JOHN COSSAR TO LAUNCH NEW CD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH

JOHN BARRY COSSAR is a rising star in the Newfoundland music scene. At the age of sixty he has just released his first full length recording Another Bridge to Burn. His songs are being compared to the country/folk ballads of Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and John Prine, full of power and grace. As a performer he moves people to tears with his honest, humble insights into life, love and the challenges we face.   Among local musicians he is already recognized as one of our province’s great songwriters.

John was born in the isolated community of Burgeo, on the rugged South Coast of Newfoundland in 1950. His dad, a fisherman originally from Red Island, worked for the local hospital after injuring his back. John's mom, Harriet Dicks, finished Grade Eight, then left school to look after her family. Life in Burgeo in those days was isolated, rugged, independent.   

John taught himself to play guitar after his mom bought him a guitar from the Sears catalogue when he was fourteen. He played until his fingers bled, first on the original electric, with a bowed neck and no amplifier, and later on a series of acoustic guitars.

His life has been a gentle drift with the tide from place to place. In 1979 he married his childhood sweetheart Betty Buckland-Cossar, an award-winning textile artist. After twenty-two years of marriage, he lost her to breast cancer in 2001.

These days he finds himself in St. John's, in the wake of a second marriage, living on his own, more and more pursuing his passion for songwriting and performing. After years of supporting others, this is his time to shine.

John's songs are brilliant blendings of passion with well-crafted lyric. Audience response confirms it: these songs pierce you to the core with their heartfelt simplicity and deft turn of phrase. John Cossar is a songwriter to reckon with, who continues to develop new material, adding to the more than forty recent songs already written. He has just released his second recording with funding from MusicNL.

Another Bridge to Burn was completed in September, 2011. It's a classic collection of fourteen of John's original tunes, a true journey of the heart. More than a dozen other prominent musicians contributed to this recording, including Chris Kirby, Rick Lambe, Rick Hollett, Rozalind MacPhail and Dan Rubin.

For more information, photos or interviews, please contact us by email:  secondstage@hotmail.com

John Cossar's website

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