Michael Bernard Fitzgerald | A Real Kind of Freedom

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is an artist who’s always expressed what’s most important to him through his songs. He's also been incredibly meticulous throughout his career, taking care to build a unique and heartfelt connection to his audience and striving to create an unforgettable live setting for his music. 

He’s elevated the sharing of live music to a high art in itself — whether it’s inviting Calgary Folk Fest goers to join him at picnic tables to eat pie in the sun, taking to the stage with 300 backing singers at the Jubilee Auditorium or, as we hear him in this particular setting, going into his Farm Tour mode to immerse audience and performer alike in a whisper-quiet, impossibly intimate moment of musical expression. 

Although his brand-new album Horizon Lines contains colossal hooks, massive production flourishes, and the trademark sense of pop music maximalism that has always made MBF’s work so exhilarating. Although, the heart of his songcraft, as ever, lies in his voice and his guitar. That’s the sensibility that he foregrounds during his very intimate Farm Tours, which is the very mode in which we caught up with him for this Hidden Track Session in CKUA’s Live Performance Space in Edmonton. 

Just ahead of the September 27th release of Horizon Lines, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald played beautifully hushed, solo acoustic renditions of the title track, first single “After a While”, and MBF staple “Good Plates”. He also shared some insight behind where the songs mugs come from, the inspiration he draws from his burgeoning family, and just exactly what a Farm Tour is all about.