19 November 2013, Cardiff released his first double album, Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) Part 1 & 2.

It includes boisterous group "sing-alongs", and gentle lullabies, and full live band recordings, as well as more subdued, acoustic settings.

Cardiff stated that in his first work with producers Ben Leggett and Andre Wahl, they encouraged him to not repeat his previous work and to make use of his producers to push him creatively.

While Cardiff was nervous, he worked with the pair to explore full live band settings, "loud or... hard" arrangements, and exploring the "acoustic" of his songs, with cello, clarinet and violin arrangements used for different songs.

While making the album, Leggett and Wahl challenged Cardiff to step outside his "comfort zone" and record with a full band for the first time.

Love Is Louder (Than All This Noise) has 21 tracks, with some songs getting both loud and gentle treatments to give the song "two faces," explains Cardiff.

Cardiff, Leggett and Wahl approached the two sides of the album in two very different ways.

For Part 1, they recorded at Chalet Studios, which has previously hosted acts such as Rush and Barenaked Ladies, and Leggett and Wahl coached Cardiff through the process of recording with a backing band, very different from his solo singer-songwriter experience.

Cardiff called the live band recordings "very uncomfortable" yet very exciting", particularly noting his work with members of Lindi Ortega's band and piano player and singer-songwriter Mike Evin for Part 1.

On 24 May 2018, Craig Cardiff released his first tribute cover album.

The project included five Bob Dylan cover songs, selected for their influence on Cardiff's own music style.

Reflecting on Bob Dylan's influence, Cardiff says "I had the same relationship with Bob Dylan's songs that I think everyone does with a favourite artist – I tried to crack the code about what he was writing about, while sitting in the middle of their tangle and ache and joy. All his words were perfect, and he had all of them. AND it bothered my parents – "He Can't Sing!" they said, dismissively, the same way they did when they saw me spending money on Cokes, the Dickie Dee ice cream trucks, Mad Magazines, or heaven forbid, Cracked. Wasted money!"

Cardiff's goal for the project was to inject his own musical style into some of the songs that influenced him the most, keeping the production and arrangement of each song simple with limited instrumentation.

The cover album's single, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", reached over a half million streams on Spotify within the first month of the album's release.

The album was recorded in his home recording studio in Arnprior, ON in collaboration with Jeff Watkins, Jesse Harding, and Thom Rados.