Festival of Small Halls Presents: Devin Cuddy Duo

Devin Cuddy is a singer-songwriter based in Toronto. From an early age, he was drawn to music of the past. While sifting through his father’s (Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo) CD collection, he found the music of Louis Armstrong and New Orleans blues piano players like Dr John and Professor Longhair. After attending York University for Jazz Piano, Devin started hanging around Toronto’s Cameron House, where he was inspired by the local singer-songwriter scene. He began his performing career alone at the piano, playing every Wednesday night. Drawing from inspirations like Randy Newman and Steve Earle, Devin started to build up a catalogue of his own material. His first release, Volume One, was released in late 2012 and was nominated for a Juno. Volume One was followed up by Kitchen Knife, produced by Greg Keelor, and then an EP called Amy’s Dream, produced by Chis Stringer, whose songs Maggie’s Hardware Store (a cover of a Jack Marks song) and Radio took him in a more roots rock direction. This direction continues with Devin’s latest release Dear Jane.