Trevor Tchir

Trevor Tchir was born in St. Albert, Alberta, and grew up loving Ukrainian-Canadian food, the open air of the prairies, the imposing Rocky Mountains, and the music at Edmonton Folk Festival and North Country Fair. It was at these festivals that Tchir began to appreciate acoustic roots music, especially that which told a story. It was also here that Tchir first heard folk musicians who had a significant early influence on his own musical ideas, including Bill Bourne, a vital force in the Albertan, Canadian, and world folk music scenes.

Tchir left Alberta at age 17 to spend a year working in the House of Commons, where he got a behind-the-scenes look at Canadian political theatre. In 1997, he began playing regularly at Sandy Hill's Dunvegan Pub, where he would meet musical friends Bill Barnes, Peter Webb, Pierre Chr?tien, Chris Lochner, and poet K.L. McKay, among others. These were years of fruitful creative collaboration, spawning Tchir's first release, The Way I Feel Today, recorded in March 1999 by Webb in his Nelson Street basement studio-apartment. Tchir continued to play local Ottawa Valley venues such as Zaphod Beeblebrox, Black Sheep Inn, Cajun Attic, National Library Auditorium, and the Ottawa Tulip Festival, sharing the stage with acts like Drums and Tuba, Garnet Rogers, Jacob Two-Two, Richard Wood, Emm Gryner, Julie Larocque, Peter Webb, and Purple.

In June 2001, Tchir released his second full-length album, November, a collection of songs that found shape at Dunvegan shows and that features many of the venue's musical patrons. During his years in Ottawa, Tchir often returned to his Western home, playing with groups like Five O'Clock Charlie, a band featuring his brother Stephen Tchir on guitar. In September, 2000, Tchir began playing at the new poetry and musical open stage at Caf? Nostalgica, on the University of Ottawa campus. He soon became the evening's music coordinator along side poetry hostess K.L. McKay. Every Thursday night for three years, Trevor played and hosted the popular event which featured talents from Ottawa and beyond. In September, 2003, on the second anniversary of the open stage, Nostalgica recorded a live collection of music and poetry: Thursday Heroes - Live at Caf? Nostalgica. During his tenure as host of Nostalgica, Trevor completed his Master's in Political Philosophy, focusing on the cultural theory of the influential Canadian writer, Charles Taylor. He continued to play regularly around Ottawa, backed by Webb and members of the funk-jazz fusion band SoulJazz Orchestra.

In the summer of 2004, Trevor returned to Edmonton, where he began a PhD at the University of Alberta in Political Philosophy and Canadian Politics. Tchir's third release, Wooden Castles Fall, was released in February, 2005. He continues to perform steadily and has recently shared bills with Danny Michel, AA Sound System, Cam Penner, Mark Davis, Jeff Stuart, and Bramwell Park.

In the spring of 2006, Trevor embarked of his first Canadian tour, a 25 show journey by car, bus, ferry, and jetplane from Edmonton to St. John's, Newfoundland, hooking up with old bandmates in Ottawa, sharing bills with Pete Webb in Ontario and Alberta, and East Coast pal Amelia Curran in Halifax. Visit the 'news' page for journal entries from the road and the 'photos' page for images from the tour.