Mawhinney, Tom - Living This Day

Tracks

		Track Name	Length
	1	Living This Day	03:25
	2	Money Trouble	03:57
	3	Heads Up Canada	02:09
	4	'ttention, Canada	02:09
	5	Song for Sebastian	03:13
	6	Two Things	02:34
	7	They Only Want to Sing	02:37
	8	Eat Right	02:12
	9	Terra Firma	02:29
	10	Farewell to the North	03:08
	11	V'là le bon vent	01:27

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Information/Write-up

Living This Day marks the long-awaited return of Canadian folk singer and songwriter Tom Mawhinney, arriving thirty-eight years after his previous album releases. The record finds Mawhinney revisiting the solo acoustic style that first defined his work during the 1970s, while reflecting on the political and cultural climate that inspired him to return to songwriting. Released March 6, 2026, the album represents Mawhinney’s first new recording in decades.

Mawhinney’s musical journey began decades earlier as a travelling street performer. In 1976 he worked as a full-time street singer in Vancouver, developing a repertoire that blended traditional folk storytelling with personal songwriting. His travels eventually carried him overseas, where he performed in the flea markets of Paris and Amsterdam as well as on the streets of Nice and surrounding towns in southern France.

During the 1980s Mawhinney recorded and released several albums, including material aimed at both adult audiences and children. After that period of activity he gradually shifted away from performing and recording folk material, dedicating much of his writing between 2005 and 2018 to choral compositions.

The songs on Living This Day emerged after a long hiatus from solo songwriting. Mawhinney had spent many years focusing primarily on choral compositions, but he says the impetus for returning to folk material came from recent political tensions and threats directed toward Canada from the United States. Those events prompted him to pick up the guitar again and begin writing solo songs, ultimately leading to the creation of this new album.

The album was launched with a release celebration in Kingston, Ontario on March 22, 2026, featuring a joint concert with Mawhinney’s choir, the Martello Alley Cats. One of the album’s songs, ‘They Only Want to Sing,’ playfully references the choir and the experience of singing within that community.

The result is an album that reconnects Mawhinney with the musical roots that first carried him through Canadian and European streets nearly half a century earlier. Written and recorded with a sense of rediscovery, Living This Day stands as both a return to form and a personal reflection on the present moment.
-Robert Williston

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