A local musician has tuned into the holiday season with a video somewhat appropriate for this lockdown Christmas 2020.
Marv Machura has written, produced and performed his single First Christmas Without You, available on YouTube.
While he did not initially write the song specifically for this year, Machura admits that its theme is timely during a Christmas unlike any other where many people are not able to see friends and family.
“I wrote the song while on a Christmas Eve walk a few years ago in Penticton. It was a quiet and beautiful night with the snow falling and no traffic.”
The song is about getting through and carrying on in spite of heartbreak and loss, Machura said. It is a theme that runs through many of Machura’s songs.
“I always write songs that have rays of light and hope in them.”he said. “If this song helps your spirit get through the tough time that a lonely Christmas can be, then my job is done.”
Although Machura is mainly known for his neo-folk songs rooted in Western Canadian experience and history, he has written many more mainstream, popular music that follows in the singer-songwriter traditions of artists such as Gordon Lightfoot, Ian Tyson, and John Denver. He has published over 20 songs in Nashville, released four albums, and is soon set to release his fifth early in 2021.
Machura is also known as the “singing guitarist” who continues to entertain audiences across the Okanagan valley where he lives. He is, like all of us, looking forward to a return to normal.
“I miss playing live! I can’t wait to be back out there.”
Machura also released a new single from his upcoming album, On this Beautiful Night. The title track was written by Machura but produced by Ken Hartfield, with Kelowna’s Symphonic Rock Evolution.
Hartfield’s band is a sprawling, ambitious, and successful project that features six vocalists performing with a large orchestrated band performing Hartfield-penned arrangements of classic rock songs.
“I love that sound of well-produced, orchestrated music such as The Carpenters and Neil Diamond from the 1970s,” Machura said. “Ken is one of those rare people who has that ability to put it all together.”
They quickly began a project that has now come together and released the romantic ballad, On this Beautiful Night.
“This song is just a beautiful piece that I wrote, and I wanted to give it a great treatment before I released it. I am thrilled with how it turned out, and I hope to work with Ken on more music in the near future.”
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