"My friends...

So, so sorry to hear of the passing of Ewen Carruthers...another great and irreplaceable loss. I've pulled out "One Red Shoe" and am listening to his soulful voice and song as I write you this.

The photo of him and his son in the booklet is a treasure. Tho I've met neither, I can see Ewen's sparkle in the boy's eyes. Godspeed to them both. And to you all."

David Roth

Ewen Carruthers † Oct 4th 2010 - Obituary

"when all is said and done let me tell you son
It was enough for me to be with you – just passing through – just passing through"

Ewen Carruthers is dead. The artist died completely unexpectedly on 4th October 2010 in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

Today we are so very much used to find our ways mirrored as virtual signs on the internet; so accustomed are we to this fact that finding virtually no information on the web – especially when speaking of an artist – can only be seen as carrying a hidden meaning.

Ewen Carruthers was a musician obviously capable of leaving out the flamboyant gesture, the great entrance – with that kind of elegance which can only be the result of hard work; which is achieved artistically in the synthesis of thought, emotion and work of art.

Ewen Carruthers was dealing with the issues of his life, of people beloved and situations he lived through, but also with the big themes of contemporary history. Sparkling diamonds of songs were his vehicle to masterfully strip the latter of the anonymity of the mass media and to confront the listener with the human drama of the people involved. That single red shoe lying on the ash heaps of the World Trade Center maybe is the perfect example for this technique which Ewen Carruthers had brought to perfection on „One Red Shoe“, his second album for Stockfisch.

His first album was called "When time turns around". With the death of Ewen Carruthers we are mourning the death of a great artist and a true friend, and here come to a new understanding of what Ewen meant with the lines:

"Somewhere on the long way back we’ll meet again my friend
When the broken is mended and when the lost ist found
This will be when time turns around"

We cannot close the gap which Ewen Carruthers leaves as a person, a musician and a friend. We still have his music, and within it an inkling of the transforming power of art – and the reality of love.

Louise & Andreas Cyffka

David Carruthers wrote that he has set up a tribute page on www.ewencarruthers.forevermissed.com. In addition, a memorial took place at St Cuthberts church, Bedlington , Northumberland on Friday 22nd October. This was followed by a wake at the nearby Cramlington folk club, one of Ewen's favourite places.

"I first got to know Ewen in the early seventies when I saw him perform in one of the local folk clubs. The song that impressed me the most was "Paris", and it still is one of my favorites. In the years since then we´ve had some good times together; times when we were both living alone, when we would meet at my house, eat, drink wine and try to write songs together, some good times in San Francisco and touring along the coast to Oregon.
Ewen had an amazing ability to write a song from his imagination. I have to experience what I write about, but Ewen just dug into his imagination and created the most wonderful songs.

When I last saw him he had recently returned from America and was looking forward to setting up home in Yorkshire and spending more time with his son David and his family. He was optimistic about the future and we sat in my garden drinking coffee - it was a sunny day and this is the way I will remember him.

He was a fine man, a great songwriter and a good friend, and I miss him now, and I´m sure I always will."

Allan Taylor
Ewen Carruthers

This Hybrid-SACD includes a 16bit hybrid layer and can therefore be played on any CD-Player! DSD Stereo-Sound requires SACD player for playback.

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Ewen Carruthers
one red shoe
Order No. SFR 357.4048.2

60sec. mp3-samples: Chinese Girl + One Red Shoe + Information Getting Lost + A Springtime Story + Just Passing Through

A new album by Ewen Carruthers is a thing worth waiting for! Now it's here – they call it One Red Shoe. Seems like an old friend to us.

Melodies dance like dappled sunlight on ground covered with golden autumn leaves. October wine – that's how lyrics grow. Down-to-earth, yet reflective; almost old-fashioned, they are bound to warm the heart – taking the direct approach to the soul of the matter. And more of this slide guitar please!

A kaleidoscope of human experience; stories told by a man who uses them to come to terms with the personal and the universal in that many-splendored thing called life. Carruthers is one in a long row of artists dealing with that flaw inherent in creation that's good for pain and creativity.

Things like nearness and understanding are multidimensional, the earth may shake beneath one’s feet ("California living's great, until you start to shake".)

Or that the image of a world so beautiful is marred by things like hurricane Catrina – portrayed as a raging woman flinging "Mississippi mud" without ever being able to beat life's energy out of the artists in New Orleans who create sculptures from flotsam and jetsam. Ewen Carruthers’ is an instance of this: a single red shoe on Ground Zero.

It will surely take one hell of a time – or as Carruthers put it in his last album's title "until time turns around" – when things will once more be the unflawed way they were meant to be ("Shoes were meant to be a pair").
Until that time, we will make do with art – Carruthers' art does very well.
when time turns around

There is a phrase used in English that has no exact equivalent in German. An artist may be called a „musicians’ musician“, and by that be described as a musician, whose genius is admired by his colleagues in the highest degree; maybe his art has formed the style of a whole musical genre, but due to whatever reasons has never found mass appeal and popularity.

Ewen Carruthers is of this calibre. His new album „when time turns around“ s the latest release of the Stockfisch label. And this fine CD could and should relieve Carruthers from his status as being the all-time secret of the Inner Circle of folk music.
Ewen Carruthers

when time turns around
Order No. SFR 357.6037.2

«samples»
"Pierre-Auguste Renoir" (60sec. mp3-version)

Ewen Carruthers´ folksongs are unbelievably condensed matter, they are diamonds reduced to their essential artistic content which have influenced lots of his fellow musicians - among them Allan Taylor and Mike Silver.

Die Audiophile Pop-CD in stereoplay 10/2006: "Es ist bewundernswert, mit welcher Selbstverständlichgkeit Günter Pauler wieder sein Motto 'closer to the music' erfüllt. Ewen Carruthers' … zwölf Folk-Songs, fragile, feingliedrige Werke, die die Langsamkeit für sich entdeckt haben. Wie dieser trockene und rauchige Whiskey-Bariton mit den luftigen, reduzierten Arrangements verschmilzt. Wie die geschmeidig gezupften Akustik-Gitarren geradezu greifbar werden; Mandoline, Akkordeon, Flöte oder Horn so plastisch und natürlich tönen - in kuschelig warmen Klangfarben, weiträumig, locker und frei. So zeigt sich schöne Musik durch perfekte Tonkunst."

David N. Piles, www.acousticmusic.com: "With voice a hybrid of Gordon Lightfoot and Roger Whittaker, it is no wonder that Ewen Carruthers has a solid following worldwide and certainly no wonder that When Time Turns Around has gained critical praise from all corners, but the key to this album lies in the songs. Twelve beauties found their way here, each a story in itself and presented in a simple, straightforward style pretty much missing in today's world of music. They are more toward the middle of the road than you might think, but they are Carruthers, pure and simple. … Production is masterfully handled by Gunter Pauler (listen to it on headphones and you will understand). The backing musicians and vocalists are not only spot on, but are so beautifully recorded you almost miss it. ... Hey, I don't normally listen to this style of music, but When Time Turns Around I give a big thumbs up."

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